Artemis as a young vay is adventurous and energetic, exploring and looking for treasure and new paths in and out of town.
Arty's energetic nature led to learning different crafts, both with strangers and apprenticing under a mysterious tyr named Witchcraft.
Young and dumb once, Arty had a fling with a stranger and the resulting pup required her to make hard life choices.
Her skills and familiarity of the land led to soldiers recruiting her early to join them.
Artemis made an impression in the army, leading to her superior, Volk, to test her. She got paired a wild recruit by the name of Horai to try to keep in line. She also occasionally got to work with a fire slinging mage by the name of Isabela. (Bonding)
On a mission with her squad, her magic popped, saving her life as a shield came into existence to block an enemy's blow. (Arcanist Awakening)
On her final test from Volk, Artemis was tasked to lead the squad on a journey. They ended up escorting a runner, Erasmus, on their trip. Horai was injured on the trek, but Artemis proved herself by dealing with her and the runner, elevating herself to the rank of commander when they returned. (Purity Trials)
Artemis and Horai started building trust, and Horai informed Artemis of bits of her past. Artemis took the time to track down the demon in the tale, and led Horai to a confrontation. (Training)
Horai and Artemis continued to build trust and a connection as Artemis led them on missions, including working with strangers and other soldiers, mercenaries, and the like. (Bonding)
On a border patrol, Artemis and Horai hunted for a village (Hunter ICQ), only to find it under attack by rogues and necromancers while they were out. In the fight, they had to escort Paloma, a medic and Asteral, an injured vayron who had lost his memory, to safety. (Arcanist Magi)
Horai and Artemis finally bonded, and go out on missions to test their newfound strength together. (Bonding)
Strengthening their skills, Artemis and Horai help local villiages eradicate issues as the army moves from place to place. (Soldier HCQ)
In an explosive battle that nearly costs Artemis her life, Horai's magic finally sparks in her fury, giving the duo a nastier set of abilities to their combos with another arcanist.
Reuniting with Isabela, Artemis and Horai put on a show with their magic, celebrating their mastery. (Arcanist Spellmaster)
With peace on the horizon, the army is mostly dissolved, only gathering in times of need. Artemis and Horai enjoy each other's company as they roam the lands, being self sufficient in their travels and not staying anywhere for too long.
Artemis and Horai are recruited by a vay of the name of Akodai to help run a bounty hunters guild: Vanquest. The two of them run the hall of Verfalle in Roenden.
Somewhere along the lines, the pair run across a celebration in the middle of nowhere and get swept up into faire festivities.
The pair whip members into shape, and help others hone their skills , while also showing off their talents while doing so. (Knight SCQ)
Artemis returns to her roots and picks up creation once more. She leans into an easy friendship with Vanrift, and when she has time, she finds herself helping work the forge with him to outfit the guild.
The rolling fields of clouds provided sufficient cover from the sun, bathing the mountains in a gentle dim light. The snow, powdery and glittering, stretched over the jutting boulders, like a fine white carpet. The untouched beauty of the snow was marred only by the pawsteps of the two Reoseans that traversed the mountainside.
The large puller in the lead stopped, tilting her head to one side, fox-like ears pricked to take in the gentle call of the wind. Her beautiful red and tan coat rippled in the breeze, and the subtle motion only accentuated the power that ebbed from her. The rust of her undercoat melted into dark ebony shadows that fell over her shoulders and haunches, the colors lightened only at her chest and stomach, where dust-hued markings spread to her legs. The brown mixed with soft greys, creating gentle gradients where the red melted down.
The smaller Reosean behind Artemis lowered his nose to the earth, his muzzle pushing away the snow and exposing the rock beneath. The friese vayron was the color of coals, but, similarly to Artemis, his coloration lightened at his chest and underbelly, coating his front legs in a lighter shade. Charlie’s spaded tail was crossed with dark stripes, like the shadows of branches upon the forest floor. A breath caught in his throat.
“Artemis. Take a look at this.” Charlie stepped to the side, his spade tail flicking a gesture at the bare stone. The larger wolf Duveteux pushed the snow around with a broad tan paw, claws scraping the rock ever so slightly.
“Is that-?”
“Gold. Yeah.” Charlie met her gaze excitedly. “Gold, Artemis! And a lot of it by the looks of it.” He lifted a furred paw to trace the veins of gold that stretched through the otherwise monochromatic stones. The shimmering scars branched like lightning, disappearing under the cover of snow where they had not yet moved it.
The breeze picked up slightly, moving some of the clouds away from the sun. The ray of light beamed down upon the two pullers. Something caught the edge of Artemis’s gaze, and she looked up, searching for the cause of the interruption. She padded across the stone, flicking her fox tail to rid it of the snow that had clumped in the thick dark fur. Embedded in the rock wall was the faint shimmer of what appeared to be a cluster of glittering rubies.
“Charlie.” Her low voice rumbled across to the spade puller, who pricked his flopped ears and turned his silver gaze to her. He immediately saw what had caught her attention and trotted over, eyes widening as he saw the abundance of gems.
“When they said it was a treasure trove up here, they weren’t lying.”
“No, they most certainly were not.”
“How do we get it down from here, though? We didn’t bring any supplies.”
Artemis considered this point, flicking her ear to rid it of snow. The breeze had brought in the tail-end of a snow storm, and gentle flurries fell around them. The Roenden summers were typically mild with little to no snowfall, and this summer was no different. But weather fluctuated in the mountains, and an abundance of snow was still extremely common at the higher elevation.
Frowning, Artemis turned back to Charlie, who was still examining the stones. “I think we should leave it. Continue on this trail until we reach town, then we can return with some supplies and maybe a few extra hands.” Her voice was steady.
Charlie nodded, shuddering a bit as a blast of cold air blew into his face. He had considerably less fur than Artemis, and despite living in Roenden for all of his life, the cold always got to him.
“Continue we shall, then.” Charlie cast a look behind them as they began once more on the path carved into the mountain, his eyes still drawn to the allure of the gems huddled in the rockside, like chicks in a nest.
“Strange that more Reoseans haven’t come up here. Makes you wonder.” Artemis looked sideways at Charlie, eyes narrowing slightly. “You know?”
“Now that I think of it, you’re right. With the amount of gold and gems back there, it is odd.” Artemis grunted in agreement. Her light gaze scanned the rocks in front of her as she stepped, now acutely aware of the potential money in every crevice of the mountain.
The wind was picking up gradually, and it was starting to lift the snow from the ground, mixing it with the flurries falling from the sky.
“We should try to find some shelter before it turns to a white-out!” Charlie shouted over the howling wind, squinting up at Artemis. The larger puller nodded and scanned the area for a break in the stone. “Follow me!” She led the way towards a small cave tucked in the side of the mountain, and pushed her way through the entrance, Charlie following on her heels. They sat watching the blizzard, hoping that, once the storm ebbs, they will be able to find their way back on the trail.
When Artemis was trying to make some extra cash by selling herb bundles in town for tea, she never expected anything to come of it short of some coin and perhaps some feedback on where she went wrong. She was young and inexperienced after all, and grew rather bored with life, always trying something new. She especially didn’t expect a tyrian that embodied the spirit of the night in taking an interest in her, insisting she come along for some lessons.
The day she finally met up with the mysterious tyr, she found a runner, perhaps her age, maybe slightly older, with a beautiful shining mane and a coat of blood red and snow white. Artemis dipped her head in greeting, and the runner smiled, something dazzling. It made the puller feel self conscious about herself, as Arty often had a more rugged look to her, easily able to scare away others her age with just a glance. The runner was male too, which felt like an extra thorn in her side.
“I’m Koma! You’re here to learn too?” The runner spoke and Artemis nodded, confused as to why they were at a secluded shack in the middle of the woods that screamed danger.
“Artemis.” She gave her name and a voice called from within the building, calling them to enter.
With a shared look, the vays shrugged, and Artemis pushed her way in first.
The area seemed bigger on the inside, but it barely contained the tyrian, who was setting up a kettle over the firepit. While Artemis was more wary, Koma dashed forward, inspecting the kettle and the herbs on the counter.
“Ooo, I think I know what these are for! They’re for a tea to help the body establish more male litters!”
Artemis had never heard of such a thing, but the glint in the tyrian’s eyes said that Koma spoke the truth.
“Indeed. It is a simple tea but if you’re skilled to make it correctly, it will sell for plenty.”
Artemis was intrigued, creeping closer to see what was displayed. “Something like that sounds like magic, nothing here looks out of the ordinary.”
The grin on the purple and black female’s face only accented her eerie demeanor. “No magic, not for this at least.” And didn’t that just give the duve shivers. Koma seemed unaffected, and Artemis wasn’t sure what she had stepped into.
“Well, what’s first?!” The curtained male clearly was eager to begin, and the tyr, seemingly no nonsense, obliged.
“I’ve already set the kettle to boiling, and we need to dissolve in some milk and honey.” The tyr indicated some glassware, pointing to the ingredients and the corresponding size glass, letting the two students measure things out right.
It seemed mundane, and simple. Artemis was used to just selling tea bags, so to sell a whole tea would require another set up, perhaps she would get bored of it and continue to do odd jobs around town. Koma though looked like he was in his element, constantly holding a large grin as he beamed under their teacher’s watchful eye.
“You do this well and I’ll teach you the one for the female litters next.”
Koma practically vibrated while Artemis looked at the tyr suspiciously.
“And why do you do this for strangers. We haven’t even introduced ourselves.”
The tyr hummed, not a terribly pleasant sound, as she used her claw to roll a mango around the counter.
“True. You may call me Witchcraft. As for why I do this, I’m bored.”
Artemis figured the name was fake, but she wouldn’t fight it. So similar reasons to herself then.
“Well I for one appreciate this. What next?” Koma interjected, getting back to the matter at hand.
“From here, you have two options. You can use dried mango to steep in with the herbs, or you can mash it up finely, mixing it in. Most prefer to steep it, but I find I like the flavor a bit more with the fruit all but pureed into the drink.”
With a deft claw, Witchcraft peeled the mango, and handed it over to the eager runner, who went to work chopping it up for easy mashing. Artemis too reached in at that point, using her larger paws and bear-like claws to help destroy the fruit into virtually no semblance of its former shape.
Koma added the mash to the boiling mixture, stirring thoroughly before replacing the lid.
“Let it stew for a few minutes, then you can take it off the fire. Let sit for a moment to cool, then steep the herbs for three or four minutes.
While Koma took care of the kettle, Artemis grabbed the spices off the counter, wrinkling her muzzle at the foreign smell, and gathering them into a steeper to toss into the pot.
“So what’s in it?”
Witchcraft smirked. “Not anything you’d easily find here in this frozen wasteland. Cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, Assam tea leaves, a warm spicy blend that is tempered by the previous ingredients. Gives it a nice golden orange color.”
Impressed, Artemis looked into the kettle when the time was up, seeing it was indeed the color it was suggested. Witchcraft poured herself a small amount, sipping it lightly.
“Perfect. A small bit won’t do anything. You need at least a cup full for it to take effect. Taste It so you know what it should be like in the future.”
The flavor was warm, and Koma practically melted, his sounds of approval filling the room while Witchcraft hauled out some vials, measuring out portions and stoppering them, labeled carefully before putting them in a satchel that was meant for holding bottles.
“Ready for more?”
Koma and Artemis shared a look and a smile before nodding. This wasn’t bad after all!
Learning the tea was simple and not at all time consuming, so when Witchcraft suggested something a little more intensive, Artemis was a bit more wary, unsure of how well this will go, while Koma’s smile only grew wider, rivaling that of the tyr’s.
“First, you need your starches.”
The tyr pointed to various powdery ingredients, and Artemis groaned. They were going to be covered by the end of this weren’t they?
Koma was already measuring out flour into a bowl, and Arty stepped up, grabbing measuring cups far too small for her giant paws, getting salt, baking soda and powder around, while Koma played around with sugar.
Artemis followed instruction, quickly grabbing an egg that threatened to roll off the counter, while Koma mixed in some butter, slowing down when Artemis added the milk and vanilla so it didn’t spill.
“At current, you have a normal sugar cookie recipe.”
“And is that not what we’re making?” Koma asked, eyes wide.
“Clearly we’re making magic cookies.” Artemis tried to joke, but it came out more sarcastic than anything else.
“Essentially yes.”
Artemis almost joked on her words while the ruby and snow vay held back laughter at her misfortune.
“To make them more palatable, we’re going to need to add more sugar, and a bit more salt. I’ll also usually toss in some cocoa just to give it a hint of something less plain. I’ve done this with butter cookies too, but the flavor of our more … unsavory ingredient stands out more.”
Koma and Arty shared a look that made them both question their existence, but when the dough was done to the black and purple vay’s standards, the bowl was tossed into a metal box that was enchanted to stay cold.
“It needs to chill, so let’s make some frosting.”
Artemis groaned, while Koma immediately went looking for sprinkles. The two of them at least were able to find that the icing was rather simple to make - a bit of water, some powdered sugar, and an ingredient Koma had heard of but Artemis hadn’t, meringue powder.
Somehow in all the baking mess, the pair of vays managed to get white powder on them, yet somehow the black tyr was suspiciously clear of any flecks that stood out against her coat.
“What colors are we using for it?” Koma asked as he dug through bottles of edible dyes and colored powders.”
The tyr in the meantime had hauled out a cookie cutter that had a shape Artemis couldn’t identify off hand, and then a few she could place - a lizard and a snake.
“I call these reptile cookies so I try to stick with a theme.”
Even Koma squinted at the strange shape, but he finally seemed to get it, a soft “Oh” coming from him as he held it aloft.
“Is this that mythical beast that they organize huge hunts over anytime he crawls out of his cave?”
Ah, Artemis could see it now, the shape resembling a simplified version of the Zataro. How she remembered the name was beyond her, but someday, she wanted to fight it.
Witchcraft nodded to indicate Koma was correct, and the male went back to grabbing colors again while Artemis divided the frosting into separate bowls to mix in the dyes.
Setting the colored bowls aside, Witchcraft finally hauled the dough back out, thoroughly chilled as if it had been in there far longer than it had. “The extra salt helps bring out the sweetness. Now we need to knead it, and add in this.” The tyr held aloft a small vial, looking even smaller when it was dwarfed in her large claws. “Venom straight from a naga.”
“Are we killing people with cookies?” Artemis deadpanned without missing a beat and even Koma seemed hushed.
“Nah, with the correct ratio, the only effect it will give is a slightly poisonous aspect to those who ingest it. Strange I know, but very useful when running into battle. Add some toxins to those claws of yours and you’ll be a downright beast. I mean I suppose you can put the venom on the claws but it rubs off so fast.”
“Magic cookies.” Arty whispered to Koma, who cackled in agreement.
After rolling out the dough, the pair worked with the cutters and set them on sheets to bake in the firepit that had been shaped as a makeshift oven, while Witchcraft continued to knead and roll the dough scraps until there was nothing left.
Baking flew by in no time, and Artemis wondered why they had prepared the icing so early when the cookies still had to cool so it doesn’t get too runny, but the tyr plopped the cookies into that metal box again, and Koma was all too eager to grab icing bags and get to work.
Artemis was surprised at how much she enjoyed the fine detail work of icing the cookies, not that she’d ever admit it, and was almost sad to see them vanish when witchcraft packaged up their hard work in small individual paper bags, labeling them all.
Koma gave a yawn though, and Artemis had to agree with the unspoken statement.
“Thank you so much Witchcraft. I’ll be sure to learn from this.” Koma stated, bowing slightly before taking his leave. Artemis hovered, unsure of herself, but the dark vay only grinned.
“I know more than just cookies and tea you know.”
Artemis didn’t doubt that, and flashed a grin. “Yeah, I need some sleep, but I get the feeling I’ll be back.”
Artemis was sleeping in the barracks when the commotion outside woke her. She was quick to her paws, assuming this was some sort of test, and made herself presentable in record time. She barked out to the others in their beds, telling them to get up and ready for their general.
It was not exactly what she expected though when the commanding reosean dragged a tobiano angora along behind him. Snow was blown in from the cold wind, and the door wasn’t properly shut behind them. It made the wolf marked vayron want to shut it, but she didn’t dare move from her spot. While Artemis tried to be the model soldier, standing at attention with her eyes straight ahead, her fur neat, she could see out of the corner of her eyes that others were not as professional, openly gawking at the two that entered.
“Warriors of Roenden. This is Horai. She will be joining Volk’s command. Artemis, she will be bunking with you.”
With that their commander turned and left, leaving everyone to be at ease, and in most cases, return to bed.
Artemis had been wondering when another would be assigned to the squad with her. They occasionally had a few that dropped in and out, usually mages, but she was excited to work with another warrior. That had potential.
She walked up to the bloodmarked vayron, whose fur was disheveled, looking like nothing more than an alley rat - a stark contrast between the two of them. She cleared her through and started to introduce herself.
“Hello, I’m Art-”
“You can take that hello and shove it.” The slightly larger female shoved past and headed towards the beds, taking Artemis’ still warm one.
“That one is mine.”
“Yeah and what are you going to do about it? Save it princess.” The other female tucked her tail over her nose and curled up and away from Artemis, leaving the latter thoroughly frustrated.
***
Horai had always been brutish and thoroughly frustrating to most who had the misfortune of meeting her. She had come to the army, drafting herself into its ranks to hide from her past, to get stronger and use its resources in her quest for revenge.
She had been short and pissy with the recruiters; showing her paperwork for serving in a private sector had been probably the only thing that let her in. So when she was pulled aside for an extra task right off the bat, she was suspicious.
“I need you to continue this attitude problem of yours. We’re going to pair you with one of our star warriors; let’s test her shall we?”
It seemed unprofessional in her opinion, who but really cared? She got to be herself without problem. Awesome. She wasn’t here to make friends.
Seeing the uptight gingerbread vayron, Horai almost laughed in her face. This was going to be too easy. She hadn’t really even argued when the angora had plopped herself down in her bed.
It had taken her a few moments to realize water was slipping through her fur. She blinked, raising her head to find the source. Were the barracks that shittily made that they leaked? She head no rain and it took a few seconds longer to realize what was going on.
Artemis stood at the foot of the bed. A rope was clenched in her jaws, and a bag of water was suspended overhead. Through the fabric, water dripped through, and as she watched, Artemis loosed the grip on the rope, letting it fall a few inches before grabbing it again. It was cold droplets that splattered from the soaking bag, a testament that the water had been gathered from the snow outside and only recently melted. Curse Roenden winters.
“You know, if you drop that, all you’ll do is piss me off and soak your own bedding.”
The wolf marked vayron shrugged, and let the bag fall.
“You needed a bath anyway.”
***
Artemis walked, not ran, out of the barracks to head for the mess hall, shivering slightly from the cold. Breakfast would start to be served right about then, and if Horai wanted an incident, she would do it in full view of everyone. The bedding had time to dry, and Artemis wasn’t too concerned about it anyway. Besides, it was best to grab the food while it was still hot; the weather had an awful habit of making warm meals cool off real fast.
As she grabbed a tray of food, the angry swearing of an approaching reosean caused more than a few to move out of the way. The bloodmarked vay stood in front of Artemis, and shook, letting her long fur spread droplets in all directions.
“Bitch.”
She turned and walked away to grab her own food, and Artemis wiped water from her face. Alright, so payback wouldn’t get through to the other female. Still, she figured she had proved herself to not be a pushover, so it was a start.
A start that didn’t get any better.
Horai proved to be a downright ass. She refused to get up on time, was late for drills and made the whole squad work extra to make up for it. She left her belongings everywhere, and didn’t bother to sharpen her weapons or polish her armor. When Artemis learned she had been a soldier in a private reserve before, she couldn’t believe that this savage pain in the ass had been trained before.
It was only on the battlefield that she started to see the tobiano's potential. The woman fought like a hundred soldiers, as brutal and dangerous as any other.
***
Horai didn’t like working with Artemis; she seemed to be a show off and excelled at everything she did. At the same time, it was hard not to admire her just a smidge. She was an excellent fighter, tenacious, determined, and almost as stubborn as Horai herself. No matter how much the bloodmarked female pushed her buttons, Artemis always bounced back, stronger than ever. She understood why the commander had wanted her to act out, it was indeed a very good test for the other female.
Artemis had proven, stubbornly enough, that no matter what Horai did, she either would respond in kind, or just ignore it. She had even taken to dragging her out of bed early, consequences be damned. After the first few times of dragging her out herself and getting a few claw-fulls of fur removed, the wolf marked vayron had gotten smarter. Having an arcanist animate the bed to dump her outside in the rain for example, or getting a firebug to contain a fire around Horai that the bloodmarked vayron had to move to avoid getting her fur singed.
It was an uphill battle for the both of them, but Horai wouldn’t have it any other way. In a way, it helped establish a healthy amount of respect, something that might not have happened if the other female had backed down on the first day.
They still had a lot to go throughout the years of working together before they ever made a proper team in the end, and Horai was determined to not let it be easy for Artemis to get to the leadership position she worked for. She was going to make the gingerbread vay work for it. Perhaps then, Artemis might be a warrior she could rely on to help find Warden.
Battle was often quieter than many imagined. Sure the clash of weapons on each other or armor would clang, but only the young and inexperienced fighters made noise. Any sound of pain would reveal a weakness to an opponent, and often a warrior is concentrating too much on their movements to yell out insults or snarls.
Artemis was no novice to battle. She had some scars, those both visible and not, and while she was still young, she had more experience than half the reoseans fighting alongside her. This earned her quite a bit of respect from those her own age, and sometimes more than a little jealousy from those older. She didn’t care though, she only cared about making sure to strive and survive.
There wasn’t large scale wars like there used to be in the old days. Skirmishes, individual battles, sometimes border disputes was where the majority of fighting lay; outside of training of course. Still, she could imagine what large scale war would be like, or at least she thought she could.
Nothing could have prepared her for the battle she was forced into now. Forced was the wrong term, she went willingly, but perhaps it was because she felt a sense of duty that it felt a bit like she had to do this. Now she stood on the plains, donning both natural and unnatural weapons, as reoseans took up arms to fight one another.
She didn’t even know how it all began. She wasn’t much of a talker, she didn’t ask questions, usually following orders to the letter. All she knew was that the militia needed extra paws, and she of course volunteered. A location was all she needed, and she armed herself, taking what she needed and heading to the destination.
Her squad went with her before. She was the leader of her 3 man team. One mage, two warriors. They, like many other squads, made up a part of large faction under their leader, Volk. Today, she had been assigned Horai and Isabela. Horai and her had worked well a few times together before. She was new to Volk’s leadership, but their battle tactics worked well together thus why they had been assigned the same squad.
The oddball was Isabela. The bright pink vayron was a traveler. Her roots were in Vitalus, although she found herself across the world to sign up where she was needed. She had been hired by the army because of her spellcasting. The female was devastating with fire.
With her armor, the gingerbread vayron often armed herself with a weapon, as it was harder to get in close combat with layers of metal in the way. She gave her favored great axe a smile as she strapped it with her belongings, thinking this would be just another skirmish. She was used to that, looking intimidating and showing her prowess with the weapon, maybe a few shows of muscle, knocking over someone smaller, that sort of thing.
Today blood splashed through the air. She wasn’t a stranger to it, but it was unnecessary. Later in life she wouldn’t care as much as she did today. Later in life she wouldn’t feel grief over the loss of life as bodies fell to the ground, doomed to lie still forever.
***
Volk was known as a stern commander. He didn’t abide by any lax among his troops, often resorting to stern punishments to shape them up. It wasn’t due to any cruelness, no, it was due to the fact he didn’t want to see the results of his failures. Anyone that died, was maimed, or could never live their lives the same again, were failures on his part.
The only thing he couldn’t avoid was the inevitable dullness of his troops as they made themselves numb to the things they did. If they didn’t harden themselves, most of them broke inside. Either way, battle was not for the weak, and all of them had to change somehow.
The coral tobiano had two promising recruits under him that could perhaps take the same title as him someday, both females, which surprised him. While sexism wasn’t usually a thing, males were usually the ones that rose to the top, especially for battle. It was a breath of fresh air to see the masculine females showing promise.
The sable wolf, Artemis, showed great skill in battle, keeping a level head during a fight. She was good with both offense and defense, although she seemed to lean more towards the defensive side of things. The vitiligo tobiano though, Horai, was vicious, making up for skill with brutal efficiency. Unlike Artemis’s cool and calculated tactics, Horai was impulsive, leaping into battle without a second thought.
He found it fascinating that the two worked so well together with such different approaches. Perhaps that was just what worked best for them. He decided to pair them together shortly after Horai joined his command, even after using her to test Artemis' patience, finding quickly that whatever squad the two were assigned to would be devastating. Today, he assigned a new mage to their recruits, a wild child with an affinity for fire. They didn’t have any time to practice together, so he just hoped they would work.
With a triumphant battle call, he sounded his troops into movement, watching them flow across the land to attack their foes. A small sense of pride welled in him as he watched them go, before he leapt into the fray himself. No good leader sat behind and let those below them do their dirty work. Volk would never let the soldiers do more than he.
***
Impatient, Horai kicked at the ground. She wanted to go, but until Volk gave the go ahead, she was stuck waiting. It wasn’t even like they were against another army. Well it was, but they weren’t trained. They would scatter as soon as their forces started to deplete. Rogues were like that. They didn’t have the experience a soldier did, usually just getting by with brute force.
To be fair, she got by with brute force. On her own, she might have found herself screwed over. She had always worked better with a partner; in the past, that was her lover. He was shy, introverted, but when she had him, she was able to think more clearly, she worked to protect him. She questioned her motives for fighting and wanted to run away with him. With his death, that all went away, and she was wild once more.
When she rejoined under a new command once her squadron was slaughtered, she had found herself an opposite in Artemis. To her, Artemis was a rival, and she was able to act a bit less on impulse and a bit more with thought; not that it changed her tactics much.
Now though, she was under the gingerbread female’s command in their small squad. She could care less about their third member, only caring about the fact that her bright pink pelt would paint a target on their hides from miles away. Although anyone without white in their pelt often stood out in Reonden, the snow a stark contrast against different colored fur. Still, if a reosean held natural colors in their coat, they could be mistaken for features of the landscape peeking through the white drifts. Pink was as unnatural as they came. Rolling her eyes, she almost rushed into action as soon as they were given the signal, almost not heeding Artemis’ command.
While they usually worked together, the amount of foes surprised her, quickly separating their squad in a divide and conquer type tactic, something she wouldn’t have expected from them. Still, she wasn’t about to be undone by rogues of all things, and she fought with a viciousness that hid beneath her skin.
Unlike her axe wielding companion, the bloodmarked tobiano fought with fang and claw. She was a little faster than her fully armored companion, wearing lighter and less armor, using that to her advantage to get in close and get away before she got struck.
A stray ball of fire flew in front of her face, landing on her opponent, who turned and ran with a howl. She wheeled on the pink vayron, snarling. Isabela giggled and turned away to continue using her flames to make up for her smaller size among her companions. Damn mages.
She decided to ignore the pink freak and instead go back to fighting, finding a new opponent almost immediately. Good, someone to take her anger out on.
***
The bright pink vayron never seemed to be without a smile on her face. Even leaping into battle, she tossed fire with boundless energy. Isabela was, for all intents and purposes, a wild child, never truly tied down to anywhere, and apt to do whatever she wanted. Often that included helping others.
When she heard of the rogue attacks in the southern part of Reonden, she knew she had to do something. Villages were getting destroyed, many reos losing property to raids and damages. Often they tossed fires as they went, and even the snow didn’t stop the flames.
Of course being a fire caster herself, she had been approached by someone from the group of rogues as well, offering whatever loot that pillaged in return for her burning skills. She declined. Even if some of them were starving and homeless, that wasn’t the way to help them. Neither really was attacking and slaughtering them, but she couldn’t really help that. She just had to keep telling herself she was doing the most good this way.
As it was, she was doing her best to chase them away, to not kill all of them, unlike her two merciless companions. A permanent burn would serve as a lasting reminder, perhaps enough to make them rethink their life choices.
While she wanted to support her comrades, she had more pressing matters to attend to, as just like Horai had predicted (not that Isabela actually knew that), her bright pink pelt was just attracting enemies, like flies on shit.
That was why Isabela had practiced as much with speed as she did with her magic. Unlike the other females who had puller body shapes and built on strength, Isabela was built for speed, her more lithe runner silhouette allowing her to move around the battlefield and out of enemy’s grasps.
She laughed as she ran, tossing bolts of fire as she dashed around. Sure she was a target, but that just meant she was a bigger distraction for her companions to take advantage of.
“Avast ye! Take that! And that!” Her cackle rose in the air as she danced through the snow, kicking it up to serve as yet another distraction, although it melted quite fast with her heat filled magic.
***
Artemis had almost lost herself in thought as a swish of air flew by her head, she ducked, reaching up with her axe to slice at the beast that was dive bombing. It roared at her, flapping away, before trying to come back in again. Stupid.
She was prepared this time, and as the tyrian made another pass, she leapt, her blade sinking into flesh. She used her weight to unbalance the winged reosean, and pulled her axe to slice in just the right direction to cause it to jerk off course, tumbling into the ground in a cloud of dust.
She wasted no time in approaching it, slashing at the defending claws, forging a gash across its face. It reached to bite her, but her armor deflected the hit, although the metal crumpled under the strong jaws. It hurt, but she didn’t think her skin was pierced, so Artemis went back to it, cutting her way through the tyrian’s defense to end this opponent.
She panted softly, flashing her eyes to and fro. She had to keep an eye on the battlefield, a good soldier was in control, and used everything to their advantage. She especially had to keep an eye on her squad, making sure she wouldn’t suddenly be left alone. One of her comrades was faring poorly, Horai having let herself get outnumbered, and she bounded over to help, using a small hill in the features of the land to get herself airborne. She slashed out at an enemy as she fell, landing gracefully on the other side.
Or she thought she was going to land with grace. Instead, the dented armor restricted the movement of her leg, and she cursed herself. The bloodmarked Tobiano had taken advantage of the momentary distraction she did provide though, cutting down one of the opposing reoseans.
Glancing around again, she noted nothing needing her immediate attention. Volk had rushed over to assist Horai, and the two of them were quickly pushing back the attack. Isabela was being chased, but it looked like a game to her, and all a part of her intent as she tossed fireballs behind her. Artemis took a small reprieve to remove the troublesome piece of metal, internally cussing herself out the entire while. She should have bought stronger armor!
The wolf marked reosean hadn’t seen everything though. Against the bright snow fields that glinted in the moonlight, an albino vayron had used the environment to his advantage, blending in and moving slowly like a tiger stalking his prey.
It was too late to defend herself by the time she saw the movement of his approach, his sword swinging right for the exposed bit of flesh she had revealed to him.
Fuck!
While she turned to defend, knowing it would be in vain, it was like the next few seconds went in slow motion. A flash of light in a gentle dome over her figure, her opponent’s weapon striking the dome, bouncing off with some sparks of light. She didn’t stop to question it at the moment, bringing up her axe to swing at her opponent, the barrier having disappeared as quick as it appeared.
If she thought about it, she might find it ironic that it was the same shade as her eyes. It might have clued her in to what was happening. But that was far too many mights, and while Artemis wasn’t terrible at thinking things though, she wasn’t experienced enough with magic to make sense of it all.
The white male was used to stealth attacks, and in direct combat, he was quickly cut down. She angrily spat at his corpse. Teach him to mess with her.
***
Volk had been taking the time to go from squad to squad, lending a paw where he could and ensuring that as many of his entire faction made it out alive. There were more rogues than intel had suggested, and he was regretting not bringing more troops to the battle.
As he helped a pair dispatch a few of the winged tyrants, he scanned the area, taking stock of what was going on. His attention had been caught by Artemis’ group, and he decided to run over there next. The pink mage had indeed attracted more attention than any of the other squads, and he regretted allowing her to sign up for this one. Thankfully, the all girl team seemed to be handling it decently well, even if they were divided.
The other tobiano caught his attention first, she seemed to be in the most desperate need for assistance, and he joined her after Artemis had come to her comrade’s aid. When they finally pushed back the attack, she turned to find Artemis about to be ambushed, and he yelled out a warning.
The warning came just as a flash of light revealed a barrier that protected the female. He knew the fire thrower in their squad wasn’t capable of it, but there was no one else around! He squinted, having a suspicion, but keeping his muzzle shut as he glanced are their surroundings, making sure there were no other allies. If there was, they were well hidden, and he decided to leave the matter rest for now.
He considered assisting the third member of their squad, but fire was being thrown about with glee and he decided it just wasn’t worth a singed pelt to help her. Even though he had the least amount of fluff out of the group (which amused him that out of the four they all had varying levels), he didn’t want to risk what little he did have. Isabela would be fine on her own.
Instead he bounded away to find another squad that needed assistance. No one could afford to waste time in war, and if his assistance would keep more from being hurt, more from dying, then he would do just that, taking wounds for his brethren that weren’t intended for him. His large ears may look goofy to some, but he liked to think they picked up more sound that others, and used that to his advantage to move around the battlefield, relying on all his senses to tell him what was going on.
***
Horai would never admit she was grateful for help. She was, but the warrior was too proud to admit it. She was also a bit too stubborn to admit it as well. She also never in a million years ever admit she let herself get overwhelmed. If anyone were to ask, she had it handled. Volk was just overkill. Yeah, that was it.
She had missed the light directly, but caught a glance of it out of her peripherals. At first, she had written it off as yet more of that flashy magic Stripes had been throwing. It only occurred to her later that the light was a different color. Oh well, magic was weird.
Instead, she threw herself back into the fray. Most of the rogues still around them were focused on their mage, and while she didn’t want to help the upstart flippant magic user, she knew it would be a smart idea to not piss her off. While Horai hadn’t seen her do anything but smile since she met her, she hadn’t known the striped lady for long, and she did not want to get on her bad side. She had too much fur at stake!
With that, she kicked herself into gear, chasing after those that chased the mage, targeting some at the back. If she stayed far enough away, the fire shouldn’t reach her right?
Isabela was taunting her foes, going against most unspoken rules of war. You don’t talk and reveal your position or status! Of course, nothing was hiding that bright pink against Reonden’s snowy landscape. Nor was anything concealing the bright balls of fire that danced around, casting light of their own like miniature beacons. Yeah, maybe the rules didn’t quite apply to her.
Her jaws clamped down on fur, and she tasted blood. Ah, that was a liquid that sometimes drove her into a frenzy. Her companions better be glad she wasn’t letting herself go now, else there would be no way of identifying the difference between friend and foe. For now, she kept a hold on her composure, instead counting off the fallen reosean as yet another number, fulling intending to compare her kill count to others in the end.
***
Isabela, even while running around with reckless abandon, kept a surprisingly good eye on what was going around her. She caught Volk coming in to assist her companions, and even give her a look before deciding better of it and bounding off again. She caught Horai take out the rest of those that had out numbered her, and then dash off to hunt those that chased Isabela herself.
She also caught the spark of magic.
She had a hard time containing her glee. That was unpredictable magic, it was new, it was without any practice or experience. It was magic that was born out of desperation, the kind that started without warning, that only appears when put under stress.
Isabela knew full well what had gone on, but by the confusion on her companion’s face, she knew that the other vayron had no clue what she had done, or perhaps even if she had been the one to do it. If fact, if Isabela had to put money on it, she would have bet her entire purse of krones that the warrior had no clue she was even capable of magic, that she was just stuck on the fact that she was a warrior, not a mage.
Oh honey, a warrior can be a mage too.
The idea that her little squad had another magic user made her excited. The majority of vayrons had magical capability, just many never realize their potential. Even if Volk and Horai didn’t have any now, didn’t mean they wouldn’t be able to develop it at some point in their life, either through accident or study. Isabela was lucky in that case, having discovered her magic early, through practice to find what she was good with.
While the pink vayron definitely didn’t have the kind of magic that Artemis was showing, she could help guide her along her magic path if they couldn’t find her a proper mentor. She would be happy to.
***
Artemis’ lavender eyes glanced around. She knew of a few vayrons in their company that could do magic, and none of them were close enough to have done what they did. Some were missing, others she could see far away, and their own fire thrower was well, not of the right kind of mage to do much outside of fire. While battles often were done quickly, she couldn’t imagine someone had enough time to defend her and get back to fighting themselves.
Perhaps someone else had magic that she didn’t know about. That would be useful, and she pondered who it might be as she rushed back into the fray. Was Horai a secret mage? She shared a glance with the bearded female, but she seemed as unaware as Artemis herself. Her eyes kept an eye out for her comrades as the warrior continued to cut a path through her enemy’s lines.
It was over before she knew it, the rogues who were raiding cities and pillaging either chased off or dead. Good riddance. She had only realized what they were while they were fighting, perhaps she should question motives more often. Not that it would have aided her in any way.
She summoned her companions, gesturing with a paw for them to head back. She glanced them all over as they walked past her, making sure none of their injuries were too serve, before taking up the rear, keeping an eye from behind in case any of their foes decided to attack when their backs were turned. When her faction regrouped, she lead them to Volk, glad to see he too was doing fine, nodding her head in formality before speaking.
“Sir, I believe one of ours has magic that would have been useful to know beforehand.”
He raised his brows, glancing at her curiously before barking out orders.
“Attention! It has come to my attention that we have another mage in our ranks. Speak now or face punishment for withholding information later!”
There were some mumbles among those assembled, but no one spoke up, causing Artemis to frown. Was there really an unannounced ally that had aided her? Horai looked confused, having not seen the magic herself, she really had no clue what was going on.
“Sir, I may have an idea if you will allow me a moment!” The pink striped girl spoke up, and stepped forward before given permission. It caused the coral tobiano to growl, but he did nothing more as the fire thrower approached.
“Artemis, could you please set your weapon down over here please?” The mage indicated a spot away from the group, and while confused, Artemis did as she was told and returned to her starting position.
“Everyone else please stand back. That includes you as well, Sir.”
Their general wasn’t keen on being given orders, but Volk did as she said. No one wanted to be on the wrong hand of someone who played with fire. Horai too looked like she could argue, but after coming face to face with multiple flashes of fire, she would rather step back.
Artemis wasn’t given any more instructions, but suddenly, bolts of fire were racing towards her! Shit, shit, shit! She curled in a ball to protect her exposed parts, remembering to keep her body loose as tension made hits harder. It took her far too long to realize that the expected impact never came, and she looked up curiously. Isabela had a shit eating grin on her face, while even Volk looked impressed. Horai had an expression on her face that looked like a cross between amazement and frustration. Artemis had no clue how to interpret the look at this time.
“Well, you’ve proven your worth yet again, Soldier. There’s some proper training in your future when we return.”
She could see the glimmer around her, a similar share as what she had seen before, and the connection with her lavender eyes finally made sense as the flickering shield faded back away into nothingness with nothing to keep it going.
She was a mage? Well damn. That was unexpected. And with a natural affinity for shields too. No doubt that would be incredibly useful in the future. As she returned to her paws and went for her weapon, the elementalist hung by her side, still grinning.
“We’re gonna study together, and practice together, and we’re totally gonna be the best of friends!”
Volk had been watching Artemis’ progress since the beginning. She showed the trappings of a good leader, and had decided to test her further by accompanying her on a few trips. He had told her to invite her whole squad with, but only Horai had come. The mage had decided it was time for her to visit her family, and had left to return to Vitalus.
While they had been in the harbor, prepping for their excursion, they had been approached by a very shy reosean. His ears were down and he stuttered when he spoke. “I, I hear th-that you a-are traveling through the, the mount-mountains. May I-I join you?”
Horai snarled. “Prissy pants, you do realize this isn’t an easy trek?” She didn’t talk much about her past before joining up under this part of the army, but Volk had gathered that the other tobiano had done stuff like this before. She could likely lead a faction of her own, but he suspected she preferred to follow a leader. The few times he had seen her make decisions, she seemed rash, and had wondered if she regretted any past decisions that got people hurt.
He turned to the wolf marked reosean, nodding to her. “I am only testing you on this journey. The decision is yours to make.” Artemis had thought it over for only a few seconds before making her choice.
“You may come. An escort would be a valuable way to test our skills. Between the three of us, you should be fine.”
The pink and black vayron smiled softy. “Th-thank you.”
And now they were a few days from Udreim, crossing through the mountains. Watching Artemis take command of the situations so far had been confirming what a good leader she had been shaping up to be. She made the best choices as they travelled, both dealing with the nervous vay, and the bullheaded one, making sure they all reached their destination safely. She had even kept an eye on their supplies and rations, making sure there was extra left over in case their journey took longer than expected.
As a snowstorm picked up though, the general had questioned what she would do now in the face of a different kind of danger. This wasn’t a foe she could battle directly, and as the passage through the mountains got thinner and thinner, Artemis would have to show a different kind of leadership.
***
Artemis had taken the lead through the mountains. She had placed Horai in the back to cover the rear guard, while leaving their commander and the newcomer in the middle.
Erasmus was the boy’s name when he finally was able to speak it. He was clearly nervous around strangers, and spoke little unless prompted. He hadn’t been much use when she had questioned what he was good at, and mostly just had written him off as not having any assets useful to her. That was fine, she would have to be used to this if they ever had, say perhaps, someone injured in her unit that couldn’t contribute. She treated him as such, putting him in the middle. Her commander was also taking a step back and following her leadership, so she put him in the middle as well, which left Horai to take up the rear guard. As the reosean that essentially filled the position of her second in command, Artemis trusted her to take that important spot.
As the snowstorm hit though, she had an important decision to make. Did she lead her party through the mountains, or did they try to find shelter and waste some time? Looking over her group, she was confident at least three of them would be able to hold tight to the cliff edge. It also wasn’t a full on blizzard, and she didn’t think the conditions would be right for an avalanche.
Her company also consisted of all puller types, except for the smaller melanistic reosean. Considering their supplies, she took all of these into account as she made a plan.
“Alright gang. We’re going to try to brave the mountains. I am confident we will do just fine. I am worried about our new companion here, not to say I’m not worried about all of you, so we’re going to put some safety measures into place. We have plenty of rope and with our harnesses carrying supplies, we’re going to lash ourselves to one another. In the event someone slips, the majority of us are of a stronger build, and will likely be able to pull one another up.”
She had glanced at Volk in an attempt to catch his approval, but as has become usual through this trip, he kept his expression neutral. Horai looked about to snap with some snarky comment, but wisely held her tongue. The newcomer looked relieved, and Artemis felt a small moment of pride that she seemed to do something right.
***
Horai didn’t see why they had dragged the little runt along. He wasn’t built for this sort of journey, and he could have taken up with a caravan or paid for a proper escort. They were doing training, little kid, go run off.
The fact that Artemis even suggested tying themselves to each other seemed to be tailoring just to the melanistic runner, making her more than a little irritated. It was wise, and could be helpful if any of them fell, but the likelihood any of them would, outside of the brat, was slim to none.
The angora female bit back her retorts though, knowing it would get her nowhere to complain about things out of her control. She considered letting the rope come loose and watching the brat tumble, but she wasn’t that cruel, so pushed through thoughts to the back of her mind. She was just tired of the way he slowed them down. Their food had been spread out more, and while the little whelp had brought some of his own, Artemis had made sure to account for a longer trip. Horai was just hungry and wanted to get to the capital, and any extra time they had to take because he wasn’t up to the challenge felt like a waste.
The younger reosean at least wasn’t the first one to get cold, that was their commander. Volk didn’t have the fur any of the rest of them had; Artemis and herself held the most. In the snow, she was incredibly thankful to have a bit more fluff on her. Erasmus did grow cold eventually, but long before the thick coated vayrons felt the chill. His shivers gave her strength, wanted to show up the others best she could.
It was hard to put a value on the amount of surprise the bearded vayron felt when it wasn’t Erasmus that slipped first, but instead her. She yelped, her paws scrambling for any foothold. It was the pup lashed in front of her that perhaps was her saving grace, as much as she never would admit it. He acted quickly, moving faster than the rest of her companions, pressing himself tightly against the wall of rock that grew on the other side of that path they walked. He splayed his legs for more stabilization, and yanked on the ropes in front of him to get their attention. Perhaps he wasn’t as worthless as the female had written him off as.
***
Erasmus at first spooked from the yelp coming from behind him, and pressing himself against the wall had been involuntary, as the fear of falling was at the forefront of his mind. When he realized the ropes behind him were pulling, he braved a glance back, and saw the fluffiest of their group slipping down the side.
Knowing her weight would pull him down, he steadied himself, taking a stance that should hold better, and pulled with his chest backwards to get the attention of the male in front of him. “Ho-hold on!” He yelled and then grabbed the ropes that held the two of them in his jaws, yanking as best as he could.
He had to fight with himself as the swirling flakes distracted his thoughts, and he had to pull his mind back to the problem at hand. Drat his attention span! Thankfully, the other two seemed to have noticed what was going on. Unfortunately, the path was too thin for the other reoseans to turn around. Instead, Volk backed up, Erasmus crouching down so that the larger male could straddle him.
“Hook her ropes to his harness!” The voice of their leader could barely be heard over the winds, but the pink vayron caught them just fine. He did as Artemis told him, tying them off best he could.
“You’re going to have to move with me, Pup.” The larger male rumbled, and Erasmus nodded. As Volk moved back forward, Erasmus scrambled backwards, and the two of them slowly pulled the struggling female back onto the path. Once she was back up to safety, Erasmus reached up to unhook her, and Volk resumed his place in front.
As the melanistic vayron brought himself back to standing, Horai grumbled behind him. He swore he heard a thanks, but from what he had experienced on this trip, that seemed unlikely. Still, he smiled softly as they continued on their way.
***
Artemis heaved a sigh of relief as they had gotten Horai back on the path without further danger. If that was the worst they would endure on this trip, then she totally had this in the bag! But she couldn’t let herself relax just yet. If she did, there was a chance she wouldn’t be ready for the next time.
She had to put her people first. She looked up to Volk and any others that served in commanding roles. While it had always been a dream of hers, it was crazy being in charge herself. There was so much to think of, so much to keep an eye on. It was almost overwhelming. But her crew trusted her, as did her general, and she wasn’t going to let them down.
As she continued along again, she took the trail at a bit slower pace. As the ice was starting to build up from the falling snow, she had to do all she could to avoid another slip. Next time it might bring them all down the mountain.
She also knew she had to talk with Horai when they stopped for the night. The prideful vayron would never admit to being hurt, and Artemis had to make sure she was okay. She also had to speak with Erasmus, thanking him for his quick thinking. Perhaps she had underestimated the younger reosean.
As they made their way along the path, it gradually widened, allowing them to pick up the pace once more. After their close call, and with the snowstorm showing no signs of stopping, she decided that the first place they could find shelter would be where they rested for the night. They were just in luck as the path widened further and revealed a cave that looked well traveled by those that made their way through this pass.
“We’re resting for the night!” She announced to her little troop, and led the way into the cave. She assisted in helping everyone disconnect from one another, and she could tell Horai was tired as the female didn’t complain at the help. Everyone seemed to be okay, and she used her shield to block the entrance, keeping the wind from coming in and chilling them further. That thing was way more useful than just for battle, and she was enjoying seeing all the different ways she could use it.
When Volk put his snout to her shoulder, she smiled. It was his own way of telling her she was doing a good job.
Volk sat by the cave entrance to take first watch, Erasmus curled up in the back, and Horai took a spot in the middle. Watching them all take their places for the night, Artemis couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. They would all make it though. She could do this.
The rumble of someone’s stomach drew Artemis’s attention. She suspected she knew who it was without turning, but she did anyway. The small flush that lightened the black faced vayron was mildly cute, she had to admit. She had suspected it would be their escort that was probably used to a more plush lifestyle. They had limited supplies for the journey, but she supposed they could probably stop to hunt something along the way. As long as it was quick. She didn’t want to be crossing the frozen tundra for a minute longer than they had to.
Horai had been something of an enigma to Artemis ever since she slipped. Normally the female would be snappy and always interjecting with her two cent comments. Artemis had tried to get her to open up afterwards to see if anything was wrong, but she didn’t get more than a few words stating that she was fine.
Artemis wasn’t dumb, she knew something was wrong, but Horai was stubborn, she wasn’t going to listen to reason, and would rather just get things done with. She had tried to bring up her concerns to Volk, but the older reosean only shook his head with a smile. It was her problem to figure out.
As such, she had decided not to push them as far as she had the first leg of the journey. They still would have enough food to last, but a hunt might be what everyone needed. At the very least it should brighten up the fluffier female’s mood.
“Alright gang, we’re going to do some hunting! We’ve seen signs of caribou herds across the snow, let’s keep our ears open and our noses sharp!”
***
Erasmus was nervous to begin hunting. He had never proven himself to be very good at it. Those he traveled with though looked more than able, and he knew he’d look like a fool if he didn’t pull his own weight with that as well. The others were more than happy to hunt, and they all seemed like soldiers. There was no way they would be as inexperienced as he, nor that they wouldn’t notice how clumsy he was.
Volk lifted his head and began scenting the air, Erasmus could barely hear the sounds of him scenting deeply, as his maw parted. He seemed satisfied by what he scented, and looked at their leader. Erasmus didn’t know their full relationship, but Volk seemed like a mentor to Artemis, and she in turn seemed to be following well in his paw steps.
When Artemis announced that she scented caribou on the wind, the melanistic vayron thought he could smell it, but he wouldn’t have been able to identify exactly what it was from this distance.
When they left the road to track down their prey, Erasmus could identify it better now, if only due to the fact they were following a herd. Their tracks through the snow were easily seen, and the scent was becoming undeniable.
As the group naturally got themselves into a hunting formation, the pink and black vayron bit his lip and tried to speak up.
“Umm, what - what would you like me to do?”
Three sets of eyes looked back at him, and he flinched under the pressure.
***
Volk was more than curious as to how Artemis might handle this one. The female was more than apt at knowing how to work with soldiers and recruits, but to his knowledge, she had never dealt with anyone this green before. While Horai and himself understood her unspoken signals to get into hunting formation, she had neglected to teach their acquaintance their meanings.
He watched her stumble a bit, before taking on the mantle of command as if nothing ever phased her.
“Alright then. Let me show you our formations.”
She went into detail describing how they hunted, and the best way to take down herds of prey animals. When she wasn’t making sense to the other vay at first, Volk was proud to see her figure out how to explain things in a way he could understand. Artemis was never much of a talker, but she was competent, and knew how to handle others.
She made sure to explain that the hooves were just as dangerous as their antlers, something many forgot. He watched as the younger reosean nodded as he took everything in, nervous but clearly trying his best.
As they fell back into formation, he watched Artemis take the lead, and while he wasn’t the leader of their group, he would still convey what he found as a member of the hunting party. He swished his tail to get her attention, gesturing with his head to the tracks that split from the main group. She likely already had seen it, but he was doing his job.
She nodded, and they changed course.
***
Horai was in a foul mood. After her slip earlier in the journey, she was still hurting, although she wasn’t going to show it. The younger brat was already dragging them down, she wasn’t going to let herself make it even worse. So she fought through the pain, refusing to even show a limp as they continued on.
As they headed off to follow the separate path, she scented the air, noting there was only one female ahead of them, and she was alone. Knowing what she knew, it was likely she was pregnant, and heading off to birth. It could be numerous other things as well, but that was the most common answer.
As they got closer, the scent of blood was in the air, confirming the female’s suspicions. It made the black vay nervous, but she decided just to ignore him. He irked her, and she felt like he was a waste of time.
A bellow and a higher pitched sound caused the group to change course, altering their way to take the most direct route. She considered it lucky they found one birthing this time of year. It would be much easier to take down.
Still, when the group approached the caribou, Horai felt a sense of dread as that was one of the biggest damn cows she had ever seen. Sure it would feed them plenty but damn. And she saw them too. Their luck ran out as the cold winds carried their scent straight towards the ungulate.
Crap. She looked towards Artemis, who signaled with her tail for them to split up. Volk barked at Erasmus to follow his lead, and Horai sped up to follow their leader, ignoring the pain that laced her leg as they ran.
No matter what Artemis decided, Horai didn’t want to follow the rules. She would be damned if she let the males get the glory for catching the big one, even a newbie can handle the calf on his own.
***
Artemis knew how Horai would feel, and signaled for the two of them to go for the mom. The calf was barely standing on its own, and even if that was all the other two managed, it would be enough to at least sate their appetites.
The caribou wasn’t stupid. While instincts wanted to preserve its young, it also wanted to run. But she was labored, and she stumbled away through the snow.
The snow hung up the reoseans as well, as a recent storm had drifted more than enough snow into their way. Sure they could follow in the path that the caribou had left for them, but the longer thinner legs did not lend well for the much bulkier vayrons.
Still, Artemis put on the speed to bound through the snow, thanking her thicker fur to keep her dry in the wintery Roenden.
Horai was right behind her, although Artemis had to glance back once. The other female usually was a bit closer. Still, she looked capable of continuing the hunt, and the wolf marked vay gave the signal to charge.
***
Erasmus’s heart was in his through as they chased after the caribou. Volk took the lead, splitting the two of them off from the girls. He thought he was going to vomit, as the few times he had gone hunting, it was planned out and not in the middle of a long trek. This much exercise was just wearing down on him.
He was slightly relieved when they cut off towards the baby. It was stumbling to try to get to its hooves, and the two of them were upon it in no time. The calf had no chance. Volk was upon it, knocking it down for Erasmus to come in for the kill. He hesitated, feeling terrible about taking the life of something that was only born moments ago.
Still, his paws stumbled as he reached out to swat, snapping the neck of the tiny thing. Guilt filled him, but it didn’t stop his companions. Volk left him to care for their prey, and rushed ahead to assist the girls.
The snow would keep the body hidden from other predators, so Eramus could just hide it simply and come back for it. That would be the easier option, then he wouldn’t have to deal with the body of a newborn. He knew even if the others hid how they felt, the cranky one would for sure berate him.
With a sigh, he hefted the body onto his back, repressing a shudder as liquid dripped into his fur that definitely wasn’t blood. He took care to make sure his bags weren’t crushed; his whole reason for this journey was to sell some of the seeds, plant babies, and pressed flowers he had accumulated and it would be a waste for anything to be destroyed now.
After tying down his new load, he set off at a slower pace behind Volk.
***
Volk could tell the act of hunting displeased their companion. It was something the younger child would have to get used to. He didn’t like pushing others into roles they didn’t like, but it was one of the only ways to grow.
With the calf secured, Volk decided to help the others. He too had noticed something off with Horai, and hoped the fluffiest female wouldn’t push herself too hard.
As he picked up the pack to get in step behind them, he watched them slip to go for different sides. He stuck to the middle, taking a dangerous place in the line of hooves, but also securing himself a position should either of them fall.
As the two ladies came up on either side of the hoofed mammal, Volk issued out a snarl that caused it to falter, leaving an opening for them to jump in.
Artemis jumped swiftly, landing on the creature to bring it down. Horai was more clumsy, Her paws barely getting any purchase on the caribou before she stumbled back into the snow. Volk made sure she was clear of the hooves before leaping in himself to take her spot, and between Artemis and him, they managed to bring it down.
***
Horai gasped out when she landed back onto her injured leg. While her companions brought down the caribou, she felt incompetent, worthless. Even the smaller male who came trotting up with the calf did better than her, pathetic. The tiny bell on his collar jingled and only rubbed it in further. How he hadn’t scared off the caribou before they had come upon them was a mystery to her.
She watched as Artemis and Volk finished off the caribou, biting the throat to end it faster. She could smell the blood that welled forth, and it made her maw water. The gingerbread female left the caribou to Volk before trotting back to check on Horai. The angora snarled and tried to get to her feet, but her injury had been made ten times worse, and she fell back into the snow.
“What happened?” Artemis’ eyes glanced over the fallen vay, trying to judge her condition. Horai knew what she saw, a splayed leg that was possibly twisted as the sprain suddenly became a lot worse when she landed on it hard the second time.
Horai grunted, turning away from the female. Artemis would get the answer out of her eventually, but for now, there was the matter of the caribou to attend to. Artemis rolled her eyes and left the bloodmarked vayron to her own struggles.
She eventually made it to her paws, but her gait was labored as she joined the rest of their group to grab a bite of food. First, she wanted to regain some energy, they could concern themselves with how to continue on later.
Artemis was more than a little concerned for her companion. Horai was quite stiff legged as she hobbled to get a few mouthfuls of food, and the pain seemed to affect her hunger, only eating the bare minimum. She knew how much the angora could eat, and she groaned inwardly. Suddenly her extra silence throughout their trip made more sense, as the fall from the caribou would not have accounted for an injury of that degree.
Her mind looked back to when Volk and Erasmus had acted fast to pull the vitiligo female back from the edge, and that was when she had started acting funny. Of course. Artemis felt guilt that she hadn’t noticed earlier, or pressed the matter harder the few times she tried to talk to Horai. Although knowing the bloodmarked vayron, she would have fought back even harder to hide her problems.
Now that just left the problem of dealing with it. And they still had all the meat left unless they wanted it to go to waste. She fought back a snarl of anger, and breathed deep, doing her best to keep a level head. Volk would be judging her through this as well, an unplanned complication, but a good one for her. She was determined to prove herself fit for command to the older general, and she wasn’t going to blow it now.
She glanced over her companions. Horai was easily the largest of them. No single one of them could carry her alone. Erasmus was much smaller than any of them, and struggled under the weight of a newborn calf; there was no way he would be much help carrying the larger female. Nor could she leave Volk and herself to do it, and leave him alone for defense should something come across them.
None of that helped the situation, until her eyes settled on the tracks they left in the snow. Of course! Roenden was fantastic for an easier mode of travel, and they were in the middle of the woods. It would be easy to get what they needed.
“Volk, I need you to go find wood. Perhaps strong lengths of bark that wouldn’t break, or fallen logs. Erasmus, you seem pretty apt with knots. Would you be able to fashion a harness for one of us to pull a sled?”
The small smile on her general’s face told her she was doing the right thing, and she allowed herself a small breath of relief.
***
Erasmus perked up from the orders. Volk had started to head off, while Artemis worked on securing the rest of the caribou. Horai was the only one not doing anything, and he cringed looking at her. A scowl seemed permanent on her face, and he wasn’t keen on getting too close, but he could help in another way he hadn’t mentioned before.
The melanistic vay went over to the angora, and cleared his throat a few times before he managed to speak. “May-may I?” He pointed to her leg and her scowl turned into a snarl.
“Stay away from me whelp.”
He cowed away, but frowned and tried again. “I know basic fir-first aid.”
The silence echoed around them, and if not for the sound of birds and the wind, one could have heard a pin drop.
“WHAT?!” The angry voice caused him to stumble backwards, and even Volk who wasn’t out of earshot yet stopped to look back at them.
“I might be-be able to tell what-what’s wrong and take care-care of it.” He steeled himself best he could, trying to be brave in the face of fury.
“If you could please, that would be great. Volk, if you could wait a moment in case there’s something our friend here needs. And Horai, for the love of all that is holy, just let him. It’s not like anything can get worse.” The vote of confidence from Artemis was enough for him to come closer. Horai growled, but didn’t move from where she was, pointedly looking away from him while he poked at her leg.
She was clearly resisting reacting, as he felt the muscles stiffen under a gentle touch. It must hurt her more than she wanted to admit. As he pressed a little harder, and tried to bend the leg a little, he came muzzle to muzzle with blood covered fangs and he gulped hard.
“I don’t have-have what I need to be full-fully sure, but it seems like it-it is broken, I would splint it just-just in case.” He did his best not to stutter, but in the face of the war veterans, he was hard pressed not to be nervous.
***
“Volk, can you make sure to bring back something to split her leg with too please? Even if it’s not broken, it won’t hurt to make sure it doesn’t move or get bumped during travel.” The war general nodded and trotted off into the woods.
Even if they didn’t have a medic on hand, the idea to splint it was a smart one, and Volk would have grabbed something for that had no one suggested it. Thankfully he didn’t have to remind anyone, which made him more satisfied that his little crew was going to do just fine without his leadership in the near future. He was excited to see where Artemis took herself in the coming years.
While on the lookout for the wood he needed, the tobiano kept his long ears perked to keep a lookout for danger. The scent of the kill could easily attract other predators, and them being split up was not good for anyone, especially if Artemis had to defend the others herself.
It wasn’t hard to gather what they needed, and he probably grabbed extra. There was nothing wrong with extra at least, and he lashed it all together into a large bundle for him to pull back. It was awkward, and not as easy as pulling a sled would be, but he got the job done by following his own trail as he slowly trudged back to where the others were waiting.
Artemis had nearly tied up the remains of the caribou, and even added in the calf that the runner carried. Horai laid in the snow, glaring at whoever came near, while Eramus was currently digging in his packs for who knows what.
***
As Volk arrived with the lumber, Horai sighed. Hopefully these dullards didn’t take too long to get things together. The angora was struggling more than she was letting on, doing her best to ignore what ailed her.
When the smaller male approached her with a mouth full of something, she growled a warning at him. He flinched, but stubbornly came to her side, where she snorted and turned away.
“I have some-something for the pain. It should help-help.” She didn’t want anything he had to offer, and was about to tell him so when a soft whine from Artemis caught her attention. The females’ eyes met, and the vitiligo vayron sighed. Fine, she’d do what the male asked.
He deposited a small pouch in front of her, and she opened it carefully. She knew nothing of herbs, and squinted at the male. If he was trying to poison her…
With a defiant snarl, she downed the small mixture of leaves, sticks and seeds, tossing the empty pouch back at him before resuming her posture of lying away from him. She heard him retreat, and figured good riddance. All she had to do was suffer the splint he wanted to put on her, and then with any luck, she could ignore him the rest of the journey.
While the others worked to lash together a couple of sleds, one for herself and one for the meat, she found herself dozing off, much more tired than she would have expected. Perhaps it was just the excursion of fighting to hide her injury the whole time. She decided not to fight it, and let herself sleep in the snow.
***
As Artemis assisted in making the sleds, she kept glancing over at the now sleeping form of Horai. The melanistic vayon had a smug look on his face, and she dared ask him what he managed to feed her.
“Oh that?” She noticed his speech was much improved now that Horai wasn’t staring him down. “A mixture for pain such as ginger, cloves and willow bark, and then some stuff for sleep, like poppy seeds and lavender and valerian root, among other things. She won’t feel a thing as we get the splint on her and get the sled under her. By the time that all wears off, we’ll be long on our way and she might even be docile the rest of the trip, making getting to town a heck of a lot easier.”
Artemis stood there awestruck as he continued working on the ropes and she heard Volk chuckle. “Might want to pick up your jaw there.”
Never in a million years did she expect the shy vayron to essentially placate and knock out their most aggressive group member. That would teach her not to judge anyone again. He had surprised her with his medicinal knowledge, and with his treatment options. He was devious but efficient, and while his shy and stuttering exterior may seem harmless, she got the feeling he would be a wonderful doctor someday.
True to his word, Horai slept soundly while he lashed on the splint, and snored loudly as they hefted her onto the sled. They had tied a few pieces of wood on the sides so that they didn’t have to worry about her sliding off, and Artemis had taken her sled personally. She felt that since Horai had been injured on her watch, the bloodmarked reosean was her responsibility. Volk pulled the other one with the rest of their hunt, and Erasmus settled in the middle of their line, right behind Artemis where he could keep an eye on Horai if anything did go wrong.
***
Erasmus didn’t often get a chance to show off his skills with healing. He often tended to small things, birds and creatures that came to his garden, and left the bigger things to the actual medics in town. The pride he felt from actually being helpful on this trip caused him to keep his head high as they marched along the last leg of their journey. At some point, his patient stirred, and he halted their progress to make sure she was still doing okay.
After grumbling about how hungry she was, Erasmus figured she was doing just fine, and they broke off another chunk of the caribou for her to eat, including a few more pain relieving herbs into the meat. She ate it quickly, and nodded off again, barely bothering to finish the last bit. It caused a bit of laughter from the group as they picked up the pace again.
“How did you learn this stuff anyway?” Volk tried to make pleasant conversation with him, and the pink and black vayron beamed.
“Oh well I love gardening and poetry and it seems like a rather weird hobby to get into from that but sometimes a good epic for example needs a bit of fun elements and magic is so overused so I turned to what I was good at and started learning more of what everything I grew was used for. The reoseans in my home town also are like super nice and some of them had old uses for herbs long forgotten and it was one of those things where one thing lead to another and suddenly I’m treating injuries.”
He babbled on a bit, causing a little more laughter from his audience, and at Artemis’ prompting, he told them tales he invented on the spot, even if half the time he started a new one without finishing the first.
***
Volk enjoyed listening to the younger vayron talk about his hobbies. Anyone could tell he was passionate, and he always stopped his tale to be a good caretaker whenever Horai stirred. Artemis had done a good job getting them to this point, and the harnesses were made so that the sleds could easily be detached should trouble arise. He was proud of them all, and would be happy to award Artemis with a rank upgrade when they returned from this.
It also amused the old reosan to see Horai so docile. She was usually such a spitfire, and he hadn’t heard so much laughter in a long time. It was probably best not to draw attention to themselves, but Artemis was being careful to lead them through open areas where any attack would be spotted from miles away. She camped in the open, creating shelter in the snow, and had everyone take careful watches.
It wasn’t too long before the capital of Roenden was in view, and Artemis proved herself again by not pushing herself the last few miles. She kept an even pace, and Volk commended her verbally. She did well to hide it, but he could tell she was quite proud of herself.
“If you’d like, I can run ahead and find a doctor who can better treat her?” The runner asked, and Volk was more than curious to know how Artemis would respond.
She was silent for a while, but finally shook her head. “While you would probably be fine across that distance, especially since you are more built for speed than us, we did promise to escort you, and I won’t stop until we are safe in the capital.”
A good choice indeed. Erasmus muttered his thanks, and kept his place in their line.
***
Horai started to wake when the sounds of the city grew louder. She couldn’t remember much of the last few days and even now she was still drowsy. Still, she was ecstatic to finally be done with this. A proper doctor and she could be on her own four paws again, as she was feeling more and more embarrassed by the day.
She was vaguely aware of her companions saying their goodbyes, and she had to think hard to figure out what they were doing. They weren’t leaving her were they?
No, she heard the voice of the younger vayron and she remembered. She lifted her head and watched him start to turn away.
“Hey!” She shouted, a snarl twisting her face. He stopped, freezing in place as everyone else around her waited for the shoe to fall.
“Thanks.” She mumbled, knowing that things could have been worse without him to help her twice.
She watched the nervous expression turn to a grin, and he bowed slightly to her. “Of course.”
She wouldn’t miss him, but she wouldn’t forget the shy reosean either. “Alright guys, are we going to get my leg looked at or what?”
Artemis didn’t get along with Horai very well at first. The other female was brash and impulsive, and she seemed to chafe under orders. Artemis thought that she might make a better leader than a follower, but when Horai proved that she was more than a little impatient and brutal in her ways, the wolf marked vayron realized that she needed a firm paw to keep her in line, and definitely no position as a leader.
When the pair of them were together under Volk’s leadership, Artemis was more than a little excited about getting command of a squad of her own. When she was appointed as a commander in her own right, she was more than a little disappointed that Horai was given to her to command. After so much time together, Artemis was unsure of how well she’d do leading the cold bloodmarked vayron since she had seen her in action. They also had exchanged very few words to each other, simple commands, brash words in the heat of the moment, grumbles and a few swear words were about all they had communicated.
So it surprised her not at all when Artemis gave her a command to go scout ahead, that the tobiano just plopped her butt down into the snow, and proceeded to give Artemis the stink eye.
The gingerbread vayron suppressed a sigh, and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. When she was as ready as she could be, she strode over to the angora, and plopped herself down beside her, watching the snow puff up around them before settling down in sparkling flakes.
She sat quietly, and kept her gaze ahead. From what she knew of the other reosean, Horai would respond to hostility in kind. If she yelled or reacted poorly, so too would the glinted female. So instead she would wait, and let her calm demeanor do the work for her.
***
Horai did her best to ignore Artemis. Even when she sat down so close they could almost touch, she kept her gaze forward, or to the opposite side. She was more of a veteran of war than the other female, why wasn’t she given command instead? It rubbed her the wrong way, and while it wasn’t by any choice of Artemis’, Horai blamed her because she was here and an easy target.
She had expected the duveteux female to yell, or question her, perhaps even question the vitiligo female’s actions. The silence was not at all what she wanted, and she started to squirm in place. Patience was not a trait one could say Horai had, and the longer Artemis sat there in silence, the more it felt like a mass convergence of fleas were swarming under her fur, until she just couldn’t take it anymore.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Perhaps that wasn’t the question she had intended on yelling to the other female as she leapt to her paws. In fact, she wanted nothing more than to just tell her to fuck off. The look on Artemis’ face was also unexpected, as it stayed calm and only continued to stare straight ahead, as if Horai had never had her outburst at all.
That only continued to anger the bloodmarked reosean, who decided she had it with the lack of reaction, and moved to stand right in front of Artemis. The other female’s gaze continued to stare straight ahead, and Horai being taller, had to crouch down to meet her eyes.
“Stupid bitch! Respond when I’m talking to you!”
***
Only then did Artemis smile. It was a small one, the barest hint of a grin that someone might not have seen had they not been looking. She had judged correctly, and had the other reosean right where she wanted her.
She waited in silence, staring ahead as if she was looking right through Horai. Soon enough the other vayron let out a strangled yell and stalked away, but not too far. She sat within a short distance, and kept looking over at the freckled wolf marked reosean. Artemis eventually stood, very slowly and started to walk away.
It didn’t take her long to hear muttering and snow crunching under paws as Horai wandered through Roenden’s snowdrifts to catch up to Artemis. Even then she huffed and grumbled, and Artemis continued to wait until Horai had suitably calmed down on their walk.
“What is it you desire most?”
The question Artemis asked may have seemed unrelated, which also served to off put Horai more, who stuttered a few syllables and her steps became jerky before she regulated herself and returned to walking in step besides the duveteux.
“Revenge.”
The answer wasn’t completely unexpected. Artemis had often wondered if Horai had ulterior motives than just wanting to fight, to maim and to mangle, or help others. She waited a few more moments but when the angora refused to explain further, she prodded a bit.
“Care to share?”
***
Horai didn’t like how Artemis could effectively wrap her around her paw like that. She wasn’t stupid, but she still sung like the fiddle she was being played for. She also didn’t want to tell the other reosean her life’s story, but something about the patient vayron made Horai think she could be trusted.
Problem was that Horai wasn’t one for talking. She grumped a little, started to talk, and shut her maw again as the words refused to come out. Through it all, Artemis’ lavender eyes asked her to continue, and Horai found herself entranced by it. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought the gingerbread vayron had some mentalist magic instead of the arcanist she had shown.
“Once upon a time…” She snapped her jaws shut again, thinking herself stupid to start it off with that. Artemis smiled softly, and Horai figured it wouldn’t be too bad to continue.
"There was a warlord, who went by the name of Warden. He was admirable, and had many soldiers under his command. There’s a love story mixed in, someone afraid of the blood and battle of war. A pair of vayrons who wanted to run away from it all. And Warden found out, and … well lets just say the one afraid of bloodshed never got to see the light of day again. The was an ambush, and Warden should be dead now, but he had a way of living to continue on.”
She wasn’t clear exactly who she was in the story, mostly leaving herself out, and feeling better by leaving it vague. The look on Artemis’ face told that she understood after all.
Horai’s blue eyes snapped forward, continuing on their path.
“We will find him, this I vow.”
The voice was soft, and when the bloodmarked vayron looked over at her companion, there was no trace of anything but determination on the other female’s face. Lavender eyes stared straight ahead, and if Horai hadn’t heard the words herself, she would have sworn the other female hadn’t said a thing.
Perhaps… perhaps they could work together after all. Artemis no longer seemed to be a mindless companion, and she had proved herself in battle. She stuck by her word the few times she gave it, and for the first time in a long time, Horai felt hope.
While they still had their orders from higher up, and their loyalty was to the Reonden army and the country itself, Artemis being the head of their squad found plenty of time to do some reconnaissance work of her own. Horai hadn’t given her much to go on, but Warden was a name some reos knew, and it was enough to get an idea of where to go next.
She hadn’t told Horai where they were going when she got leave permission, only that their next assignment would take them further out than usual. The two of them had started to get along a bit more than usual. Horai still was agitated at nearly everything Artemis did, but there was less fighting between them, and Horai usually followed orders to some extent.
Artemis weighed the decision to hide their end location from Horai. One one paw, it might be good to have the other vayron ambitious and driven, while on the other, she might be more reckless than usual, and try to confront this head on. If the stories about Warden were true, Artemis knew she wouldn’t stand a chance on her own. As it was, she wasn’t entirely sure this was Hoari's Warden, as he went by another name. No need to instill false hope in the bloodmarked female.
Horai to her credit, didn’t question things too much. So after a few days of travel, with a large campsite set up in the distance, she wasn’t surprised when Horai finally questioned their journey.
“So what the actual fuck are we doing here?”
It was growing dark, so the wolf marked vayron settled in to wait for full darkness. It would be a new moon, and overcast. Perfect for the quest they were on.
***
Horai was growing used to Artemis’ lack of talking. She was quiet and only talked when needed to. Still, looking over at the camp that Artemis seemed to be keeping watch on, she had an uneasy feeling.
Grumbling, she settled in to watch as well, waiting for full dark to fall. She kept standing, pacing, and sitting back down, only to repeat her actions as impatience sat in her bone. When Artemis finally stood, Horai was ready to run right into the action, but a paw held at chest height stopped her from running in.
“Stealth. My sources say it will be easier to get in and out with stealth, too many eyes. We are looking for the leader’s tent. We need to take him by surprise. He is powerful with magic no one understands, and we won’t have a chance if we just run in.”
Horai wasn’t used to stealth missions. They weren’t assassins, they were straight up warriors. She snarled a bit but followed the gingerbread vayron’s lead.
They were both rather large, but Artemis blended into the darkness better than the tobiano with all that white fur. Thankfully with the snow from Roenden, hopefully no one would see her standing out too much from the landscape.
***
Artemis had worried Horai would rush in anyway, but breathed a sigh of relief when the larger female fell in step behind her. There were sure to be guards, so they made their approach slow, moving from shadow to shadow, always staying in the darkest spots. She grew nervous as they grew closer to the camp. With unknown magic in play, there were too many variables, too many things that couldn’t be predicted. She only was doing this for Horai, otherwise she would have left this camp the fuck alone.
Well, she probably would have had to report this to the higher ups. More people in play, more warriors and skilled mages as well. Right now she would pay to have the magic of her old firestarter companion on their side, even if reports said it made their target worse to fight if you toss fire at him.
Light from torches and lamps flickered as now they sneaking grew harder. They had to watch those that moved around the camp, ducking behind tents when backs were turned. They had to watch their paws as well. Artemis herself nearly tripped on a tent stake, and the two females held their breath as they darted behind a pile of crates, fearful of being caught.
They breathed a collective sigh of relief as there were no alarmed shouts, no sounds of pursuit, and they continued their march across the campsite.
Staying at the edges would only get them so far. No leader would be stupid enough to risk himself on the outside, and soon they’d have to move further in. Still, they could scout from their positions in the darkness, and it wasn’t hard to pick out which tent was the largest, and determine if it was a decoy or not.
Their target was smart, and the majority of traffic stayed away from that tent, indicating it wasn’t belonging to a person of high interest. It wasn’t long before Artemis found one of the targets she was looking for. She pointed out the vayron strapped with bottles and goggles, clearly an alchemist of some sort.
Her reports had suggested this alchemist was working alongside their target, helping to remove whatever magic it was he had when it took him over. It didn’t sound like any magic she knew, but she wasn’t that well educated on matters of the arcane.
***
Horai would tell by the way Artemis was acting that the chemist wasn’t their target, but he had something to do with their target, and so the females kept their eyes on his movements through the camp.
The decoy tent had almost fooled her, but that’s why she had Artemis, her commander thought things like that through.
When someone looked right in her direction, she froze, closing her eyes so the blue orbs wouldn’t give her away, and with a little luck, she didn’t hear any approach, and must have been mistaken for some sort of snow covered rock or something. Thank Roenden for snow drifts matching the white of her fur.
Another deep breath and they moved on, slowly threading their way through the camp, using everything standing to their advantage.
It was then that a familiar scent assailed her nostrils. She inhaled sharply, and took it in again, confirming the scent. It had been a long time since she had smelled it, but she wouldn't forget that one. Anger and fear rose from her, and she turned to meet her blue eyes to Artemis’ lavender ones.
Warden.
Now she understood the sneaking, the silence. She was angry even more over Artemis keeping her in the dark, but it made sense. She would have run right in, and if Warden had magic of a sort that she didn’t know about, it was smart to ambush him.
Still, she was more than a little angry. She shook where she stood, and a soft growl slipped from her lips. She felt a smack on her shoulder, and she whirled on Artemis, who moved forward, having grabbed her attention and decided they needed to go.
Fine.
They moved through with more hurried steps, as every paw forward brought them closer and closer to being caught. Horai followed her nose, and where the scent of Warden grew more concentrated, she stood at the back of the tent, outside of watching eyes, and drew her sword, slicing into the fabric and ducking inside, Artemis close on her heels.
Artemis rushed in after Horai, knowing that if any of her reports of the vayron they were about to face were true, they were severely outmatched. As it was, he was usually on his own, but he was gathered with a force at the moment, which was the only way Artemis had been able to find him in the first place. They had to strike before he was lost again.
It didn’t matter that they had ambushed their foe, he was ready for them, and was already locked in combat with Horai, their swords in a deadly embrace. Artemis’ entrance didn’t cause him to falter, and some of the black rocks that floated around him blocked her axe with ease.
She didn’t get much of a chance to examine the rocks, but they felt wrong to her. They pulsed with purple veins of magic not unlike how her own magic manifested.
“Horai, we need to end this quickly!” She managed to get out between swings, knowing that the clash of metal on metal would have the whole camp altered within a manner of seconds.
The name alone seemed to enrage the larger male, and he fought with greater ferocity, the snarls echoing in their ears.
Anytime their weapons managed to gain purchase on flesh, the wounds sprouted more of the strange black rocks, and suddenly they were more than a little outmatched.
Desperate for an edge, she summoned her shield to block the strikes, while her axe chopped at the tent poles, collapsing the fabric around them. The sounds of the rock strikes were even harder and more frequent, and whether it was due to her magic use or something else, she noticed the rocks were larger and more numerous, and she gulped. This was bad.
***
Horai’s vision was red with rage, and with every swing she snarled and growled. There was almost no awareness of what was going on around her, only the larger male in front of her who fought with a ferocity she remembered. The larger tobiano had a new trick or two up his paws though, the magical rocks were nothing she remembered.
As the tent collapsed around them, she struggled to back away where she could see. Her sword cut through the fabric, and she felt a tug on her tail. The blade crashed down on a familiar lavender barrier, and Artemis’ pleading eyes asking them to retreat. As the roar of her past commander was muffled by the tent, Horai knew they should leave, to wait for a day when they weren’t in the middle of an enemy camp.
Instead, she plunged her blade down through the fabric, intending to stab Warden while he was impaired. The blade clanged upon the rocks that were growing from him, and the male rose up from the tent, his face a fearsome mask of rocks and magic.
Horai had, for a moment, a thought of the rest of the camp, but they seemed cowed by the enraged vayron, with not a single one of them attempting to come forward to assist in fighting the intruders to their camp. That should have made the bloodmarked reosean realize what they were up against, but she was too blinded by fury and dove back into the fray.
***
Artemis was regretting not researching Warden more. The stories were just that, stories, and she should have known that Horai was not just going to let him go. She also knew there was possibly one reosean here who could help.
She trusted Horai’s fighting skills to survive without help for a little while. Artemis backed away from the fight, searching for the alchemist they had spotted earlier.
And still more rocks grew from their opponent. One look back made her rethink leaving Horai to fight alone, but she shook her head as she leapt into the throng of vayrons, knocking aside those in her way as she forged a path to the chemist.
Clearly he was prepared for this, as she found him in a tent, gathering potions and concoctions. She didn’t have to talk, as he followed her back without a second thought. She heard him barking out names and commands, but they went in one ear and out the other. She could care less about what he was doing, they needed to help Horai.
Returning to the fight, she saw how hopeless things were for their side. There was slowly becoming more rocks than fur on the male, and his actions were less strategized. He fought with the intensity of a cornered bear, not caring so much for being hit, and just using his strength to batter Horai around like a fly.
***
The bloodmarked female had more than a few injuries. Blood dripped into her eye and she had to retreat to wipe it away so she could see properly again. She was tiring, as a fight with a creature of magic and rock was not anything she expected this battle to be like.
In fact, as more and more of the rocks started to cover the other vayron, he seemed less and less like himself. A war cry at the beginning of this encounter was just a roar. His actions were less calculated, and just wild swings with not a care in the world. This wasn’t the Warden she remembered.
Her sword was doing very little against the rocks, and any flesh she managed to score a hit on would only cover itself with more of those stupid rocks. She was doing nothing but give him more armor, but she couldn’t stop. She wanted him dead for everything he had done to her, and her partner, and anyone else he had fucked over.
It was only when he stopped charging at her that she noticed he was being restrained. Not well of course, but ropes and chains were holding him down, and a few mages were doing work at digging a deep pit with water so cold that chunks of ice floated in it. He was being dragged, albeit slowly, towards the pit, and Horai was able to catch a breather.
“What the hell is that thing?”
Artemis had no words for her, the other female shaking her head as the male fought against his restraints.
“You two need to leave. He isn’t himself right now, there’s nothing you can do here.” her blue eyes rounded on the alchemist from earlier, who was preparing a mixture that sizzled to her ears through its container.
She scoffed, turning from the scene. “Whatever that is, it ain’t him anymore. He’s dead anyway. Good riddance.”
***
Artemis was suspicious as the female tobiano stalked away. It wasn’t like her to give up so easily. Still, she followed; she wasn’t going to leave her behind after all this.
“You okay?”
She got no response for a long time as they walked away from the camp. Finally, Horai plopped herself into the snow, and Artemis settled in beside her.
“Whatever that was. It was going to kill him. He’s not himself. I can’t physically kill him, but mentally, well he’s a goner.” Her tone was nonchalant, as if she didn't care.
Artemis still wasn’t satisfied with that response, but she knew it would take the angora time to process. If she still wished to pursue Warden and find a way to overcome whatever that corrupting magic rock stuff was to properly end him, she would stay by the glinted female’s side. She deserved that much as least.
Horai shook, but Artemis had no clue if it was from the cold or whatever was going through her mind. She scooted closer, letting their sides touch in a gesture of comfort, and promise, as the sun rose over the horizon. It wasn’t long before the bloodmarked female’s breaths slowed. Artemis kept watch on the new dawn, letting the other reosean sleep.
Working together had never been easy for the pair, even if it got better with time. Artemis and Horai bumped headed over a lot of things, well, practically anything honestly. Horai had a habit of fighting against anything Artemis was in favor for, and not just because she disagreed, but because it was fun to fight and argue.
Thankfully Artemis had the patience of a saint. She learned early on how to work with Horai. Fighting her just encouraged that sort of behavior, while ignoring her tended to annoy the other female into paying more attention.
The backwards line of thinking was just how any of them managed to get anything done together, which was kind of impressive in and of itself.
It was just that line of thinking that had Artemis avoiding conflict between Horai and someone new they had run across.
The pair had been tracking down a herd of wild horses. Roenden made tracking easy during the winter months (which of course populated most of the year) as traces of passage were easily spotted in the snowy tundra. Tracks stood out if the wind didn’t cover them back up, hair and droppings also were usually darker against the pristine white snow.
While following the trail, they met up with a dark puller female who made the other two feel slightly small in comparison. She too had been looking for prey to hunt.
“The horses are ours! Stay away if you know what’s good for ya!” Horai wasn’t kidding though, and Artemis knew she would try to shred the sparking vay in a heartbeat.
The other female too took an aggressive stance, and Artemis knew the lady wouldn’t be a pushover. Hunting a herd on her own took guts, but the wolf marked vayron knew how to use this to her advantage.
“Please excuse her.” She wanted to snap in a word or two about her piss poor behavior, but those sorts of words would just rile Horai up further. Besides, Artemis only liked to talk when she had to, the less she had to say the better. “If you’d like to hunt the horses alone, you’re more than welcome to. My companion and I can find something else.”
“Oh no you don’t. We’re coming with. I’m not giving up on these horses. And if she ain’t gonna complain, the extra paws means we can take down more.”
Hook line and sinker. Say the opposite of what you want to get the desired results.
***
Alfadhirhaiti had been hunting the horses alone while the rest of her band of soldiers stayed back. Some went on hunts, but they spread out, hoping to bring back more food for the rest of the camp. She was a menace on her own, but she would never say no to extra paws. She would just have to keep an eye on them so they didn’t stab her in the back.
She nodded. “Let's go then before we lose them.”
It hadn’t escaped her notice that the softer spoken one of the two seemed to be in charge. The small grin too on the wolf marked vay’s face also was a telling sign that things were going as planned. Clearly she knew the bullheaded and loud reosean well.
She took the lead, used to being in charge. The bloodmarked female fell in step next to her, refusing to let her be solely in front. The gingerbread duveteux walked behind, covering the rear. It felt strange to her that the one who was clearly the leader didn’t mind taking a backseat, but if that dynamic worked for the duo, who was she to complain?
There was still plenty of daylight left, and if they kept the pace they were going, they would catch up to the horses soon enough. The fresh scat grew warmer and more pungent as they approached, signaling their chase was close to an end. There was no way it would stay warm long in the snow.
It wasn’t long before they could hear them up ahead. Hooves kicking up snow, some whinnies and snorts. They saw them within short time, mixed colors of browns and greys, tans and blacks.
She headed to the left, intending to circle around, and the tobiano headed to the right, clearly knowing what she was thinking. Well trained indeed. Perhaps these two would be a lovely addition to her group of soldiers. There would be time to dwell on it later though, for now, they needed to concentrate on the hunt.
She looked back at the last of the trio. The gingerbread female hung back, intending to chase prey into the paws of the other two. Alfie nodded to her, and continued on her way, making sure to give a wide berth so the animals wouldn’t scent or notice her approach until it was too late.
With that she charged from a distance, intending to cut off the herd and take down a few, trapping the horses between the others. Her jaws were parted and she couldn’t wait to sink her teeth into horse flesh. The thought made her hungry, and she salivated. Perhaps she could share a meal with these two when they were through.
***
Horai wasn’t happy they had another reosean with them, that meant they had to split the food. She knew that having the extra paws would help with taking down more prey, and she knew Artemis knew that as well.
As much as they fought and disagreed on the outside, Horai often understood and didn’t question the other female’s logic and decisions. They had been through a lot together. But arguing was a part of her nature. She didn’t like to sit around and wait, she wanted action, and well, sometimes a verbal disagreement was the only action to be found.
For now though, they had plenty to take up their mind. The horses would give her plenty of action, and it wasn’t entirely safe either. They kicked hard, and if she wasn’t careful, she could really get hurt. That was what made hunting them fun.
The newcomer started running at them sooner than Horai was ready, which was impressive considering how much Horai loved to jump to her paws at a second’s notice. Horai too put on the speed, pinching off the horses. Some escaped of course, not all of them would manage to be trapped by only three vayrons, no matter how big those three were.
She was used to hunting with Artemis, and so she used that to her advantage, chasing them right to the other female’s paws with virtually no regard for the sparkling, glinted vayron. She could care less what happened to the grey female, as long as her and Artemis took down prey.
Chasing the horses in this way made Horai come to the realization that they had come a long way. Had they tried to do this when they first met, they’d have been lucky to take down a horse or two. Now Horai took down a few, injuring them so they wouldn’t be able to get away, and chasing the rest to her partner. They could pick off the hurt ones later, saving them time in the takedown now.
Honestly, Horai had completely blacked out the existence of the other vayron. That wasn’t unusual; when she was on an adrenaline rush, there was usually nothing in her mind except her and her prey, whether it be the horses they chased now, or some enemy she fought. It spoke volumes that Artemis was included in that now, a blimp on her radar at all times.
As the pair took down a few more of the horses together, she noticed the grey vayron had done damn good herself, which almost made Horai jealous that she did as much as she did on her own. She wasn’t going to fight it though; Artemis and herself had more than enough horse to carry back on their own without having to worry about the other reosean taking any of their kills.
She grinned at Artemis as they loaded up the fallen hoses on each other’s backs. They made a good team, no matter if it was in battle or taking down prey. She liked that, even if it chafed her a little too. It was strange to have someone she enjoyed working with. She’d just have to hide her pleasure in the thrill of a successful hunt.
The grey reosean thanked them for their help, and took her own horses back in a different direction when it appeared Horai and Artemis weren’t sticking around. Good, Horai could only handle so many companions at once. Besides, they had food to deliver to a settlement in need, and Horai wanted a meal herself after that chase!
Artemis and Horai had been leading a border patrol around a remote village that had seen some attacks as of late. They had been joined by one of the natives, a very large tyrian by the name of Garfield, who was showing them around, pointing out which houses and farmsteads belonged to various reoseans the village called their own. He was also rather good at pointing out what directions the attackers had been coming from, which helped Artemis build up plans for defense.
They weren’t the only ones here. There were plenty of reoseans from the army, but for now, Artemis led Horai in one of her first solo missions out here. It was both exciting and a bit nerve wracking. It was a great honor to be elevated through the ranks, but she was worried she didn’t deserve it.
They had been patrolling since the sun came up, and she decided the little group deserved a break. The sun glaring off the harsh snow was starting to hurt her eyes, and she wouldn’t mind a short rest. It was then that they heard a commotion up past a ridge. They weren't expecting an attack, so when a small group of arctic wolves dashed through the snow, a light blue runner on their heels, while Artemis wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.
“After them!” She cried out, giving chase to the group. The blue vayron could be friend or she could be foe, and the wolf marked commander was not going to slip up on her duty. “Garfield, take to the skies, see if there’s any more of them!”
As the tabby tyrian lifted up, he scattered snow around from the drafts caused by his wings. Artemis and Horari dashed forward after the diamond marked rump that chased after the wolves. The wolves had another thing on their mind, as the tyrian scared them, and they scattered.
The arctic vayron glanced back at them then, and her tongue lolled in a smile. “Fancy helping me out?”
Of all the responses Artemis expected from someone who she was hot on their tail, that was the least expected. Perhaps it was due in part to the fact that the vayron in front of them had virtually no tail. The small bit of humor caused the blue vay's smile to be contagious, and Horai gave her a strange look.
“Well, I suppose some meat wouldn’t hurt ourselves and this little village.” Artemis pulled on the speed, catching up with the blue reosean.
Horai called out to their eyes in the sky. “Hey Stripes! See anything else?” At the moment she seemed to be hanging back, and Artemis was glad for the angora’s caution. While the hunt may be a good idea, until Garfield gave a report, it would be a good idea for someone to watch their behind.
***
Paloma couldn’t believe her luck. She had been trying to hunt for this poor village, and not only did she find some wolves that hadn’t been chased away, but she happened upon some reoseans that weren’t immediately attacking her. After being preyed on by the enemy, the locals needed more help than ever.
A howl sounded as the wolves attempted to regroup. She was more than grateful that the winged reosean had scared them. It would make it much easier to pick them off one by one, even if it wasn’t his intent to scatter them like that. To make matters even better, the two vayrons that were chasing alongside and behind her were strong and fierce. While she could keep up with the wolves, it would be these two pullers that would be a major help in taking them down.
“Name’s Paloma! I’m attempting to bring some food back to the villagers. Had to go further out to find anything of worth.” She chuckled cheerfully as they ran. It was easier for her to keep running and talking, her build was meant for this.
“You look sturdy! Are you perhaps here to help?” Her eyes glanced over at the armored vayron who was equipped with weapons. It was clear they were fighters, even if the armor was going to slow them down in a chase, especially through the snow of Roenden. She recognized the one flying ahead, he was a local. She had assumed they were on the side of the good guys, right?
The wolf marked vayron just grunted, clearly laboring under the weight of all that metal. Right.
“Will you quit jabbering and make yourself useful?!” The snarky voice from behind her made her grin again. A glance back at the bloodmarked vayron showed her laboring nearly as much as the one beside her. Paloma wasn’t one to poke the bear, so she stayed quiet, running after one that was further away and leaving the closer wolves for the two that were hampered.
“The coast is clear Artemis! No enemies spotted and no other prey besides these wolves!” The blue vayron spared a glance for the winged creature flying overhead. She had nearly been hunted by one of them once on accident and it made her slightly uneasy to be under one again. But Artemis was a pretty name, and she felt a little bit safer knowing this one wasn’t blind and shouldn’t mistake her for prey.
“Good work Garfield! Help us round these up!”
Paloma hadn’t seen the warriors in the village recently, so they must be new. The fact that Artemis already clearly proved herself to be in charge impressed the blue vayron. She directed the tyrian to swoop ahead of the wolf she chased, causing it to veer to the side. Right into the pocket the tobiano was rushing in to fill. As they spilled first blood, Paloma almost ran headfirst into a snowdrift watching them, but thankfully avoided it in time. She had her own prey to catch.
***
Horai swiftly took down the wolf the other two had herded her way. Having the winged tyrian around was helpful, she had to admit. He could maneuver into place much easily, and his wing beats kept him ahead of everyone else. Artemis needed to get a tyr on their squad for things like this.
Just getting one wolf wasn’t enough for her though, and she felt the blood race through her limbs as the rush of adrenaline got to her. There were more kills to be had, and while Artemis may be thinking of the village, Horai just wanted a decent meal in her belly too. That meant extra hunting to make sure they had more than enough so that her leader wouldn’t be upset that she took more than her fair share.
The others bounded away to the next prey, gaining precious steps ahead of her as she made sure the wolf wasn’t getting back up, and then having to pick up the pace to catch up again. Blasted armor. She should have left it behind, but if they were attacked on the way…
She didn’t finish that thought as the blue runner headed off the wolf in front of her, leading it not quite to Horai, but close. Time to show this whelp how a real hunter works.
She poured on the speed, closing the distance between her and her next prey. Her paws kicked up snow in a flurry around her as she barreled down, drawing closer and closer to the canines. She snapped her jaws, and they clicked together on thin air as the tail fur just barely was out of reach.
She leaped forward to cover the last stretch as this time, her teeth closed down on the hindquarters of the beast. It yelped in surprise and pain, and she took it down with her as she landed, her paws helping pin it down as her jaws let go. She changed the direction of her jaws to clamp down on the neck, snapping it swiftly to end the struggle.
Paloma trotted up next to her, taking in the fallen wolf with an appraising eye. Seeing that it wasn’t getting back up anytime soon, she trotted off to help the other two. Horai scoffed at the thought that the blue vayron could have helped; she was a warrior, a hunter, and this wasn’t more than a simple task for the bloodmarked female.
She took a look around, watching the winged tyrian herd the rest of the wolves in line, making them easy pickings for the rest of the group. She again thought on how nice it would be to have one of them in their squad - reconnaissance and hunting would be a million times easier with some eyes in the skies.
She covered the body with some snow, making sure no scavengers would get it before they had a chance to collect, and she galloped back towards the others, making sure to show she wasn’t just one and done, no matter how heavy her armor was feeling. Besides, she enjoyed the hunt. It was a rush of emotions and adrenaline, and for the angora, that high was worth every moment.
***
Garfield continued to herd the wolves back towards his four legged companions. He kept an eye out for anything else headed their way, but it looked to him like they were alone, so he dived back in to help them finish up the rest of the wolves.
He swooped down from above, grabbing one in his talons and carrying it high, ignoring the startled yips. Looking down on the vayrons below, he picked out a spot not too far from them so they could catch his prey should it get back up, but far enough that they wouldn’t be at risk, and dropped the struggling wolf down.
The snow might have cushioned the fall, but the armored vayrons were upon it in no time, both Artemis and Horai working with beautiful teamwork to take it down, while the blue vayron continued to herd up the last few.
When the last of the canines quit struggling, the tabby tyr landed, letting himself be the loadstone to carry the majority of them back. Armored up, Artemis and Horai were in no shape to carry them, any sharp edges would be sure to ruin the pelts. The runner just seemed too small to carry any, and so the large reosean took on the task of carrying the prey. He didn’t mind though, it was to help feed him and the village so it would be his honor.
“You sure you got it all?” The gingerbread vayron looked up at him, concerned that perhaps they had loaded too much.
He smiled at her and shook his head. “Not at all. Let’s get this back.”
Garfield decided to walk this time, the weight of the successful hunt would make flying a little unsteady. Artemis took the lead, while Horai covered the rear. That left him and the travelling medic that had stopped by the village to help together in the middle.
Content they had done their duty, they headed back to the village with their haul, only to hear sounds from up ahead. Artemis stopped, her ears perked.
“Horai! We missed something on patrol! The village is under attack, we need to go now!” The bloodmarked tobiano didn’t hesitate to tear ahead of them, and the warrior who spoke turned her attention to the other two. “You two find shelter, We’re going to do what we can! The prey we found might attract attention, so keep away!”
With that she tore off. Garfield turned towards Paloma, who only gave him a smile before dashing off herself into town. Well, he wasn’t about to be shown up by the vayrons, so the tyrian raced after them as well. Even if he couldn’t fight, anyone who managed to get away was going to need food, and suddenly the weight of their hunt felt a million times heavier. Knowing he was about to play an important role, the tabby marked tyrian took flight, determined to help make a difference.
Artemis and Horai were doing their best to keep the attackers at bay. They clearly had some elementalists, as fire spread from buildings and the ground shook. The wolf marked vayron hoped she didn’t see a familiar pink striped pelt among the raiders. Instead, she saw nothing but blood and signs of scuffles in the snow.
They had sent Garfield away. The tabby marked tyr has helped get some of his fellow villagers out, but he was a large target, and had swiftly retreated. Smart. For now, Artemis and Horai were working to get some reoseans out themselves. There were other members of the army involved in the battle, and while the rescue mission wasn’t as exciting, it was no less important.
She raised her barrier, blocking a few arrows that bounced off the magical shield with a few sparkles. The shield disappeared as fast as she had summoned it, and Artemis was grateful for the magic that had developed within her.
She glanced over as she heard the bloodmarked female groan. Lifeless corpses started to stand, walking without limbs or with grisly wounds that would have stopped anything living. A few swords and arrows stuck out of them, and Artemis swallowed hard. Fellow arcanists with control over the dead were difficult to deal with.
“Come on!” She gestured to the side, finding it best to avoid the zombies for now. Horai followed, muttering profanities under her breath. Thankfully, more falling snow helped obscure their retreat, a blessing brought on by Roenden’s climate.
A cry drew her attention, followed by a few grunts of pain, and her ears perked and she attempted to find the source. The other female must have heard it as well, as she bounded ahead, leaping into an open window. Artemis followed close behind, nearly landing on Horai who had stopped to take in the scene before them.
There was so much blood. If Artemis didn’t see the slight rise and fall of the chest, she might not have known one of the bodies in front of them was not another one of the dead. Whatever color the blood covered vay was, was muddied from dirt and blood, perhaps bits of purple and white poking through. What surprised her more was another familiar face, a blue and white hooded female with diamonds. Her paws were blood drenched, as she barely looked up before going back to tending to the fallen.
It took Artemis a few moments to remember her name. “Paloma?” Blue ears flicked back, as she returned to her job.
“Alright, she’s got it taken care of, let’s go.” Horai turned to leave but Artemis stopped her. If the injured vayron could get out of here, she knew Paloma couldn’t do it alone.
“How can we help?” Horai’s scowl told of disapproval but there were no forthcoming arguments.
“There’s a tub of water and rags in the other room. Help me clean him so I can see if there are more wounds. I don’t think it’s all his.” The long eared vayron wasn’t very forthcoming, preferring to continue wrapping bandages around the purple male.
***
There was so much pain. He coughed, and the rattling concerned him. Asteral was not a fighter by any means, so when he was cornered, he had no means of defending himself, except to swing a cook pot really hard and run. That didn’t do him much good as he was struck down where he stood.
He considered himself lucky. If the medic hadn't found him, he’d probably be dead. He had tensed when the unknown females barged in, but they seemed to know his savior, so he would assume they were okay. As fighting could be heard traveling onto the doorstep, he winced, and a calm paw brushed through his mane as a gentle shushing was heard in his ear.
“Perhaps leave the washing to me.” The voice of Paloma was quiet, and Asteral did his best to be soundless too, but another cough rattled his chest, and then there was a thud on the door.
“Shit.” Asteral opened his eyes to catch the tobiano leap to the other room, drawing her weapon. He was worried at first she was just going to end him, but she got into a defensive position on one side of the door, while the other wolf marked reosean drew her weapon as well, taking a stance at the other. That one glanced at him, light purple eyes that matched his pelt closing slightly, and then he felt the hair at the back of his neck stand up on edge.
Paloma glanced at the two and smiled softly. “It’s going to be alright.”
He squinted, and he could just barely see it, a shimmer in the air around them, just faintly that same light purple. Magic? Perhaps it was just some sparkle reflecting off the snow that drifted through the open window, or his mind playing tricks on him due to the blood loss.
He didn’t have much time to think about it when the door flew inward, the attackers coming through one by one. The two females had a nice choke point though, easily keeping them at bay. That left Paloma free to do her job, and as she continued to wash and bandage the male, he felt a little more secure than he should have considering there was fighting only a room away.
He winced as she hit a tender spot, and she clucked her teeth. “Alright, I’m going to have to stitch this one, but I think it’s the last bad injury you have. I don’t have anything for the pain right now though, so I need you to bite down on this.” She handed him a hunk of wood with a sad expression, and he understood that she would have done better if the situation was different.
He went to bite down on it and winced as something came flying towards them, but the debris bounced off that faint light, and it flashed brightly, causing the shield to become more visible. An arcanist? Awesome.
He felt even more secure, and finally bit down on the wood, preparing for the worst as the blue female dug for needle and thread.
***
Paloma hated hurting others, but sometimes, hurting was the only way to heal. As she readied her needle, she had to breathe deep to concentrate. The fighting in the other room made it hard, but she couldn’t let them distract her. One false move and she’d leave the injured male worse off.
She wished she had some sort of painkiller, the pain on the purple vay’s face was evident as he bit down while she tied nice neat stitches in his flesh. Thankfully it was the only major injury. The rest were mostly surface wounds, and a lot of blood from him and whoever he got into a spat with. He didn’t look like a fighter, but plenty of creatures turned completely different when cornered, and the blood in the room spoke the story of being cornered quite clearly.
She was more than a little thankful for the shield the warrior had put up. Someone had gotten past the warriors, and the weapon clashed against the shield, sending up sparks of magic. Paloma hoped it would last, while the bloodmarked vayron took out the enemy, returning to her companion at the door.
The scent of death filled the air as did magic. A quick glance revealed the nature of their foes. Zombies. No wonder they’ve been so savage. Paloma hated zombies. They were disturbing for the healer, full of wounds that couldn’t be fixed, fighting past the nasty injuries to add more to the ranks of undead.
Finally she finished the last of the stitching, the wood the male had been biting on finally snapping in perfect timing. “Alright, let’s get you up and slowly. We need to get you out of here.” He shivered, but whether it was from pain or from the cold, she wasn’t sure.
She glanced back at the two warriors, who were finishing up the last attacker. They clearly were used to working as a team, one with a sword and another with an axe. It was fascinating and deadly to watch their dance of blades.
“Alrighty you two, any chance you can forge us a path outta here?” Gotta be optimistic Paloma. She leaned down to give the other runner something to lean on while he unsteadily got to his paws with a few winces and a small yelp of pain. Soon he was standing though, as he tried to give his saviors a smile.
The wolf pelted vayron nodded to them, and gestured to the vitiligo female. “Lead the way, I’ll guard the rear.” She dismissed her shield with a blink of her eyes, and the slight shimmer than had protected them made them vulnerable once more.
***
Horai grunted in confirmation and poked her head outside. Confirming the coast was clear, she waved her tail, letting her charges know she was headed out. She preferred being in on the action, and the fight had raised the adrenaline in her. She wanted to keep going, keep fighting, but her commander was more than sufficient in keeping her bloodlust in check.
It was amusing to her really, that the other female could do that to her. She rarely was content under the leadership of others, but Artemis was competent, and hadn’t led her astray yet. And the female fought like a bat out of hell too. Besides, after finally getting Horai’s story out of her, Artemis had pledged her blade in finding the vayron known as The General, and promised to help track him down to exact her revenge. Horai would have done it alone, but another skilled fighter at her side, one damn good with her magic too, had been quite a welcome asset. No one else but Artemis would have done that with her against that demon.
She heard a grunt behind her, and saw the purple male leaning on Paloma, struggling with exertion to keep up. She dropped the pace a little, signaling for them to hold up as she poked around corners, and to keep coming when the coast was clear.
Once they had to stop to fight off a few more of the enemy, but they were dispatched quickly. Between her own swords, and Artemis’ axe and magic shield, their quarry was kept safe, and they soon reached the border of the village. Again, the snow assisted in their escape, helping to cover their tracks, and hide their pelts and scent.
When they reached the tree line, the group ducked inside, making sure to get far enough from the village that they found other reoseans. As the care of Paloma and the other male was handed over, Artemis leaned down to give the blue female a lick on the top of her head, and then motioned to Horai to go.
Paloma smiled and turned her attention to the rest of the refugees, clearly ready to lead her assistance to more of the injured, while the purple male was ushered forward to a place he could rest. Horai was more than happy to leave them to it. Besides, her and Artemis had more zombies to kill.
With that they ran back for the village, their work never done.
Being bonded was nothing like what either of them had expected.
They worked well as a team, and Artemis was still surprised Horai had agreed to it when the gingerbread vay had brought it up in passing one day. Horai was never nervous or gun shy about anything, but she never seemed to be one to build any sort of relationship with anyone. It had taken time of course, many months and years of working together, fighting back to back, being at each other’s side no matter what.
After finally tracking down Warden, Artemis had worried she had broken. Horai claimed he was dead to her, she wanted nothing more to do with him, but part of their encounter still seemed to haunt her. It wasn’t until there were no more secrets between them that Artemis got a taste of Horai that she never revealed to the outside world.
She was scared.
She had lost someone she had trusted, perhaps even loved. She had her commander turn on her. She watched unknown magic strike and turn someone she thought she knew into someone she didn’t recognize. She was brash and brutal on the outside, but she was alone, with no one but Artemis who had stood by her for so very long. With the bond in place, she was placated, a bit of relief that she would have someone forever, well, at least until death do you part. She saw into the mind of another, and nothing there spoke of betrayal, nothing there spoke of someone who would run away and leave her.
It was comforting to Artemis as well. It was like a part of her had been missing the entire time, and only now just had been found.
Still, it wasn’t entirely an easy adjustment.
Speaking in each other’s mind was sometimes unexpected, if not unsettling. Sometimes thoughts came across clear as day, words or phrases, but sometimes pictures as well, diagrams and illustrations. Once Artemis sent Horai a map she was looking at from a city away, directing her to her next stop.
Other times, the bond came in bits and pieces. A word here, a feeling there. Sometimes it was just bits of color, things that never made sense. The most annoying to Artemis was the fact that Horai seemed to get phrases or tunes of annoying songs stuck in their heads, and the bloodmarked vayron couldn’t hide her satisfaction when she found the other reosean tapping out a bit of song she particularly hated.
It wasn’t something they would trade for the world though.
Not only was it comforting to not ever be alone, but it was useful too, for the few downsides it had. Being able to talk in silence and across distance was incredibly powerful. Made for reconnaissance missions like tonight so much easier and safer. The army loved sending the pair out either by themselves or with a full squad. They took advantage of the bond and used it to their advantage for more successful outings.
Tonight though, it was just the two of them, a simple in and out. Gather intel and report back, only fighting if they needed to, and preferably retreating if they could.
There had been some rogue soldiers causing havoc across the countryside. They didn’t stay in one area long enough to track them down, and they left more than a few decoys. Occasionally they even used said decoys to attack in another location while everyone’s attention was diverted.
So the pair of them had decided to go on the offensive. They had been scouring the lands they had suspected the renegades to be hiding out, and working silently, the two females had been able to further pinpoint their location, sending signals to each other unspoken to speak of their findings.
Right now Artemis had noticed something Horai hadn’t - a branch snap as they opened their thoughts to one another.
Sometimes it was hard to filter through the information, and it had taken Artemis a few moments to realize who’s end she noticed that on. It was a larger sound, indicative of something bigger snapping than a small critter stepping on it would have done. It could be something such as a bear, but that time of year, bears hibernated a lot more.
Horai had known what she had noticed the second the words had started coming through to her. With grace, the tobiano used the white in her fur hide better in the surroundings, taking advantage of the dark casting shadows to effectively blend in among the forest she stood in.
Artemis wasn’t too far away, and Horai wasn’t worried about running into trouble. If they could just catch the troublemakers, the two of them would be more than a match for anyone they came across.
It was the wolf marked female that was more nervous of the two. While she was more than confident in Horai’s skills, she didn’t need anyone getting needlessly hurt. Not only could it knock Horai down for the count, the pain could flash across to Artemis as well. A sprained ankle a few weeks before had them both limping until it healed up. She could only imagine what battle wounds might come across like if phantom pains would carry over on and off.
Quit worrying. You’ll make me lose concentration.
Artemis smirked as Horai sent her message across, and slowly headed in her direction. Horai on the other hand was headed towards the source of the snapping, either a large branch or a log, although she didn’t head for it directly.
The glinted vayron wanted her opponents to think they were sneaky. If she headed for them now, she might flush them out, and while her adrenaline wanted to kick in right then and there and chase them down, Artemis was right. It would be better to wait for backup to make sure they got them all.
The smug feeling made her want to snort, but she kept quiet. Her face was trained forward, but her eyes glanced to the sides, opening up her entire awareness to her partner, letting Artemis be that extra edge to catch these shits.
Magic was what lent their opponents the edge that kept them a step ahead. Artemis was able to catch it this time, and if they hadn’t been looking for it, many a reosean would have walked right past, not realizing they were hiding in plain sight in the Roenden landscape.
First off, their shelter looked almost natural, but bits and pieces stuck out from their rock and wood little camp that suggested they were physical moved, and with rocks that large and no drag marks, they probably had an arcanist working for them. Secondly, there was fresh ice that glistened just beneath a dusting of snow that surrounded the area. It would cause anyone who approached to slip. This was likely the work of an elementalist, and they remembered that one of the rogues had been gifted with water or ice type magic.
The third sign wasn’t apparent at first, and Horai would have kept walking past if Artemis didn’t practically scream at them through their bond to look over there. It took them a few moments to realize that this rag tag group had some damn fine luck to have an assortment of mages, perhaps that was why they left in the first place. For the last sign was the sign of a mentalist, trying to make Horai do nothing but look away, continue on, there’s nothing here, feel like there was nothing more to see.
Mentalists were scary. It was hard to know what thoughts were really belonging to one’s self with one of them around. Horai had half a thought back on Warden, wondering if part of the magic that had overcome him had been the work of a mentalist, making his mind no longer his own. If Artemis hadn’t been in her mind now, they might never have found them.
It was curious to the two that the bond between them overcame that. Perhaps it was because a mentalist could only affect who he could see, or within a range of himself. Perhaps he didn’t have the strength to affect multiple creatures. Perhaps the bond of their souls just was stronger that way. Artemis was more than a little curious to test that further in the future.
Either way, they pretended to play right into the vagabond’s paws, walking away as if they hadn’t noticed a thing. Artemis was already beelining to meet back up with Horai, and the two of them would give their report back to the base camp. Now that they knew what they were looking for, it would be short work to find them and take them into custody, or kill them, depending on which of the pair you asked. Still, they knew more than anyone else did, and it would help them to get some mages of their own on their side to help even the odds and perhaps fight fire with fire with a mentalist of their own.
The females were smug when they reunited, walking side by side back to camp, fur lightly brushing as the snow crunched under their paws. Artemis had half a thought to test their bond further now, while Horai thought nothing more of trying to find that fire slinger that hung with them on occasion to melt all that ice and cause havoc. Either way, they were about to have a lot of fun in the coming days, leaving both of them looking forward to it.
Being tasked to take care of a problem was nothing new to Artemis. Horai and her worked as a wonderful team to get things done. While the tobiano might feel some tasks like their current assignment were beneath them, Artemis understood that there was more to being a warrior than just war. A hunt against wolves might be a normal day in the park for them, but for others it was beyond them to handle. There was no point of fighting to protect citizens if there was none left.
And so they managed a party of four to clear out the wolves that were trying to ruin this small city’s livelihood.
Artemis almost never went anywhere with Horai unless they needed to be in two places at once. Joining them was one of the city’s inhabitants, a young male by the name of Deimos. The misted vayron who looked as if he had a small galaxy of stars on his pelt had insisted on joining them. He wasn’t super experiences, but he had been one of the only ones in town to have driven off the wolves before. They had hurt his family’s and friend’s livestock, and he wanted to help. Artemis admired his guts, even if Horai felt bringing him would be a waste of time.
Their last companion was a familiar face. A travelling medic that happened to be in a lot of places at just the right times had volunteered to join their band. She had been helping patch up some of the livestock that had survived, and didn’t even ask to join, just found herself in their ranks when they headed out. Paloma might have been an annoyance to Horai, who grumbled about her being a show off in the back of Artemis’ head, but she had been helpful taking down wolves before, and the wolf marked Vayron wasn’t about to turn down the runner’s help. The rest of the group were thicker bodied pullers, and running through snow wasn’t their strong suit. The blue female would easily help them keep pace, and herd the wolves right where they needed them, a useful asset indeed that even Horai couldn’t complain about, even if she did make comments about how a tyrian would be more help.
Horai’s comments aside, Artemis was glad to have the help. It wasn’t that they needed it, but more claws and fangs were never a bad thing. Tip the scales further in their favor, making it less likely for anyone else to get hurt. Plus, it would be good for the younger male to get experience with seasoned hunters, he could learn without it being as much of a danger.
You err too often on the side of caution. We should just have fun with this and leave the others behind.
Artemis smirked at Horai’s two-bit comments, and didn’t bother gracing her with a response. They had a job to do, and if she gave in now, Horai would never let it go and they’d be trading quips for hours. Horai knew that too, and probably wouldn’t let it go on that long, but even bonded, Artemis sometimes could never tell with her.
***
Paloma had been a little thrown off at first by the other two females’ silence. Horai she knew was normally a loud mouthed snarky individual, and now, she was about as silent as Artemis herself was usually.
It finally clicked then after watching the two work in tandem as they stalked the wolves, that they had built a bond between them not unlike the one she was building with Asteral. It seemed to have mellowed out the hot headed vayron just a tad, but perhaps it was just that outsiders weren’t hearing her outbursts as much anymore.
As the other females lead the way, she did her best to explain to the darker blue reosean their actions.
“They’re looking for newer traces of passing. Cold scat and markings blown over by the wind would be impossible to tell how old they are. Roenden’s climate cools things off too fast to be an accurate tell of time, and the wind is a downright pain to deal with, covering tracks without a care. If they find anything fresh, with sharper edges not softened by the wind in the tracks, or droppings that are still warm, it will be easier to pick up a trail. Scent is often bogged down as well with the wind, and the snow being wet, can have the same effect as rain at times. They’re double checking any signs for a hint of recent passage.”
Deimos didn’t seem to mind her talking. He quietly took in all that she had to say as she continued to point out other signs that they could use. A broken branch that wasn’t yet covered by snow, an overturned rock where the indents in the white mounds betrayed that it had been moved.
When Artemis backtracked to their location, she indicated that they believed they found the den up ahead.
“I’d like you to stay back as a last line of defense. If anything runs past Horai and I, you get to take them down. Likely anything that gets past us will be more than happy to just run. I’ll use my shield to try to prevent escape as well. We were only tasked with taking out the alpha, but I’d rather take out the majority of them if we can. Less likely they’ll reestablish a pack here anytime soon. Paloma, there may be a back entrance. If you can flush them out from behind, great, if not, we’ll figure it out.”
With that the gingerbread vay turned to get into position, leaving the next part up to the diamond patterned vay. She smiled and winked at the male, showing her confidence, and she circled around the area Horai and Artemis were closing in on, putting her speed to good use.
While she didn’t spot any back entrance, she found that the wolves that were guarding the den were easy pickings. They went to chase her off, and landed themselves right into awaiting paws as Paloma led them straight for the two fighters.
***
It was only a wolf here and there that the warriors took out at a time. Deimos expected more action all at once, like the stories he had grown up with, fighting for their lives tooth and claw as they all left the den en masse.
The misty vayron enjoyed those action stories. The ones where the heroes always won, and the bad guys were beat back. He loved when elders would share tales of their signature battle moves of back in the good old days, and he chewed up books of lore and mythology, fiction and true to life war stories. He had expected something like that today, to come back hailed as a hero as he joined these warriors in a grand battle to save the town.
Instead this was more of a slaughter, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Surely the wolves had been destroying their livelihood, but they didn’t even have a chance. Not that they would have had any chance head to head anyway, but this just felt like disappointment in a way. Sadly he seemed to be about the only one bothered by this. The two warriors clearly were used to stuff like this, but he would have thought the medic of all reoseans would have respect for life.
What also didn’t help was the fact that almost the entire time, Deimos stood behind the lavender lit shield that Artemis had summoned, feeling useless like he had to be protected. The intent was most likely to cut off escape like she had said, but it still just made it seem like a barrier between him and them.
Paloma often played a role as bait well. She even stuck her head in the den for good measure, getting a few to run out, hot on her tiny tail, only to face their end before they knew it. It was almost assured they got the alpha in short time, there was no way his instincts would have let him stand around while the rest of the pack was threatened in the way it was.
“Nothing but a female and some pups in there.” Paloma resounded after another poke in the den. Snarls were heard but this time there were no chasing wolves, just a mother cornered and determined to stand over her brood. The announcement caused the warrior to drop her shield, the magic that was barely visible having dissipated with nothing more than a tiny shimmer in the air.
He didn’t really want to bring it up to those around him now, he hadn’t even gotten a chance to kill anything and he suspected they would just call him weak, or not take him seriously. Perhaps they’d tell him he needed to kill one of them before he could determine his feelings, and make him go into that den with the snarling mother.
He gulped at the thought and tried to think of anything but that and he stood back as the leader started piling up their kills. Soulless bodies with empty eyes; he was never going to think about hunting in the same way again.
Paloma headed towards him, a puzzled expression on her face.
“Are you upset you didn’t really get to help? These two are pretty effective, but I’m sure there’s next time. Your neighbors and friends will really appreciate you coming with. I’ll even tell them you took down the big bad all on your own if you want!”
The angora snorted from where she was collecting the wolves to carry back with Artemis. The town could use the meat, and the pelts, and well anything from them actually, so it wasn’t a waste at all, and someone had to do it. Still, he couldn’t look over in their direction.
***
Horai snorted at Paloma’s big talk. There wasn’t an ounce of blood on the child, no one would believe he helped. In fact, she felt she was more than right, that he had served no use or reason to be there. Paloma too wasn’t terribly useful. Sure she was bait, but a chaser would have been able to fit entirely in the den, and maybe they could have gotten all the wolves. Horai had half a mind to stick her head in there and try to get the last one herself, or collapse the entrance and watch her scramble to escape.
None of that. We don’t need to eradicate them all. Without their alpha, they may or may not survive. Even so, I doubt they’ll stay here to bother this area any longer.
Artemis was right, damn her, but it didn’t make Horai any happier. She tossed one last snarl into the mouth of the den, getting a few more snarls in return.
Come on now, I think she gets it that you’re the bigger badass.
Damn straight.
Another snort and the larger female fell in step to guard the rear should the wolf get any stupid ideas. Artemis had summoned some shields to help keep their trophies on their backs, preventing them from falling should their ties not be tight enough.
There was a small celebration of course. They were treated as heroes. Let us feed you at the least for taking care of this for us! Blah blah. She wished they paid in actual krones too. Paloma disappeared pretty early, something about double checking on her patients. Right, like the livestock were gonna die if she didn’t go check on them right now.
It was a credit to Artemis’ patience that she no longer responded to every snide comment Horai made, but she kept making them. Even if she didn’t respond, and had a poker face of a professional gambler, Horai knew she still got a rise out of her, or even amusement. She felt it was an absolute win when she could make the other female have any sort of reaction at all, so she wouldn’t stop.
The male though, he blended in with the rest of the townsfolk. She saw him here and there, often surrounded by others, sometimes kids not much younger than him wanting a battle story. Kids. He had no business being there, and from the look on his face, he wasn’t dealing with it well. Too bad, it wasn’t her problem.
Be nice.
Not my fault he was there, you’re the one who said yes.
Everyone has to start somewhere.
Bullshit, I was ecstatic about my first kill.
That’s not the point.
He’s weak.
There were no more words from Artemis, but Horai got the feeling that wasn’t the last of it. Whatever. The sooner they left this miserable place, the sooner she could forget that forlorn face of a boy who just needed to grow up. She was more than happy to skip town now, but she stayed, claiming it was due to Artemis’ orders, but the wolf marked vayron was smarter than that. She just wanted to make faces at the male whenever he met her eyes.
You’re so immature.
You love it, otherwise you’d have left me long ago.
The smile that crept onto the gingerbread female’s face made the whole excursion worthwhile in the end.
Artemis always wondered when the next fight would be their last.
As an arrow was barely deflected by her shield, the wolf marked vay was confident today might be that day. She and Horai had been fighting since sundown, and while it may have only been a few minutes, the battle felt like hours.
She was bleeding through her armor, and Horai didn’t fare much better. They were sorely outmatched, and many of their fighters had fallen. They needed backup, but there had been no answer to their war horns. They were alone.
A strangled cry caused her to look over, and she watched a new recruit fall under an enemy.
Kill him.
Her mental voice was cold, but Horai was feeling it too. Her head snapped towards the other enemy and she flashed away from Artemis’ back, bringing her blade down at her foe. She was more than efficient in her strikes, and Artemis knew she had it handled.
Artemis didn’t have time to watch her, and had to close down their bond to the barest trickle. Too much was a distraction, and she had to dodge carefully as another opponent took the place of the one she had just felled.
She rammed her lavender sparkling shield in his face. She stayed calm but her actions betrayed the bit of anger beneath the surface. He groaned in pain and she swung her axe into the opening she created.
A sword blocked her, and she found another enemy defending his partner. Blast it.
As she swung her axe to try to get through, she suddenly had two on her. The curved blade helped swing her opponent’s weapons away, but it was hard to keep up, so she used her shield as much as possible.
Where was Horai? Artemis worried she had suffered the same fate of having to deal with multiple foes. It was inevitable, with how much they were getting outnumbered.
Thankfully their bond was still there. Artemis was certain she would know if the other female had fallen. She was scared though. They had been through so much together. Horai was like another limb of hers. She had grown comfortable with their bond, and was scared to even think of her being gone.
She couldn’t think of it as she had two weapons to keep up with. She back stepped, doing her best to keep her footing. The battlefield was treacherous, spilled blood and bodily fluids from wounds, broken bits of armor and weapons, body parts and anything else tossed around that had been used as a weapon. A tyr earlier had been dropping rocks.
She heard Horai’s battle cry, and knew she was doing fine. But that didn’t bode well when yet another enemy came to take her down.
Shit.
Artemis was quickly fighting out of her league. Two sword users and someone with a hammer, plus some archer still flying arrows whenever they had an opening. Her shield flashed with lavender sparkles more often than not.
Yes. Today might be the day she died.
***
Horai quickly dispatched her foe, her rage boiling. She knew they were outmatched, but unless Artemis commanded it, she would not retreat. Hell, she even had half a thought that Artemis wouldn’t even command a retreat. They were in too deep, and a retreat would just leave them further open. Every second they sacrificed their lives out here, they could take down another enemy.
Horai snarled as she plunged her blade deep into another foe. She hated being away from Artemis’s side. They fought amazingly together, covering each other’s weak points. She knew Artemis feared each battle would be the end, as she had seen it be the end for so many others before, and the bloodmarked vay felt that if they were together, that day would never come.
She pulled the blade out of the corpse. It came with a shower of blood. Not that the blood was a bother to Horai. She was used to the gore and half the time it took Artemis’ insistence to clean up.
She heard a grunt, and as she parried another attacker, she realized that strained sound was in her head, not at all nearby.
Her blade swung the other one wide in a small shower of sparks, and she used the opening to lash out, snapping her jaws at her opponent. He was put off, stumbling backwards, and her blade slashed deep, ending him for that mistake.
Her blues eyes looked around, and it didn’t take long to find Artemis. Well, it didn’t take long to find her sparkling shield that was barely deflecting the incoming attacks. It was hard to see Artemis with 3 vayrons around her, closing in, a sparkling shield, and swinging weapons.
No.
Horai’s rage boiled over.
No!
She started to see red as an unknown feeling welled up inside her.
NO!
The last word came out as a scream, mental and physical, with no semblance of the word. The feeling that had been building inside her exploded outwards in a wave of power as she rushed towards Artemis.
She was barely aware of her surroundings. Bits of blue held onto every fallen weapon in a radius around her. Every sword, axe, hammer, polearm, flail and mace, even the few less common ones like a whip even, floated alongside her as she raced towards her partner.
They swung as one, and their opponents had no chance as Horai cut them all down. The archer too was on her radar, and she rushed towards him, cutting a swath in front of her. Enemies fell beneath her blades and her paws, and she still had no clue exactly what she was doing, but it felt good.
The archer turned and fled, and attempted to put more bodies between him and her. Unfortunate for everyone between them, as she cut them down like a hot knife through butter. He may have been a runner, but she took control of that whip, striking from afar to trip him up. She was on him in an instant.
She snarled, turning in place and looking for the next victim. How dare these assholes get in between her and Artemis.
Artemis.
In her rage, she had forgotten about her. She vaguely remembered racing towards her, the duveteux female summoning a full shield like a bubble around her.
Oh please don’t let her have been hurt by Horai’s rush.
She heard another creature approach, and her weapons floated at the ready as she wheeled.
Horai, it’s me.
The mental spoken words came with an image of Artemis’ position, letting her know that she was not an enemy. With a relieved sigh, her hold on that power fell, and so did every weapon around her.
A few clattered off the shield Artemis had summoned to protect herself, and she found herself running, tackling the other female to the ground.
“Never do that again.” In her frustration, she spoke out loud, forgetting their mental bond.
The wolf marked vayron chuckled, and pushed the angora off her.
“Well, not today at least.”
Looking around, Horai noticed the amount of dead she left behind her. She saw the enemy running, likely scared from the monster she had been.
“Sweet. I need to figure out how to do that again.”
Artemis chuckled, and rolled her eyes. “Oh we’ll figure that out alright. Your magic is going to be a wonderful use.”
Magic. It made Horai smile. She had gone so long without it. She had magic.
Horai struggled to get a grip on her magic. There were times it came naturally to her; during the heat of battle, her weapons easily remained animated, swinging two swords with ease as she practiced a duel wielding stance. Other times it was harder; when she actually tried to practice it outside of a fight, she struggled to even lift one blade with the magic until she grew frustrated enough she just about wanted to give up. At that point the blade would magically fling itself to bury up to the hilt in the ground or a practice dummy. Thankfully it hadn’t found itself buried in Artemis while they practiced … yet.
“Clearly your magic is emotion driven. You need to conjure up strong feelings about something.” Artemis tried coaching her through it. To her, the magic came naturally, an extension of herself. She barely had to think about it and it just happened.
“Easy for you to say.” The bloodmarked vayron snorted, and proceeded to work at yanking her blade out of the tree it currently had embedded itself in. Snow fell from the branches, a large amount having fallen with the initial thunk, Yet more falling as she pulled, making her coat even more white than normal. And it was easy for Artemis to say. She had felt the surge of emotion every time the magic manifested itself, so she knew that was the trigger. She noticed that when she got emotionally fueled at the end of their sessions, it happened again. So clearly that was the answer, just a matter of getting it to work.
Asking Horai to get a handle on her emotions was not a simple task. The vitiligo female had emotions like a storm, constantly rolling and tumultuous. Artemis had already tried the route where she angered the female on purpose to attempt to get the ball rolling, but that only ended with her nearly being decapitated. As it was, whenever the other female had managed to summon the magic, it was like she was on autopilot. It was hard to get through to her, and the minute she stopped to think about anything, she lost her hold on it and the weapons would clatter to the ground.
It gave Artemis an idea though when the other female finally ripped her sword tree from the tree. There was a legend about that somewhere…
Let me try something. Open up everything between us.
Horai raised a brow at her but didn’t complain and did what she was told. That was a miracle in and of itself.
I heard that.
Artemis smirked but continued poking around. When they were in this deep, they could essentially see out of each other's eyes, and be one with each other. When she could see through Horai’s perspective, she attempted to pull on her own magic through her partner.
It didn’t feel much different from Artemis’ own magic, as they both were arcanists. She grabbed hold of the sword in front of them, and set it to floating.
Feel this, remember this.
She pulled herself away, staking a few moments to orient herself in her own paws. They could never do that sort of thing with their bond for long, and it always took a bit for them to get back into it. Even then, they never could control the other, just mostly feel from the other female’s viewpoint. She hadn’t been sure that the magic would work that way, it was very unpredictable. She stretched her toes into the snow, letting the cold flakes ground her, pulling her back into herself.
As it was, Horai seemed to be having issues, her face screwed up in concentration as she tried to hold the magic, and Artemis had to think hard on how to make this work further. Perhaps she could help the other vay to feel things more. That sounded better. Horai might be an emotional wreck, but that was just how she was, and that was the key to making anything work with her.
***
Horai was at first ecstatic that Artemis’ plan had worked! They had only really ever felt from the viewpoint of the other in terms of senses; they felt each other’s pain, heard things from across distance or seen things the other hadn’t been able to perceive. Being able to pull on the other’s magic, well that was a new one.
As it was, she was having trouble staying focused on the blade, and it wavered in the air in front of her; the snow seemed to fall smoother than her sword was. The show was a far cry short of what she normally could produce.
You can do it.
And with that Artemis was there with her again. Not fully, but she sent confidence through their bond, along with a strong pride and dedication, a devotion to see her through this.
While those normally weren’t the emotions that normally fueled Horai, they worked, and the blade held strong, and she swung it a bit experimentally, watching it do twists in the air.
Come at me.
Horai frowned. The idea of coming at Artemis with her magic still unstable wasn’t the greatest idea. But she trusted the other female, and drew the blade high in front of her.
A battle was just what she needed. Artemis used her axe on occasion, but she stuck to using her shimmering shield as a weapon, both to protect from the erratic blade, and to swing it wide for Horai to get more practice in wielding it.
She got better with time, that much was clear. The bloodmarked vayron even got daring, and attempted to snatch the axe from Artemis’ paws. The attempt though, caused her to drop both weapons where they landed deep into the snow, and had to start to square one again.
Patience. Remember how to feel.
Artemis didn’t send her the rush of emotions as she did last time, so it took Horai a bit longer to properly grab the blade again. It was a little easier when she uncovered the blade and could see it instead of just pulling in the general direction. But this time she got it on her own as she remembered the determination she had felt earlier. Artemis wasn’t as emotionally charged as Horai herself was, at least not outwardly, but her fierceness burned just as strongly inside. It had almost surprised Horai to feel it the first time their bond settled in, but it was to be expected. The commanding vay was not one to be messed with.
With the blade firmly floating around her, Horai dared a few more complex moves, playing around with it while Artemis continued her block and parry movements. Yes, she was definitely getting the hang of it.
Swing, block, riposte, and a bunch of other fancy sword moves she never had the patience to learn what they were called. Horai took some getting used to it as she played around. Not holding the weapon with a paw or her muzzle made for the movements to have a whole different feel to them, she could swing the weapon in ways that weren’t normally possible. There were a few times she swung wildly and without her normal range of movement to stop it, the sword swung much further than she expected, going far off course. If this was a real battle, she would have been royally screwed, which meant she was going to have to practice a lot; an idea she loathed and did not want to have to take the time doing.
But Artemis would be at her side the whole way, so she supposed it would be tolerable. With that she rushed in again, burning any thoughts of the future on the here and now, and getting the hang of that tricky blade as the two warriors danced in the snow.
They were nonsense really. Celebrating something that could just be put in a letter. Congrats, yay, thanks. Instead they were noisy and whoever the party was for had the obligation of talking to the guests and interacting. Food and drink were often involved, and people got drunk.
Don’t forget terrible security.
How could she forget the terrible security with Artemis on edge watching like a hawk on the festivities. She had a hard time relaxing
Artemis' magic had developed before Horai's, but it never fully blossomed into where it was now until she worked in tandem with the bloodmarked vay's newly found spellcasting.
Horai had taken longer to master her magic. It had come and gone without rhyme or reason. It took them a while to figure it out. Her magic flared with her emotions, and was as volatile as she was. Mastering it required a patience she didn't normally have, as making it spring forth from nothing while at rest had been an incredible challenge; at that point she only managed when she was frustrated and wanted to scream. She would never admit out loud that it was the bond she shared with Artemis that was likely what helped her in the end. The other female's perseverance and patience bled over, assisting where she could.
Neither of them had wanted this celebration for their magic. Artemis held hers off so they could have one together, using the excuse that it would be a nicer achievement to see the bonded pair move forward at the same rate. They both knew it was likely due to the fact that neither one of them, especially the tobiano, wanted to have two of these things.
It was intended to be a small affair. A few friends and family they considered close, some squad mates who had been at their side throughout the years, and probably a few unexpected reoseans who figured it would be a great excuse for free food if nothing else.
When a fire slinging vayron who had been in their squad a few times over the years heard about it, that plan went out the window.
The pink runner was especially excitable. She was having her third or fourth celebration of her spellmaster rank. She had earned it long before this pair, but with her wanderlust, she had friends and family across the world and decided to celebrate everywhere. It just was bad luck that she happened to be in Roenden to plan that one at the same time as Artemis and Horai.
Isabela loved a party. She wanted fireworks and a full show of flashy elemental flames. She made friends with everyone and most creatures had a hard time telling her no. When she started talking to everyone on Artemis and Horai's guest list, well this whole shindig multiplied rapidly. Virtually anyone the pair had met were there, and quite a few they didn't know.
We should have had a secret celebration. Ran off with it like some crazy elopement.
Artemis usually didn't complain about much, so the statement caught Horai off guard. She fought not to laugh out loud. The sparkle intense lavender eyes told her she wasn't wasn't as annoyed as she had sounded, and it made the bloodmarked vay a little more comfortable with the situation.
***
Artemis didn’t care too much about what else was going on. Isabela had her party and it worked, she was able to make sure all the entertainment and everything else was handled, there was enough food and whatnot - part of her deal for doing the whole combined celebration thing.
All Artemis really cared about was the main event. When the pink striped female approached them with fire practically dancing from her paws, she knew it was time.
Ready?
Of course.
Artemis smiled softly and they headed towards the main dance floor; only for this event, it wasn’t for dancing. Isabela took up a microphone, not so gently issuing orders for people to clear the area. Once everyone was sufficiently clear, Artemis pulled on her skills, Creating a barrier of magnitude to summon a bubble around the floor, encapsulating them within. At times, it sparkled the same lavender as her eyes, but it was transparent, easy for the spectators to see the festivities.
Isabela was next, she concentrated her flames, heating sections of the floor and sending some small fire balls to circle around the area. She created a dangerous minefield, and Artemis would see she was fully in control; impressive for fire.
I’m going to lose fur to this.
Artemis nearly snorted out loud, but kept her composure. Now was a time for concentration.
Their armor was nearby. They both donned it, although everyone involved was convinced they didn’t need it. Artemis wielded her trusty axe, and kept a shield handy on the edge of her mind. Horai drew a pair of blades, her magic animating them already into a fancy spinning.
Show off.
Horai’s only response was to wink, and that was all the warning Artemis had before the tobiano raced into the fray.
Her axe blocked the first swing, and the blade caught and swung wide. Rotating over, the blade barely caught the other one. Well, barely isn’t the right word. While they were trying to block out each other’s thoughts, they had fought together for so long that they knew each other in and out.
As the first blade swung back in again, Artemis remembered this was supposed to be a show of magic. Horai was doing an excellent job, animating the blades to swing in ways they shouldn’t be able to, and float in the air around her. Artemis summoned her shield to block, making sure that unlike the barrier, this one would be visible, and they ran into it with abandon.
It wasn’t a one sided battle though, where Artemis was clearly the defender. Her shield acted as a weapon as well, and it also came in useful as the terrain changed beneath them, protecting her paws from the sudden rows of fire that had stretched out from the pink female. Isabela wasn’t making it easy for them, which was good. She kept them on their toes, making for a more impressive show.
***
Isabela wasn’t as good at filtering out the onlookers as the other two were. She listened to them oo and ah, gasp with fear and squeal with delight. This was exactly how they wanted things to go.
Sometimes they shouted out suggestions, dodge left! Oh swing higher! Most of the time it was directed to the two fighters that danced around the arena. Sometimes it was directed to Isabela herself. Throw another fireball! She often obliged herself, but was careful not to go too overboard, no matter how much she enjoyed it. This was a show, not an actual fight. They didn’t need this to be actually dangerous.
It was mesmerizing to watch the two warriors fight. Horai had some whirling to her weapons to reminded Isabela of batons. They spun faster than any normal means could produce, and swung higher and wider than any vayron could reach. On the other hand, Artemis showed her skill with her own blade, able to block things with ease and swing on her own, the spinning blades the only thing stopping her. Her shield sparkled and glittered whenever it was hit, and she shoved with it to throw the twirling swords off course. Sometimes all this distracted the pink vay from her job with the fire, and she suddenly would change its course as she remembered.
When Horai’s blade started tracing a sigil in the air during some lapses in strikes, Isabela saw her sign to wrap this up.
She summoned a barrier of fire, a wall between the two that flared up high. The warriors leaped backwards, standing a set distance from each other as they prepared for the final rush. When the fire wall fell down so did the rest of the fire in the area. The striped female summoned small balls of fire to race alongside the other two, accenting their movements as they raced for the final clash.
Blades and wield met in a midair jump. Sparkles flew from their weapons, little accents that Isabela added herself to make it flashy. They locked weapons and spun in the air, twisting to land on the side of the other. The move from what Isabela understood wasn’t used often in a real battle, for the landing couldn’t be certain. They had practiced it time and again with each other to make sure it went perfectly.
The crowd went wild. Isabela usually would be caught up in it but she knew her part was far from over.
The shield around them opened at the top, allowing Isabela to summon some tiny flames to dance outwards. They flew through the air to land in some predetermined spots, where fireworks lay in wait. When they flew through the air and exploded in their showers, Isabela poured her power into the sparks above, making them even larger and showier, letting some trail off into spirals or make shapes. She was particularly proud of the ones she made mimic Artemis and Horai’s faces.
Speaking of those two, Isabela glanced over at them again. They stood, necks slightly bowed, their foreheads touching, gazing into each other’s eyes. They panted from exertion, but neither even seemed to notice anything but each other.
With a smile, Isabela let them have their moment, while she attended the flock of people, herding them to the freshly restocked refreshments, to give the two a little more space.
After everything they have been though, they deserved it.
Artemis kept running into the grey vayron as they patrolled the area. It was a war torn area, and while Alfadhirhaiti lead her own group of soldiers, thankfully they hadn’t had to butt heads … yet.
After seeing their success with the horses, the other female had tracked them down to ask for their assistance again. Her band was okay on their own, but with the full brunt of Roenden’s winter weighing in on them, stocking up on prey would be good, especially since her group had a lot of refugees.
Artemis figured the female had plenty of soldiers, and didn’t know if there was any ulterior motives, but they were in the middle of a relatively peaceful time, it wouldn’t hurt.
They had decided to hunt musk ox. They were a larger prey that was easier to be taken down in a group, and with their thick fur and sharp horns, it was harder and more dangerous to take down for those that were inexperienced. They were also easy to find, making it hopefully faster to take back a good haul.
“Lets only do one at a time. It’ll be too dangerous to take them out solo.”
That means you too.
Yeah, yeah, whatever.
Artemis was smug with Horai’s agreeance, and took point as they fanned out to follow the herd.
Musk ox were brutish. They packed close together both to protect from the biting winds and to protect from the hunters. With the snow picking up, Artemis was sure that it was more from the weather than actually noticing them, but she couldn’t be too sure. Still, she kept her shield on standby, musk ox were dangerous creatures.
Alfie, which was a much easier way to say her name than the full mouthful, had defaulted to Artemis’ leadership. The wolf marked vay knew it wasn’t from a lack of leadership, but perhaps as a thank you for the assistance.
The three of them had spread out, not too far as to have surrounded the oxen, but far enough that they could get a better idea of the grouped herd. Horai and Artemis had the furthest distance between them; with their bond, they could communicate over the wind and snow far better than anyone else.
She could barely hear Alfie’s voice over the wind. “There’s one over here, I think it’s limping! Artemis relayed the information to Horai, and the two of them started closing in on Alfie’s location.
***
Alfadhirhaiti knew the two warriors were good hunters after seeing them in action against the horses. They worked great as a bonded pair, and were extremely efficient in hunting down prey. Hunting the ox seemed like no challenge at all for them, and she was glad when they accepted.
She had spotted the injured oxen on the side. It was protected by its fellows, but she suspected they’d be able to wretch it out. It wasn’t a new injury, there was no sign of blood or infection, at least to her nose, so she suspected it was an older one. The limping wasn’t greatly pronounced but it would be the edge they needed to take it down.
As the other two females got into position, Alfie saw the bloodmarked vayron draw her weapons. She pulled on magic, duel wielding a pair of swords that spun around in the air. The longer blades would be much more effective against the thick fur on the oxen. Artemis too used her magic, summoning small lavender shields around in the injured creature’s horns. They might have some bruises if they get rammed, but it should save them from being gored.
Satisfied that the pair were using all their abilities to their advantage, Alfie waited for Artemis’ signal to run in. By now, the oxen had started to notice them, and it created a bit of panic. Horai swung her blades for added effect, the animation of the flashing weapons spooking the oxen.
Startling the oxen might have been a bad idea normally, but with them huddled, it helped give them a way to get in. As the oxen started to separate, it would be easier for them to get in and grab the one they wanted. With space between them, Artemis summoned a few more shields, popping them in to prevent the oxen from filling in the space they created.
With that they swarmed in.
The females might not have fought much together, but they had a bit of chemistry. Horai swung her weapons seemingly at wild, but the magically dancing blades cut off hunks of fur, leaving openings for the vayrons.
The shields on the horns were their saving grace though. The oxen fought like a cornered animal does, and swung its head wildly. Alfie took a blow to her side as she tried to go for an opening Horai created towards the neck, and she was flung away. She probably bruised her ribs, but she was alive, and not stuck to those deadly points.
She stood, growling as she shook off the pain, and returned to the fight, her teeth snapping at whatever flesh she could reach. She sunk into a leg, watching it limp further.
***
Artemis made sure to keep an eye on those horns, moving her shields as needed to keep them protected. Thankfully she was on top of it or Alfie might have gone down hard. Musk ox were no joke, and the three of them might have been outmatched if it wasn’t for the magic. Horai’s dancing blades scared away plenty of the other oxen as they split through the snow. Artemis herself was hard pressed to keep her shields up as the large bodies both rammed it in a panic and in an attempt to run them over.
She watched Alfie get back up, confident she was still good to go. The three vayrons circled in, snapping at openings created by the blades and dodging flying hooves. Artemis’ teeth found purchase on flesh, and that was the start of the end.
Small wounds started appearing through the fur, the scent of blood filling the area, which only seemed stronger from her shields keeping it in. The oxen labored with its breathing, a heavy sound that cut through the otherwise silent fight. The vayrons were well trained, no sound other than a soft snarl betrayed them. They were warriors, used to keeping a fight as silent as they could, and that carried over into the hunt. Red splotches appeared on the tussled snow beneath their paws, and the oxen started to stumble and slow, the movements more of a struggle as it tried to keep up with the harried attacks.
Eventually the ox fell with a bellow, and the females closed in to end it. Most of the herd had scattered, so hunting a second was out of the question for now. As it was, taking back this large body was going to be enough of a problem.
Horai stood on top of the corpse, her weapons flashing around her as she snarled out a triumphant cry.
Show off.
The bloodmarked vay only winked back as Alfie and Artemis closed in to truss up the oxen. They’d have to drag it back, and the three pullers would have a heck of a time as it was. Horai lolled her tongue out as she sat where she was. Artemis just chuckled and shook her head. She’d move.
With a glint in her eye, the wolf marked puller summoned a shield under the body, and with a heave, shoved upwards, tossing Horai into the air with a yelp and into the snow. Even Alfie couldn’t restrain a laugh as the two females chortled over the bloodmarked female in the snow.
Hunting with Alfie had been a nice change of pace. The other female was rather competent, and she knew when to keep her mouth shut. That last part was the most important when working with Horai. Artemis knew if the two glinted females got into it, fur would fly and this arrangement would end.
Either way, today they were hunting some caribou. The larger cervines were treading their way through the snow as they continued on their migration patterns. Being a few bodies short wouldn’t change that.
Normally the group would hit them across an open plains, but the herd was sticking through the forested region, so to did the vayrons have to continue the same way. If they had a tyr with them, they might have tried for something else, or waited them out further ahead, but they could manage as they threaded their way through the trees.
Hoari was hacking away with her weapons, the magic spinning them in wide arcs around her, felling branches and brush that was in her way. Perhaps it would spook the animals, but Artemis let the other female let off some steam; it would be easier to point her in a controlled direction for mayhem later.
Alfie on the other hand moved from shadow to shadow as they stalked their prey. It would make her presence less expected when they decided to strike.
The caribou were just up ahead, and they could hear the snorts and bellows. The creatures weren’t exactly quiet, and the trail they left through the snow was easy to follow. This time, they could possibly take down a few of the creatures, and the goal was to spread out and see if each one of them could incapacitate one before moving on to help one of their allies.
With the herd in view, Artemis gave a signal. Horai stopped flashing her blades, and she took up a spot to the side, trying to trot in line with them. Alfie did the same; her colors should have stood out against the snow, but she was surprisingly lithe, flitting from shadow to rock like water.
Artemis herself took center, and when the other two were in position, she charged.
***
Alfie was more than capable of taking down one of the deer like creatures on her own. Sure they were big, and their antlers could be deadly, but their antlers were also usually capped with rounded ends, meaning more of an beating than a gash. That could still kill a lesser vay, but if you knew how to roll with the impact, you’d end up just fine.
Caribou were also more gangly creatures than the musk ox they had taken down last time. They had long exposed legs that made them more than suitable for attacking. They had thick fur as well, especially being in the heart of a Roenden winter, but they weren’t nearly as covered as the oxen, making them a much more suitable target.
She barely saved a glance for her fellows. Artemis was rushing in, using her shield to cordon off the caribou of her choice. That arcanist magic of her was scary indeed. Horai too was deadly with hers, the multiple blades making her devastating as she swung them with attacks. If she kept clear of the caribou, she could use them more as a ranged weapon and stay relatively safe. As it was, the warrior enjoyed battle probably a little too much, and got up close and personal with the beasts they chased.
Alfie had no magic of her own at the moment, so she stuck to her natural weapons - claws and teeth. None of the herd seemed particularly weak or old at this point, so she went for whichever was closest, leaping to dig her claws in its hindquarters and raking long gashes along its flank. Sure that might screw up the pelt value a little, but she didn’t care about that right now.
With it staggering from the wound, Alfie was able to sneak in closer for another attack, biting at the legs as it ran. She had to be careful to dodge the frantic kicks, but with each wound she scored, those kicks grew weaker.
Soon the creature was limping along at a gait that was leaving him far behind the rest of the herd. It would never catch up, and she gave it a final bite for good measure to snap a leg. It wasn’t right to leave it suffer, but she needed to check in on her companions and make sure they didn’t need help. Time she spent ending its life could be time one of the other females took a deadly blow to the head or other vital area, so the creature would have to wait for her to return.
Artemis seemed to have hers handled. The shield of hers protecting her from the worst of it, and as Alfie watched, the wolf marked vay used the magical shield to push down from above, driving the caribou into the snow, where Artemis could finish it off without the proper room to kick out. Now that was impressive.
Alfie turned to Horai instead. The battle frenzied vayron had a few injuries, which only seemed to fuel her more, and the grey female approached defensively, hoping to assist without getting attacked in return. The insane reosean had taken on two of the cervines, and Alfie was interested to see how it would turn out.
***
Horai loved a good fight maybe a little too much. She had suffered a few grazing blows; nothing that would take her out, just mild inconveniences. She swung her blades dealing mostly surface injuries. She wasn’t going to die from a longer drawn out fight against a couple of caribou.
Stop playing with your food.
Artemis’ tone wasn’t condescending, and there was a hint of humor to it.
Yes mom.
She responded with a bratty tone and decided to get serious. Her double blades worked in tandem, slashing the same injury on both of the caribou she had picked out, even though they were more concerned with running away. Their hamstrings destroyed, she repeated the maneuver for the other leg, watching the three legged hobble turn to an attempted crawl in the snow as they tried to drag themselves away. It was futile of course, just like Alfie’s attempt to come help.
“I see you’re a little late to help me princess.”
Alfie snorted softly, and Horai chose to ignore the eye roll. Artemis must be rubbing off on her over the years if that no longer caused her to go charging at people.
Turning away from the grey vayron, she decided to finish off her two, since clearly they were good to be done for the rest of the day. The caribou’s final bellows may have made some reoseans sad, but to Horai, it was like sweet music.
Artemis and Alfie took theirs out as well, ending them quickly, and soon they had a pile of 4 caribou ready to return to camp.
The quest of bringing them back arose however, as there was three of them, and 4 large bodies. Eventually with a bit of creativity stacking them up on a shield Artemis summoned, with her pulling the magic and the other two pushing from behind, they managed the slow trek back with their haul.
Horai rolled her eyes. She thought it would be fun to go mountain climbing in the hunt for some goats. Among the goats were a few ibex, the brown creatures standing out when they were among the group of the white goats, but blended in with the rocks, making it easy to lose track of them. Watching the creatures nimbly jump from ledge to ledge and cross gaps with simple bounds made Horai question her life choices, even if the brown creatures weren’t as agile as the white ones. Not as agile wasn’t the best way to describe it, as compared to them both, Horai was a clumsy fool.
The mental chuckle from Artemis made her sure she had heard that thought, and she scoffed. She scoffed again when one of the white fluffy creatures bleated and seemed to stick its tongue out in a tease, and she gathered her paws up for another leap.
Artemis of course had been looking out for her, and while her front paws caught, her back ones scrambled until the other reosean’s shield held her up. She looked down at the lavender sparkling disk, and smiled softly.
You should do that more often.
I’m not hearing a thanks.
As much as they bantered, the wolf marked vayron sent shields floating in the air ahead of her, so the Horai could leap from one to another, the ones behind her disappearing. The goats seemed alarmed by the vayron making headway, and they bleated and leaped away, climbing in gravity defying poses. The ibex were more threatening. While they were still bounding away, their horns were in more of a position to butt her off the mountain.
The mammals only made Horai more determined as she tried to climb faster, almost outpacing the shields. A scream from above caused her to falter, and she only cursed the bleating creatures, determined to sink her teeth into some goat hide.
You know, they’re not really goats. They’re more closely related to cattle.
That is so not helping.
Want the shields to go away?
...No.
Thought so.
Horai huffed as she turned her attention back to the goats and their stupid little hooves built for this. Even with her claws, the large puller was not the right shape to be leaping along mountain faces chasing braying critters, and more than a few rocks got dislodged from her passage where the goats left nothing.
There was quite a lot to be harvested from the goats and goat like creatures. It was even rarely possible to get some milk from the two different animals. A nice treat when you bit into it. No matter what Artemis said, Horai refused to call them bovines, even if they were bull headed. Still, Horai didn’t have the patience for farming, nor had she or Artemis decided to settle down, so any harvesting they did would be from anything they wrangled up. Horai had half a thought to take some back alive but there wasn’t any fun in that, even if it might be more of a challenge to drag the stupid creatures across the snowy landscape to market.
Getting down from her vantage point was an even bigger challenge, but not one she was ready to face just yet. There was more to hunt.
***
Artemis helped up with the shields, even as Horai pulled out her weapons, using her own magic to send them out, trying to reach the goats at further range. A few times, the wolf marked reosean thought she might slip trying to overreach, even if it was with magic, and she was hastily creating more shields to catch her.
It was draining, and Artemis figured this whole ordeal could be made a lot easier if they had just knocked a few of the mammals over from the top. But no, Horai was convinced the animals would taste better, and have nicer quality materials if they caught them themselves, which was why she didn’t want to slash the goats and bring them falling down. It also took the fun out of it, and both of them enjoyed a decent hunt.
Still, Artemis felt there was a bit more fun to be had. She summoned a shield behind one of the ibex, and pushed it forward, straight into one of the mountain goats, and sent them stumbling towards Horai. The animals bleated and brayed, tufts of brown and white fur flying as they stumbled over each other. Horai grinned and leaped forward, clearly not caring anymore that her catch was assisted.
As the bloodmarked vay caught one of the creatures in her maws, Artemis summoned a shield beneath it to catch it on the way down. That wasn’t enough for Horai though. As Artemis was keeping an eye on the prey she was slowly lowering to the ground, she missed Horai leap for one of the bigger ibex, her jaws closing on one of the horns. But with that leap, she wasn’t able to catch her footing.
A yelp emerged from her which pulled at Artemis’ attention and she abandoned the shield bringing down one of the animals to put one under Horai. The goat fell the rest of the way to the ground with a thump. She needn’t have bothered though, because the crafty female had just barely caught herself. Her swords had been shoved into the rock below her, and she barely balanced on the flat of the blades.
Heaving a soft sigh of relief, Artemis focused on collecting the Ibex that Horai tossed down to her, as the other female went on to try to tackle more of the hooved mammals. It was quite impressive to watch actually. She was getting better as she went, almost as sure footed as the goats themselves. Maybe. No, not really.
Her biggest problem was keeping her balance if she got too close and didn’t take one out. Artemis winced as the other female received a pair of horns to the rear, as one headbutted her quite literally. The little white goats weren’t as scary as the ibex with the giant horns, but they packed a wallop, and those horns came to terrible points that could do some damage if they jabbed the wrong way.
Still, the butts to her, well butt, were what seemed to motivate the other reosean, and Artemis watched as she said screw it both mentally and out loud as she decided kicking the dang things off the rock wall would work just as well. Or using her weapons. She did decide the bloody mess was worth it after all, as the swirling blades ended quite a few of the hooved creatures that hadn’t finally run away.
Artemis couldn’t help but laugh as she played catch as it was almost raining ibex and mountain goat. They had a few wagons at the base of the mountain, prepared this time for a larger haul, and the gingerbread vay figured they could slide on her shield like a large sled to get themselves and the prey they caught back down. It sounded like an excellent end to their day, and Artemis was more than ready to curl up for the night after her extensive magic usage.
These damn creatures better be worth it.
They will be.
The duveteux female smiled at Horai’s way of showing concern, as she extended a final shield to lower her down. Seeing the haul they were bringing in, she was more than confident it was worth it. Besides, it was time spent together, why wouldn’t it be?
The cheeky female found herself with the companionship of two other women, who kept just as silent as she did. She had tried to make small talk, and was met with grunts and one or two word answers, so she didn’t bother. She didn’t mind it, she just hoped that when they found the prey they were looking for, they would at least let her know how they planned to approach it, instead of winging it and see for herself.
They had been chasing down a herd of horses, and Ellanher was starting to get winded. She always thought she was fit and in shape, but the two soldiers proved to be able to push themselves much harder than the normal vayron. She wasn’t one to be outdone though, and pushed her little calico body a little harder, hoping they would find the horses soon.
Artemis seemed like the leader of the pair, and she looked back at the other two, gesturing with a head nod up ahead. Finally! Ellanher felt strength return to her limbs at the thought of the hunt, and grinned. Her grin faltered with the tobiano female’s grin, an expression that made her blood grow cold. Creepy.
The scent was on the wind, proving they were downwind of their targets. Perfect. Ellanher was determined to prove herself to these two.
“Last one to take one down is a loser!” Horai wasn’t loud enough for the herd to hear her, but she made sure both her companions knew it. She took off through the snow, kicking it up and into Ellanher’s face. Damn it all! Artemis just rolled her eyes and gestured with a paw, as if this was normal. How she put up with the other adult that acted childish was beyond her.
The horses were moving slowly through the snow, the weather slowing them up. Hopefully with Horai starting the sprint, they wouldn’t be able to outrun the vays.
Ellanher picked up the pace to fall in line behind the other two, catching sight of the horses now ahead of them. Horai was racing ahead, far enough now that the horses had noticed her, and the whinnies and neighs bugaling the alarm were carried to her silken ears.
Damn it.
Some of them had started to run, others panicked and didn’t seem to have any sense of direction. Good, that would give them some sort of a chance.
Reminding herself not to hunt with the bloodmarked vay again anytime soon, Ellanher snarled and ran. She wasn’t going to win against the vay who had a head start, but she wasn’t going to sit back and do nothing. She had to prove her worth.
***
Horai wasn’t going to care what the other female did. As long as calico stayed out of the way, that was fine with her. Horai was going to bring down these horses, and be queen hunter today.
And what does that make me?
The question made Horai chuckle, and she raced forward with enthusiasm, her paws kicking up snow as she closed the distance between the horses.
Whatever you want to be.
The answer she sent back was cheeky, and she felt Artemis’ amusement. There was no time to dwell on it though, as she was within reach of the equines. The hooves kicked up almost as much snow as Horai’s paws, but the soldier went without her armor today, and she gained ground much faster.
She leapt, her paws outstretched as she landed on one of the mammals. It cried out, and the glinted vay dug in with abandon, ending its life as it squealed its last.
One down. Her blue eyes darted, looking for the next but she had lost some ground as she felled her prey.
The green cheeked female darted up next, her feline tail giving her balance as she too took a flying leap onto another horse.
Two down.
Horai surged to her paws, running for the next closest. Artemis was there, working as a perfect team. A purple glowing shield popped into life ahead of the equine. There was no time for the creature to react, and it slammed into it as if there was a brick wall. Horai wasted no time in taking it down.
She usually called upon her own magic for weapons, but she used it to grab hold of the body of one of the fallen, and toss it across the field, tripping up another one of the horses. She laughed heartily at the image as she darted forward. Arcanists could command the dead, but why bother when you could throw the dead?
***
Even Artemis couldn’t help but laugh when Horai tossed the dead horse with her magic. The snow was dotted red, showing its passage through the air, and Ellanher stood shock still with her jaw dropped.
“Trying to catch flies?” The wolf marked vay remarked, before using her shield to slam into the legs of another horse, tripping it and bringing it to a halt in the snow. The calico seemed to recover in time, dashing forward to take its life so Artemis could continue the hunt.
Did you ever stop to think about how we’re going to get all these back?
Nope. You’re the leader, you can figure it out.
Another eye roll came from the lavender eyed vay who simply returned her attention to the hunt. Most of the horses had scattered by now, but between the three of them, they managed to take down a few more.
“I don’t suppose either of you can drag them?” The citrine duve was out of breath now for sure. She could probably carry one on her back, but that was about it. Artemis only smiled and summoned her shield again, laying it on the snow for them to pile their prey on it. Horai lazily flopped the horses on with her magic, causing a few on the pile to fall back down and cause them to start the stack over again.
“Useful.” The calico remarked, showing her admiration.
“Very.” Artemis responded, while Horai oh so maturely stuck out her tongue.
Oh, be nice.
Make me.
Artemis frowned, and suddenly upended her shield, tossing the bodies towards Horai. The tobiano yelped and had to dodge, the breath knocked out of her when one of the horses laid her flat on her ass.
Ellanher laughed so hard she found herself breathless and even Artemis smirked.
Wanna try that again?
Horai grumbled but she tossed the horses back onto the shield without another smartass remark.
Heading back to town, Artemis couldn’t help but smile.
What has you so happy?
Nothing. Just thinking about you, my Queen.
Artemis felt Horai’s ego soar, a win in her book. The horses they took down were all but forgotten - just another note in their story.
In a normally remote area of the land, sounds echoed, and strange scents drifted on the wind. The pair of pullers were always on guard, and while times of peace had lasted for quite some time, there was always the chance of battle finding them again. With the guild, they often did reconnaissance missions so that they may avoid being caught unawares. For now, they occasionally held the company of a third puller, a male by the name of Drucore who kept checking in on the pair as they traveled - perhaps to move them out of his territory faster. The blind male didn’t think anything was amiss, but his ears swiveled forward to check things out.
What came to their senses though didn’t scream danger, just odd. As the two crept forward to investigate, Artemis was comforted by the brush of fur on fur. No matter what it was, she and Horai would face it together, as they should. The male hung back, more wary than the pair, but willing to lend a paw if needed.
What the fuck.
The statement echoed in her head and while Artemis was not usually one for swearing, Hoari’s statement was the only one that could fit the feeling she felt upon cresting the ridge and coming face to face with what lay beyond.
It’s so…gaudy.
Ugly. It’s ugly.
Artemis snorted at the less kind words. That was one way to put it. There wasn’t many other words in their nature to describe the colorful landscape before them. Drucore couldn’t hear their internal dialogue, but he swung his head around to face the pair with a confused expression on his face.
Looks like Firestarter puked everywhere.
Artemis chuckled, remembering the bright pink vayron. It wasn’t an inaccurate statement. There were tents and banners, lots of moving parts and beings, humanoids and reoseans alike. The colors were bright and varied, and it almost hurt the eyes to look at for too long. Yeah, the warrior could imagine the pink girl having something to do with it.
Should we check it out?
Hell no. Fuck that shit.
What if it’s dangerous?
Someone else can deal with it.
But Artemis wasn’t convinced. She wanted to get a closer look.
“Do you know what lies beyond that is full of colors and sound?” Artemis spoke aloud for their other companion, whose expression was less confused and settled.
“Festivities. Every year there’s something odd about that place that summons reoseans and humanoids alike to gather for whatever frivolous activities there are.”
Artemis wasn’t one for this sort of thing, but something in her just wanted to see what it was all about, something that thought maybe the pair needed a break, and whatever this was, it would provide them with something they were missing.
Horai knew this, and although she grumbled, she followed the wolf marked female down to the festivities, where they were met by the oddest looking reosean. Three tails, tiny, sparkling, and with colors that reminded the girls of a sunset. Maybe their old fire throwing friend was involved after all. It did sound like something she would be interested in. Drucore hung back, but was willing to venture forward even if at a distance.
“Hiya! Welcome to the World Fair! I saw you guys coming from a ways away, and I thought I’d greet ya! I’m Gwen.”
***
Horai threw up a brow at Artemis. She didn’t even need to hear the words spoken into her mind to know exactly what Horai was thinking. Still, she knew that her partner was awful with these types of things and took the lead.
“I'm Artemis, this is my partner Horai, and a temporary companion, Drucore.” The chaser’s warm smile easily gave Horai a sense of disgust. Seeing as the place was just loud more-so than dangerous, she immediately wanted to turn around and walk back to the grungy guild town buried in snow.
As the red and black puller started to turn away though she felt her legs stop in place - Artemis’s kind way of telling her she wasn’t going anywhere. With a mental groan she turned her attention back to the fair. Her attention was on the crowd giggling, and smiling and she just couldn’t wait to get this over with. She was jealous of the fact that the male of the group could hang back - he didn’t get dragged along unwillingly by any partner he may have.
“Horai.” Artemis’s voice rung back to her, calling her attention from the horned puller and Horai’s ears swiveled forward.
“Let’s go, come, come, I’ll show you what will probably be your favorite part.” With a wink, Gwen turned and started lightly skipping towards the center of the fairground.
Gods, what did you get me into?
Relax and have some fun for once. Artemis had a special way of making her mental voice both stern and warm. Horai didn’t really know how to think of it, other than she better listen.
As the trio walked, the chaser in front of them happily named off some of the stands, their games or what food they might serve. Horai glanced at a few of the food stands, smelling the greasy and tough meats that she enjoyed so much. Deucore too seemed interested in those stalls, but only them. The more crowded it got, the more he seemed to shrink into himself, blind eyes darting around as if still full of sight.
Gwen started giggling and galloped ahead, Artemis and Horai followed right behind, though it wasn’t too difficult to keep up with a chaser. As they ran Horai noticed less stands and an opening in the center of the fairgrounds.
“Here we are! I thought this might be to your heart's content.” Gwen’s three tails wagged and she gave them something between a told-you-so smirk and an inviting grin.
Horai’s stance straightened up as her eyes were filled with passion.
“This is more like it!”
Satisfied the two pullers were doing fine, Drucore nodded. “I’ll take my leave then. Enjoy.” He winked, his expression more filled with emotion than anything they had seen yet, and he turned away, disappearing into the crowd.
After ditching the tiny chaser and the large companion, Artemis led the pair deeper into the fair where an open area awaited them as pointed out by Gwen. It didn’t seem dangerous, and she heard other reoseans talking about games, and smelled delicious food, so at the very least, they could check this out a little more thoroughly, grab a meal, and go.
It was the mention of food that convinced Horai to stay, if only for a little while, so the pair walked through the fair, keeping their eyes peeled for danger. Hori though had been paying attention to something the chaser had pointed out, and kept pulling Artemis’ attention towards it.
Look over there!
Horai’s glee spilled over their bond as Artemis looked in the direction she indicated. Her maw twisted in a grin as she knew exactly what the other female had in mind, even without the bond.
Come on, let's kick some ass.
YES!
Horai all but bounded ahead, leaving Artemis to figure out how to sign up. The pair were registered and assigned a number, and when it was called, they gleefully took up their spot. A small chaser, one that reminded them quite a lot of Gwen who gave them the tour, kept an eye on them. The female’s eyes glittered with excitement, and instead of sparkling, her pelt instead seemed to swirl with genie markings, her triple tails wiggling in excitement.
A large mud pit stretched before them, and a rope spanned the distance. They grabbed their side of the rope and braced themselves, waiting for the horn to blare. The little red chaser seemed more than up for the challenge, and ended up on the other side of the rope from the pair of pullers quite often.
It was almost too easy for the soldiers. They won more times than they could count, getting mud on them from their foes splashing as they were pulled forward. Horai cackled with every victory and Artemis’ heart grew what felt like ten sizes with every laugh.
“It’s not fair!” The younger sounding vay cried out as she pulled himself from the mud with the help of her friends. The little genie marked chaser wasn’t as excited anymore, covered in mud and annoyed.
“Can it, brat!” Horai snapped right back, huffing at the comment. Artemis held her back. She didn’t think Horai would lunge for her, but her temper was unpredictable sometimes. Still, she seemed calm enough so it was probably safe. Emphasis on probably.
“You two shouldn’t be on a team together. I’ve been doing these games for years and no one is ever this good together.” The chaser continued to pout, but she got some nods of agreement from some of the others around.
It gave Artemis an idea. She grinned as she wondered what kind of show they could put on for these people if the two females went against each other for once.
Care to dance?
Artemis looked to the vendor of the fighting pit to see if he was at all interested in a little break. He scoffed and nodded to the girls with a grin.
Let’s not make it too fast.
Horai lined herself up towards the edge of the circular pit right across from Artemis. Her coat was a deep mixture of browns, blacks and reds now - her previously white coat caked in dirt and grime.
Artemis locked onto Horai’s blue eyes that stood out against the soot. They heard the striking of the bell and Horai came charging across the field leaping to the side of Artemis.
Dodging quickly, Artemis ducked and Horai glided over her back. The crowd gasped at every close encounter and every snap of the jaws. Horai spun around as Artemis came from behind her, but she wasn’t nearly quick enough and Artemis tackled her back leaving Horai to skid across the mud under her weight.
Artemis held down on the angora with all of her weight, Horai grunting in frustration - she was much better with her weapons.
It was a fun show. Artemis licked the side of Horai’s face before pouncing off of her and prancing around the muddy pit for cheers.
Horai smiled gently shaking off the excess mud that weighed her down.
“I told you guys you were too good. I haven’t seen anyone move like that ever in a fight!” The little genie chaser pipped up behind Horai.
“Actual battles aren’t fought with that amount of grace, and I doubt they ever will be.” Horai grinned back at Artemis who returned, full of pride.
The girls weren’t terribly bothered by what mud clung to their fur once they cleaned up a bit. The grime of battle and just what dirt acquired from travel on the road could for sure be worse than this.
After their victories and taking over the mud pits for quite some time, the girls decided to move on to find something else to do and give more people a chance to have fun with the tug game too. Artemis hadn’t been too convinced they’d find anything fun at the fair, or anything to keep Horai’s interest, but both girls already were having a blast, and they were only just starting. There had to be more here to keep them entertained.
They eventually found themselves in a section of the fair that held little games of skill and strength, and the pair found themselves with far too many to choose from.
They didn’t have to decide for long as a voice carried from someone dressed in a clown suit. The short vayron (and Artemis had to snort at all the chasers attracting their attention) was a nice purple color even without the clown getup, with feathers that at first seemed to be part of the outfit but upon further inspection were growing out of the chaser himself!
“Come one, come all! We’re looking for more participants for our hourly competition! Show off your strength in a grandiose way and let the audience decide who is the winner!”
Curious, Artemis cocked her head, looking at the speaker, while Horai pushed her way through the crowd. The chaser, blind looking eyes gazing on them, held a challenge as if he could see into their thoughts.
There’s only two winners here and that's us. Come on.
Horai had a competitive streak, and Artemis loved it. She easily followed her partner through the crowd as the bloodmarked vay led the way to where those who wished to try were signing up.
Her eyes scanned the posted affixed to the stall, which the chaser seemed to be moving his longer feathers independently to point to, reading over it while trying to determine her actions.
Show your strength in any way possible. Magic is allowed. No bloodshed. Do not destroy fair property. Bring your own props.
Perhaps she could use her shield and lift something, showing off her magic as well? Artemis had time to think on it though, as the purple clown dressed chaser gestured to put her and Horai were put towards the end of the line of acts.
Don’t overthink it, just do it.
There was Horai, her vote of confidence bolstering Artemis’ own.
Horai was giddy of her winstreak, of course, but she had something to prove and Artemis was just a single point higher than her. Artemis felt the tingle of scheming with their bond - she more than expected it and was happy to play Horai’s little game.
As reoseans took their place on the stage showing off their strength. Artemis eyed their acts, trying not to yawn in between. Pulling a heavy cart was child’s play with their build - but magic was sparse between the contestants.
The feathered chaser finally looked to the girls and motioned for them to enter their stage. Horai enthusaistcally hopped up summoning her duo blades as Artemis stretched.
Artemis was it a bit of a showy mood after the Tug-o-War and she wasn’t about to stop now.
Let’s have some fun with magic.
You don’t need to ask, way ahead of you.
Artemis summoned her arcane shield as it grew to twice her size, she spun it around for good measure demonstrating her control over such a large object.
Horai mirrored her on the other side, bounding from side to side while her swords echoed her movements but spun in sync. Horai crouched downwards as Artemis gave her the signal and pivoted her shield. Horai ran forward, her swords gliding past her head and attaching themselves to the middle of the shield. The bloodmarked puller leapt onto the shield using her magic to tie herself back to her weapons.
Artemis saw that Horai was secure, they had practiced this move quite a lot. In the process, Horai had fallen ... a lot. She knew she would hang on with ease. Artemis carefully started to move the shield as it rotated upsidedown. Horai hung on showing off her skills to work with Artemis.
The crowd’s laughter and cheering just made the girls intertwine their magic faster. The clown dressed chaser sat mesmerized by their performance.
Horai detached her blades from the shimmering shield and dropped onto the stage with a thud. Artemis clapped with the crowd, she would give Horai this one.
The pair headed back to the area where they had been distracted from, intending on playing a few of the simpler fair games. There was quite a variety, and to make it fair for everyone, most of them required skill alone, no magic allowed. To be fair, if arcanists like the pair of them were allowed to use their mage abilities, they’d probably win every prize out from under the noses of everyone else.
As it was, a fair few involved darts or balls, rings or something else thrown. For the soldiers, these were trifles, easy games for those that could throw daggers across a battlefield, or chuck a spear through a blizzard, swing with their weapons while blood dripped in their eyes, and always still hit the target.
Just because it was easy for them though, didn’t mean it wouldn’t be fun.
They were walking past a group of reos when another voice caught their attention. This one was masculine, but made Arty’s ears perk up, as the words used were not unfamiliar to her, and she could see her tobiano companion saying the same sorts of things.
“Did you really just pay money to have everyone see you throw like a beauty pageant queen?”
“You shouldn't be throwing, you should be fetching! Woof Woof!”
“I've seen better throws from a preschooler!”
“Hey kids, quit flicking boogers and try throwing baseballs.”
Oh man, whoever this was, was really enjoying their job as the insults and heckles kept flying. Horai immediately made a beeline for the voice, to discover a vay who sat on a shelf above a tank of water. He was brown and dappled, with a very equine mane and tail and feathering around his legs. Balls were thrown at a target to try to drop the vay into the water, but he seemed as dry as could be, so no one had managed to hit it yet. Although as she watched, a tossed ball hit the target, but it must not have hit hard enough as the shelf barely wiggled. That’s unfair for certain fair-goers. The puller’s large frame too didn’t seem to shake the shelf much at all. Suspicious.
“Bring your daddy back next time, I'd like to laugh at him too.” The speaker, clearly hosting the event, sat onthe side, getting an eyefull of everyone that approached.
Oh man, Artemis could see Horai’s hackles rise. One of them was going to dunk that man into the tank, no matter what it took.
Horai grinned with a devilish smile whilst cracking her neck. The vendor took one look at the pair of ladies and snickered.
“Ohhhh ho ho, let’s get ready to face the disappointment folks!” The crowd awkwardly laughed before cheering as Horai picked up a ball in a long stick ending in a pit. She held it firmly in her mouth making some small swinging motions to get the feel of the contraption.
She took some steps back seemingly calculating her hit while the crowd and the vendor’s insults drowned out. She pivoted herself backwards onto her back legs standing strong before using gravity to assist her throw.
Artemis watched as the ball launched out of its container and went straight for the red and white target sitting next to the dunk tank.
The ball hit the target with an upsetting soft thud. The puller inside the tank gave an exhausted sigh.
Artemis felt the fur on the back of her neck rise. Turning back to the puller she noticed the crowd had gone silent and Horai was sitting silently. Not the best sign.
Before Horai could get across the table at the vendor, Artemis used her body as a wall to stop her tirade.
“Looks like we got a sore loser here folks!” The vendor tried hyping the crowd up more but they began to die down in silence.
Artemis hit Horai on the head, “Watch you fool,” and Horai sat angrily. Artemis walked around the table, the tall runner getting in her way throwing obscenities. The wolf marked puller shoved him aside and then pushed on the target with more force than a ball would have - and nothing. She scoffed before pulling the target up as her ears laid back.
“Look at this everyone, layers of padding and a small bit of air between that and the real target. No one was hitting this with a ball.” With that Artemis hit the target as hard as she could, causing the wood to split and all of the padding to drop helplessly.
The puller in the tank held his breath as the platform underneath him disappeared and he went straight into the water. He climbed out of the tank with a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, it was getting so hot in there. That slimy vendor forced me in there after I called out his scam.” The horse looking vayron shook off his coat.
Horai looked around for the vendor but the con artist was nowhere to be seen.
“If he shows his face around again - I’ll make sure it isn’t remotely pretty when it leaves.” Artemis gave her a smile and nodded.
After seeing how many people and reoseans got excited over seeing their tests of strength earlier, Artemis had been thinking about it as they continued to play games and go through the fair. After the issue with the rigged dunk tank, Artemis was still feeling the need to blow off some steam.
I got a crazy idea.
Oh?
Artemis smiled as she wandered her way through the fair, looking for an open area. Horai was naturally curious as to what Artemis may have come up with, and the gingerbread vay was being careful to shield her thoughts from their bond.
No fair.
It’s a surprise.
The angora grunted but fell in line, waiting for things to reveal themselves. She knew Artemis was a very patient huntress and soldier, and this would be no different.
After asking around if her plan would be okay, and making sure Hoari didn’t overhear, Artemis got a small following, most notable a small purple chaser with spotted markings and ears and a tail almost far too large for her small frame.
Artemis finally found an area that would do for what she needed. It was near some food stalls, with benches and tables set up for eating. Half of them were empty, so the freckled female started moving those aside, the glinted vay moving in pace beside her to do the same.
Task complete, Artemis waited a little while longer for a few more tables to clear out, also pushing those aside as well. She could feel Horai’s curiosity like a bad itch in her brain.
The pair had their weapons on them, always carrying their gear as they had no real place to call home when on the road and away from the guild. Perfect. The only thing she needed was Horai’s cloak, and Artemis quickly reached over and detached it, snatching it off before the other female could react.
“HEY!” Horai shouted, not bothering with their bond in her surprise.
Artemis just laid it out on the ground nearby, and tossed a few coins onto it to indicate what it was for, before pacing out to the middle of the open area and drawing her axe. The purple chaser, who introduced herself as Fable, decided to stand watch by the cloak for them, keeping an eye on any coins the audience might toss.
Come at me. Let’s give them a real show of skill.
She winked, encouraging her partner to get a hold of her own weapon, as she summoned her lavender sparkling shield into existence.
“Ahhh hahaha, let’s dance then!” Horai gave her a smirk and used her magic to take her dual blades out of their holders.
The blades danced around Horai’s body in a smooth motion, almost opposing her stance but ready for any attack.
Artemis’s shield also hummed in purple hues as it reflected everything around it. A crowd started to form, the purple chaser making sure the girls had enough space to do another dance.
Horai was of course the first to move, her headstrong personality always wanted to get the first hit in. So she grabbed one of her blades with her mouth, using magic to propel it forward at the same time. She let go and flung herself atop the purple shield. The brown puller held up her weight easily and tracked the blades behind her. The blades turned quickly but Artemis moved her shield up launching Horai across the ground and then swung it to deflect the blades.
Horai gracefully landed on her feet after being flung and summoned her blades back to her side. She hopped, the blades hovering next to her before spinning in air to give them momentum.
Artemis tried to raise her shield quickly but the blades snagged its edge sending it to the side while it dissipated.
Horai laughed and sheathed her blades again, turning back towards the crowd with Artemis. They both gave a bow as the crowd cheered - a few coins being tossed onto the mat besides the excited purple chaser.
The purple chaser excitedly counted up the reward for the display.
“82 coins, what a haul! What will you use them for?” She beamed at the two who were breathing heavily from their workout.
Artemis stepped forward and eyed the coins, separating a small patch. “For you, thank you for volunteering to watch over and collect for us.” She smiled warmly at the chaser who practically vibrated in place taking her winning.
Horai caught her breath finally as Artemis finished shoving the coins into a small sack. She picked her cape up draping it back over her shoulders and clipping it into place.
“How many times are we going to do that today?” She chuckled.
“How many more coins do you want?” Artemis smugly replied.
After their battle and all the activities they had done, the pair of girls were feeling an ache in their stomachs. They were used to hunger, long marches and grueling battles had left them used to the feeling of going without, but the atmosphere of the fair left little to be desired. Plenty of the attendees had been seen stuffing their faces, and the scent of food was all around them, some of it smelling exotic and foreign. It wouldn’t hurt too much to get a bite since they had easily worked up an appetite.
A dark blue rosetted runner accompanied them, one of the donors to the coins that now lined their pockets, and followed behind with his own stomach growling.
Everything is sweet and greasy, find something that won’t fuck us later.
Artemis smirked. Horai’s opinions never failed to make her break her gruff exterior and smile. Many found her to be broody and intimidating, but something about the ruder female brought out a side of her that others rarely got to experience. It was good their companion couldn’t always hear them though, of course if he did, maybe they wouldn’t have him in their shadows.
She lifted her muzzle upwards, jaw slightly parted to attempt to tear apart the scents that flooded the air. Perhaps for a younger vayron, it would be impossible, but to the soldiers who spent their lives fighting for survival, their skillset was further honed than the average bear.
This way.
Horai didn’t always follow behind Artemis - days like today she refused to be anything but in line with her by her side. Somehow the crowds never seemed to be an issues, parting for the pair of soldiers. It wasn’t really a mystery, armed to the teeth with gruff scarred exteriors; it was honestly more of a surprise people didn’t create a bigger fuss around them. Pants, the runner they learned his name, quickly darted into the spaces the crowd made for them before the gaps disappeared once more.
The trio finally came to the place where Artemis' nose led them, and those around them had their attention strictly on the food in front of them, not at all on the warriors.
Pussies.
Horai scoffed. Intrigued, Artemis leaned into their bond, paying more attention to what the other female noticed. The food.
Compared to the rest of the fair, the food from this stall was out of place and bizarre. Well, not terribly so. The soldiers had eaten plenty of weirder, more bizarre things. In fact, she was pretty sure the pair of them had eaten the majority of the vendor’s ‘exotic’ meals. It was familiar to them, and fit the bill for what Horai would eat. Pants though wrinkled his nose, and the expression on his face made it clear he was regretting trusting the pullers to lead the way to a full belly.
Shall we show them there’s nothing to fear?
Horai with a silent answer trotted to the counter to take a look at the menu options. She had eaten plenty of weird things on the battlefield and in Vitalus in particular. Most of the food options on the menu just screamed exotic creatures from Vitalus.
Artemis sauntered up beside her also looking over the options carefully. The small blue runner had his neck craned down as if he knew he couldn’t back out now.
The bloodmarked puller eyed the menu before making a face and ordering a dish with Unicorn and Wolf meat. Artemis saw Horai’s uncomfortable look and giggled to herself wondering what could’ve caused that. Artemis though was just thinking about seafood and so she went with some of the most beastly meals to come from the sea.
Next was Pants and his nervous demenor was evident. The vendor looked at him with a smile, “It all looks strange but I promise you, these are traditional dishes homebrewed in Vitalus villages. They are as strange as they are delectable.”
The blue runner sighed and seemingly got into conversation with the vendor while the girls turned to sit at a table. They watched him start perking up and gave each other a raised brow at the sudden excitement.
Plates of steaming food were quickly delivered to the table. Artemis and Pants dug in without a second thought. Horai picked at her food with her snout, eating quite slowly.
What’s your issue? You always inhale everything. Artemis rang in Horai’s mind with a bit of a playful tone.
Nothing is the matter. Horai seemingly hissed and started to eat quicker.
Pants looked up his mouth full of whatever mystery meat was eating. Horai looked sick and turned away from him.
Artemis caught on and her hysterics began. Pants seemed utterly confused and was watching Artemis’ eruption with a hint of fear.
“Damnit, I never should’ve fucking told you about that!” Horai yelled angrily at her before jumping away from the table and leaving the tent.
Pants still confused stopped to look at his food and back at Artemis still hollering. “I… what just happened. What’s wrong with my food…?” Artemis culled her laughter, wiping tears from her eye.
“That dish is from a male minotaur, Horai once ordered it unknowingly. You can guess what part of the meat it's from.” Pants looked back down at his plate.
“I really wish I wouldn’t have asked,” He groaned and tossed his plate in the garbage. Artemis still chuckling to herself. It was time to find Horai who would most likely feign ignorance about the situation.
Bellies full, the girls set off to explore the rest of the fair. There was still plenty to see and do, and the two easily were able to keep themselves entertained for a while. They had just finished a ball toss game, and gave the pet fish to a youngster nearby that had been trying unsuccessfully to win a prize.
They hadn’t gone very far at all when they were stopped by someone dressed in the most flamboyant outfit they had seen yet. It was hard to make out what the vayron looked like underneath the outfit, considering it looked like someone had vomited color all over, but it could be guessed that the vayron might have been naturally teal, and there was some filigree that could be natural, or perhaps just paint. Even the equine like tail was decked out fully in ribbons and barettes.
“You guys are going the wrong way! You need to return all that over here. I get it that the fair is easy to get lost in, but seriously, it’s hard to miss one of the biggest tents here!”
The other female vay impatiently stood there, gesturing for them to follow. Horai and Artemis looked at each other confused.
What the fuck does she want?
Artemis could do nothing more than shrug.
Follow and find out?
Horai rolled her eyes but the two reoseans decided to follow anyway, curiosity overruling anything else.
As the large eared stranger had stated, they were led to one of the largest tents in the fair, this one somehow even more colorful than everything else here - their guide might have been the only expectation to that.
“I know the getups can get pretty cool if you find the right stuff but it’s fair property. I’m just glad I caught you guys to bring everything back. Alright, in you go.” The vay, who Artemis determined was probably more green and turquoise colored than teal, who clearly a worker here, entered the tent ahead of them, leaving the two females to peer curiously in.
It took a while for Artemis to understand what she was looking at, and she started to chuckle as she stepped in. Boxes and racks, closets and hooks all held a variety of objects, while mirrors were spaced regularly through the tent. Some other humanoids and reoseans were in there, trying things on and observing themselves in the mirrors.
Suddenly everything made sense.
They think our gear is a part of this!
No way… our gear is for hunting and is real - their gear looks like a unicorn threw up all over it and called it good.
Artemis shook her head and walked over to some of the racks just sifting through the clothes and decor.
Horai sat with an angry expression at the thought of her armor being mistaken for toys and trinkets. She watched Artemis give off some winces for the costumes and giggle at others.
“Hey! Return the hunter’s gear to where you found it!” The teal reosean was at Horai’s side now a bit flustered.
Horai narrowed her eyes at the vayron. “Are you really trying to steal my gear because the rest of the clothing in here is garbage or are you just that stupid?”
The runner pulled back with a silent gasp. “How dare you! No one else wears hunter’s gear to the fair - how could you expect me to believe its yours!” The runner started to get up on Horai’s face and she growled. Artemis looked over and stopped what she was doing.
“You didn’t even bother to ask, just assume. Not everyone is a happy go lucky fair goer.” Horai unclipped the clasp on her leg allowing her swords to freely float out of their sheaths with magic.
“Does this seem fake to you?”
“No.”
Artemis stepped between the two reoseans.
Horai - Put. It. Down.
Horai snorted and sheathed her blades. Artemis turned to the teal vayron and apologized, “I’m sorry for her attitude but she’s correct. This is our personal gear. We are from a hunter’s guild and have some time away.”
The runner wrinkled her nose, “Fine, whatever.” And she walked away to attend to the rest of the attendees in the tent.
Can you just settle down for one day? Stop trying to get into fights when unnecessary.
Horai didn’t respond and walked out of the tent, “I think I need a snack after that.”
After getting the confusion cleared up (and honestly, how could anyone think their dirt covered and worn traveling gear, and sharp as hell weapons were costume pieces?), Artemis and Horai continued their trek through the fair. They were reaching the end of their limit though, and Artemis got the feeling they would be leaving soon. Horai’s patience would only last so long, and while it’s been a fun break from their normal lives, that’s all it was, a break.
They pair of them for sure were an intimidating presence. She usually found that they never had to move anyone out of the way - others moved for them. Horai still went out of her way to bump anyone that just happened to get too close, and it didn’t surprise Artemis one bit. The bloodmarked vay seemed to love to go out of her way to piss off others.
It was probably her attitude, bumping people aside, her snarls and snaps at anyone who didn’t move close enough, that drew the attention of someone else in the crowd. Artemis could just feel the gaze of the spikey runner with brilliant leviathan markings, and kept him in the back of her mind as a threat to be watched.
Artemis felt a hit on the side of her face, and she turned, snarling. It took her a few moments to realize she felt the impact through their bond, and it was Horai that had gotten smacked. The wolf marked vay curiously inspected her partner, only to see what looked like mashed potatoes dripping down her face, hiding bits of orange and red by her eyes. The runner had thrown … food?
It’s on.
Oh no. Artemis tried to stop Horai before she could do anything, but wasn’t fast enough as the other puller leapt away. The crowd easily parted for the angora. Following her, Artemis found Horai attacking a stall with abandon, grabbing weapons to throw back at her assailant. The tusked male only grinned wider and the effect was almost unsettling.
She was grabbing … more food? Perhaps Artemis had been a decent influence on the warrior. The Horai she first met would never have had the patience to respond in kind to the food attack. She was pleasantly surprised that swords hadn’t been drawn, but the advantage Horai had with her arcanist magic spelt a bad time for the bright pelted male.
The spiked vayron kept leaping from box to box, grabbing anything he could. He was fast but Horai’s magic made up for his evasiness. Horai chucked a pumpkin through the air at him, catching onto one of his spikes and slowing him down. Artemis watched as Horai continued to weigh the runner down with an assortments of vegetables, fruits and hides. The runner finally was tiredly breathing.
“Magic is so uncool.” As he tried to plop down his backend caught on curtains trapped over the tent. He thrashed wildly while in total chaos the tent came down around him.
Horai snorted and turned before hearing the runner pleading for help. She tried to ignore it when Artemis stood in her way.
“Did you enjoy it at least?”
“Maybe a little, but -”
“Then help him out.” Horai groaned rolling her eyes as she turned back around. She unfurled the fabrics to reveal a runner covered in sticky juices and fabrics stuck to him.
“Not the best idea, was it?” She poked at him and he huffed. She tried pulling more fabric off but it tore away with his spikes in the mix.
“Oh great… hope I’m not charged for that.”
“Maybe you should’ve thought about hopping around in a tent with sharp spines.”
Horai pulled the last of the large pieces off of him and looked back at Artemis. “There, Done.”
Artemis looked back at the runner who was still trying to shake the rest of the fruit loose and lick off the juices. He stepped over the cloth in a wobbly fashion, obviously still weighed down by the mess. She looked around and the fair seemed to have been caught in the crossfire looking at them angrily.
“Horai we need to clean this up, I’ll help.”
“I would agree, start cleaning now all of you!” A large shadow grew over their heads as a large green tyrian snapped at them.
The area where the food fight took place was a little worse for wear. Bystanders had also gotten in the crossfire, and so the people were also a mess.
Horai was smug, and how could she not be after a fight? Even if the weapons were just food, Aretemis suspected a few bruises would form from a few of Horai’s hits. The leviathan marked runner was just coated in food and mess, and thankfully he didn’t seem too upset.
Not everyone seemed to be as happy as the pullers were with the result though, and they received more than a few glares from reos who did not intend to get caught up in this.
Let’s just go.
Artemis glared at the tobiano, but the opalescent tyrian blocked their way, and the original perpetrator also had been stopped, held down by one of the wings that was careful not to impale on the sharp spikes poking out of his rump.
If this moron thinks he can stop us…
Artemis sensed Horai start to pull on her magic to grab her weapons, and bumped the angora’s shoulder to draw her attention.
“We were already getting to it, don’t look at us we just ended it,” Artemis’ eyes narrowed. The fair had seemed like a place of fun and revelry, and it wasn’t like they started it. Perhaps the soldiers had overstayed their welcome, and it was a sign their time here was at an end.
With a scoff, the jade colored tyrian rolled his eyes as if it should be obvious. “You two are arcanists, you’re strong, you have capable paws. You should help clean up.”
Horai rolled her eyes and was about to snap some sort of retort with Artemis’ tail swished over her muzzle, prompting a sneeze to shut her up.
“That’s fair enough. Come on.”
Her lavender gaze and the stern expression she wore would have quailed anyone, but Horai only huffed at her, stalking away to help - away from the sparkling tabby tyrian. The leviathan vay he held under his wing also nodded his consent, and was released to wiggle away and assist.
While the two had their magic, a few other reos that had gotten involved had found some brooms and other tools. Trash receptacles had been hauled closer as well, making it much easier for those involved to get some work done.
The leviathan runner sheepishly took up cleaning next to Horai. “Sorry, I was just looking for a bit of fun and your armor seemed to good to pass up with fruit decor.”
Horai didn’t verbally respond instead shoving her pile of trash she gathered and combining it with his before she trotted away.
The large green tyrian used his massive tail and wings to create piles while Artemis used her shield to scoop it up and throw it into the large bin. They silently worked noticing Horai sweeping up the remains of fruit with her tail and tossing it into the bin as well.
“You don’t seem like a typical fair-goer.” Artemis questioned the large tyrian with glowing eyes. He blew out of puff of air while continuing to make piles.
“No - not at all, I prefer being alone but I figured it may be fun to participate in some of challenges they had here. Turns out, it’s all play fighting - not really my thing.” The tyrian used his wings to scoop up the largest pile of fruit and curtains yet and easily tossed them into the bin.
We’re done over here. Horai echoed in Artemis’ mind and sat around a clear zone of dirt where the tent had once stood.
Artemis nodded and gave her a small smile before turning back to the tyrian. She used her shield to help him with his pile before scooping it into the bin.
“Well that seems to be all of it, thanks for your assistance.” Artemis gave him a small head bow and he nodded back to her. He spread his wings and took off.
“Where’d the spiky rat go?” Artemis looked around.
“Who cares, probably ran off as soon as we were on the last pile.” Horai shrugged and shook herself off, while yawning.
Artemis stood next to her,.“One more.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. No.”
“Just one more, then I swear we are going to sleep for a whole day.”
Horai was not convinced, and the expression on her face was one that amused Artemis further.
Since when are you suggesting things like this?
Lady, I’m growing weary of this place, and what better way to leave than to go out with a bang?
Who are you and what have you done to Artemis?
I know, I know, this is very much a you idea. Guess you’re rubbing off on me after all this time.
The bloodmarked vay snorted, but her eyes started to sparkle. Artemis knew with enough time, the other female would come around.
She had gotten the idea earlier in the night when she had seen a cart being pulled by a bright yellow runner with a smattering of glass marks on his hide, its contents unmistakable as it was dragged to its destination. Fireworks. She suspected that at the height of night, or perhaps at the closing of whenever this fair was, they’d be set off, a dazzling display for all those to see. The wolf marked vay had her own ideas though, and she knew Horai would be game for some mischief as they made their escape, fireworks going off behind them.
Too bad we didn’t have elemental magic to set them off easier.
Artemis snickered at the tobiano’s comment.
Don’t worry, we have everything we need. Just send some flint and tinder across the way and bam!
Horai guffawed, her eyes peeled as they went on their way to look for the cart of fireworks. It took them longer than they’d like to admit to find it in the bustle, but Artemis liked to look at it like a training exercise, practice tracking in less than ideal circumstances. They eventually found the cart, the bright yellow vayron actually helping them to find it even with the bright colors of the fair, and it was easy to pull on their magic, grabbing the tubes and boxes from across the way and floating them above heads and into their bags with ease. Anyone who looked up might mistake them for a fluttering banner or one of the lanterns hung across the aisles, and no one seemed to think twice about it.
The spade tailed male seemed to be aware that something was amiss, and he occasionally looked around. A convenient pull with their magic to distract him as a banner cut off his line of sight or someone's cape fluttered in front of his face seemed to do the trick.
Infiltration complete.
Dork.
You love it.
Horai didn’t have anything else to say, turning away from her gingerbread partner as they headed off to place the charges.
They heard the glasswork vayron call into the distance, “Hey where’s the-” as his words faded with a crowd forming around him, Horai chuckled to herself.
Horai placed the charge on a rock, well hidden from the view of the runner. She tilted it upwards as laughing caught her attention. A large crowd of humanoids, vayrons, tyrians and familiars all were making noise ready for a show to begin.
Horai nodded to herself, it would be a bit early but it would be grand with the assistance of magic. Horai held her paw out allowing a small dusting of magic to settle into the charge and line. She sneered at it, knowing it would blast a more brilliant color than whatever the pure yellow runner had been planning.
Artemis watched as the pond in front of the audience was littered with glowing lanterns. She secured her charged on a dirt spot on the ground looking for Horai across the pond. She gave her a good signal to start.
“Hey - wait a second, no no no! Don’t -” Artemis saw the yellow runner who had escaped from his crowd around the cart and he was pleading her not to set it off yet. Artemis looked to Horai who seemed bored.
“Please just wait a second, there’s a few more minutes to go - just let everyone get here - what did you do to the charges?” The long eared runner bent down and sniffed at this.
“Eugh this reeks of magic, what were you thinking??”
“More colors.” Artemis shortly responded.
“More colors?? There are already a variety of colors, how could you have known what was in them without tearing the fireworks open?” He huffed at her.
“Whoops.” She dropped the bar on the charge as it struck and created a spark. The spark flittered its way down the small string.
The male looked at her unamused and turned around.
The spark reached the car and one by one rockets flew into the air with a whizz. The first one exploded, but magic moved the sparks creating shapes of dragons, reoseans and all kinds of things. The glasswork runner looked up and sighed.
“Nice touch, now get out of my sight.”
Artemis shrugged and Horai showed up beside her yelling. Artemis struggled to hear what was being said and Horai rolled her eyes.
Their swords clashed as the two pullers met for only a moment before leaping back again. Light purple met light blue eyes for only a moment as the two circled each other, going back to looking for an opening.
It was a normal song and dance for them. They knew each other in and out. The bond that sung between them spoke of the other one's moves before they started the motion. It wouldn't make sense to an outside observer. What was the point if training if you knew what was to come?
Sometimes the two came up with new moves. Sometimes they surprised each other. Mostly they practiced and continued to train every chance they could to keep their senses sharp. They weren't getting any younger either. Someday, a stronger opponent may come against them, and their years of skill would be put to the test.
They practiced to show off as well. The soldiers were an inspiration. While they were perhaps no longer the soldiers in a war, they now lead a guild hall, and were responsible for whipping recruits into shape.
Artemis loved to let Hoari loose on those who claimed to have experience. She ripped them apart and made them question everything they thought they knew about themselves. She was brash and rude, a terrifying opponent. It made them inch closer to Arty herself, only to be intimidated by her cold demeanor, unsettled as she silently tore them down. After that, the pair found that other guild members were more likely to listen and learn.
It helped to show off a little too. One could learn by watching, and the females never found any merit in training privately. While in the early days of the guild, they maybe had one or two watchers, days like today held dozens of reoseans, some starry eyed, and many holding awe as they gathered around the fighting pit.
The pair had chosen to forgo magic today, each holding a sword clenched in their jaws and the smallest opening was pounced on, their swords coming back together in a flurry, their necks twisting in odd ways to keep the weapons moving.
Needing a breather, Artemis tossed her sword to the side when they broke apart, Horai copying her move. The bloodmarked vsy grinned as Arty panted, signaling the next change. They didn't need to share thoughts to know what she was planning, and the two came together, each using their teeth to attempt to bring the other down.
They knew how to hold back, and thankfully no wounds sprouted on their hides. At most, fangs tangled in fur, both of them glad to have long and thick coats. They didn't often fight without weapons, and it was exhilarating, sending an electrifying thrill down to their paws. It made them pick up the pace, their speed nearly unmatched.
Horai picked up a paw, swatting away her opponent's snarling jaw, which only caused the wolf marked vay to smirk, bringing her own paws into the fray. Artemis’ claws tangled much faster than Horai’s, a gift of genetics perhaps.
Artemis had the luck (for her) to have been blessed with longer claws than most. They resembled bear paws more than a canine, unlike most vays, and it was a fact Hoari was well familiar with, even if she momentarily forgot by letting the other female have that advantage. She growled when she was swatted with one of those things, and her partner has the audacity to look sheepish. It was a rare expression that was reserved only for her, but the angora wasn't taking any pleasure in receiving it now.
Horai evened out the odds when she pulled on her anger, letting the emotion fuel her limbs. While anger usually blinds others, Horai drew energy from it, driving her faster and fiercer. The smirk on Artemis' face dropped, only to find a place on Horai's.
Artemis allowed herself to be driven back and soon they resumed circling each other once more. When they stood near each other's swords, the thought coursed through them, and then paws flicked, kicking up the swords from the dirt and sending them flying. They each caught their own weapons, the stunt causing a few onlookers to exclaim their admiration. Not that either of them would let themselves be distracted by the spectators, and their weapons danced together in a deadly display without a hint of hesitation.
Sparks flew as the weapons met, if only for a fraction of a second before they pulled away again, each seeking to find a weakness in the other, only to be defended against just as fast as it was found.
When they finally parted, out of breath but not winded, their beautiful pelts were covered in dust and dirt from the area, making them both seem more brown and gray than usual. Not a scratch marred their skin more than the normal scars, but fur was trussed up and out of place in a wacky display. That didn't stop them from seeing the most gorgeous being on the planet across from them, no matter the tiny soft smiles and large cocky grins.
Before turning their attention back to their surroundings, they gave each other a once over, expert eyes looking for injuries, noses wrinkling as they searched for any hint of blood. None found, they were satisfied, the same glint mirrored in each other's eyes at a job well done.
"Alright you plebs! It's your turn! Either that, or clear the fuck out!" Horai's grin turned into a snarl that was tossed to the onlookers, some jumping back from her gaze. Artemis just sighed, gesturing to the training dummies they had pushed aside at the beginning.
"Training is important." Her words were soft but no less impactful. Guild members scrambled to get around one another, and the pair of pullers smirked as they left the arena and those assembled to their own devices. Their training always had this effect, a lasting impression to those in attendance, with more every day. If they weren’t so good, they’d be worried about an enemy observing just to try to get the upper hand, but the pullers weren’t concerned. They’d face any enemy head on, and just like always, obliterate them. That’s what training was for. That’s what all their years in the army was for. Artemis and Horai were the best of the best, on par with the best knights in the kingdoms. They had the experience and the skill to back that up, and as long as they were together, they would never lose.
Vanrift snorted, light peeking through his windows disturbing his sleep. He looked beside him to his sleeping mate dappled in yellow marks. She was still sleeping peacefully. Vanrift wanted to avoid disturbing her this early in the morning. He carefully rolled out of their bed of pelts. As he crept along the wooden floor the house was silent. It felt like yesterday to him that he had found his home in Verfalle, much less taking over the famed blacksmith’s shop that once propelled him into the art.
As Vanrift reached the stairs he sloggily inched down doing his best not to disturb the creaky parts of the boards. He planted his paws on the cold stone floor, his shop always grew so cold overnight as the blizzards and snowfall frosten over the stone. As Vanrift slowly began defrosting the main forge with his flaming breath he felt another presence in the doorway of the shop.
***
Artemis was feeling sluggish. The action of the guild wasn’t quite what she was used to. Sure, it was more relaxing in her older age, as she started to feel her bones creak, but she felt the need to do something, anything, and that’s how she found herself returning to her roots, creating things once more. It had been years, long before she joined the army, when she first put her paws to crafting various things. Seeing the forge here in the heart of Roenden, the fires stoked up to stave away the chill, it made her wish to work on more.
It had surprised her then that the forge was warm this early in the morning, when she snuck away from the snores of her partner that could saw logs. Vanrift wasn’t a recruit she knew well, but she liked what she had seen. He was hard working, and pulled his weight. He and his mate were welcome additions to the guild. She hadn’t known he knew his way around the forge too - yet another useful ability to add to his resume. So she stood in the entryway, blinding away the last of her sleep as she leaned against the frame. She kept most of her normal attire behind, only her jewelry reflected the fires he stoked to life with his breath.
“Am I interrupting?”
***
“Not at all lass, I was just beginning to stoke the fires. Gotta warm this place up before getting started on today’s orders.” Van made a friendly chuff as he began heating another bucket of metal, then pouring it into the large vat.
***
Arty’s scarred muzzle twisted into a grin. “Lass huh? Been a while since I was mistaken for someone young and called by that name.” She hummed in the back of her throat, and meandered her way into the forge. “Anything I can assist with?”
***
Vanrift grinned back and waved her over, “Sure, first we’ll need to set up our area,” clearing his throat and pointing towards the wall of tools, “grab a set of hammers, vises, tongs or anything else that generally has a handle and looks tough enough to bend molten metal and bring it over to the anvil besides the center forge.”
***
The gingerbread marked vayron did as told. It was amusing to her that someone here had the guts to order her around. A nice change of pace. As she gripped the tools he mentioned, she felt the familiar weight, remembering a time long past. “I’m a bit rusty, but I’m sure you’ll be a good teacher.” The hammer she held aloft with her magic reminded her of her axe, and she swung it around playfully for a moment before returning to her task. Maybe she’d wield a hammer someday just to try.
***
Vanrift looked back to see Artemis’s setup looking quite clean, at least compared to his other proteges. He walked over to a shelf with various glass doors, he inspected the labels on each of the cabinets and slid one door open grabbing the scrolls inside. As he flipped through them he stopped on one pulling it out and setting it down on a table near Artemis. He motioned for her to take a look and traced the design with his claw.
“This is a thinner sword, so we’ll need to be extraordinarily careful in refining it today. I’ll get the basic shape going and instruct you as you refine the shape, sharpen the edges, and then flatten. I’ll take care of the rest after that.” Artemis nodded and watched as Vanrift walked over to a crate of steel bars. He lifted a couple of the bars out and dunked them in a bucket floating in already molten material. He used his fiery breath to start heating the inside as the metal turned to a liquified yellow mass.
Vanrift’s paws and mouth glowed yellow like the metal, but seemingly it didn’t bother him at all. He lifted the bucket to his mouth and drank the liquified metal.
***
Artemis raised a brow at the papers he pointed to, but otherwise gave no comment. He was right in the fact she hadn’t made one quite like that before, so his instruction would be well received.
He used his elemental magic in a way that suggested mastery, and he was quite impressed as she watched him evenly heat the metal, melting it evenly. What surprised her though was when he opened his maw and swallowed the stuff. She had seen plenty of things in battle, and was hardened to surprises and visible reactions. Still, she stared, blinked once, then twice as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
Figuring he had it handled, she made sure the area was cleared and ready for whatever curveball he was going to throw at her next.
***
Vanrift’s coat began to lighten and his chest’s marking started to glow a bright yellow morphing between white spotting. As he opened his mouth, steam pouring out of it and he quickly turned to grab something around his chest. He slowly pulled an object that was solidifying straight from his flaming chest, sparks flying as he did so. The object was long and almost perfectly cylindrical. He pulled the rest and it snapped off without much noise, he set it on the stone counter of the forge before his coat and the rest of his body slowly faded back to it’s normal color.
“That’s a neat trick I always start off with, I tend to be able to get it easier with magic than just letting molds do the initial work. You’ll need to take the steel rod now and pound it out to the same shape seen on the design. The measurements should be on the page and there are nicks in the surface of the anvil so you can line it up. I’ll watch over the process but please do not burn the design.”
***
“Impressive.” Arty muttered as she watched the magic at work. She wondered if that was something he knew how to do innately, or something he worked on to be able to do. Now was not the time for questions or speculation, as she needed to work with the rod while it was hot.
She nodded, showing she heard and understood him. She used her magic to grab the papers, floating them out of reach but within her line of sight, and gripped the hammer as well. Pulling just a little more, knowing she could hold many things after years of practice, she held the hot rod in place, grateful for not needing protection from the heat, and brought the hammer down as she began to shape the metal and flatten the edges.
She glanced over at Vanrift occasionally, heeding his body language and his eyes to see if he would catch anything she missed as the clang of metal on metal filled the forge in the early morning. This close proximity to the male, she wondered if he always radiated this much heat, or only after using his magic; either way, the chill of Roenden was far from her thoughts as her fur was pleasantly warm.
***
Vanrift watched as Artemis worked steadily on shaping the blade, working her way outwards. She occasionally hiccuped but it was never anything too hard for him to point out and she would just as easily and confidently correct it. As he watched her work he could hear scratching above, the clanging of metal must’ve woken up his mate Vesper.
When he looked back down Artemis was inspecting her now cooling blade and picked it up surveying the edges. He nodded and set it down on cold stone.
“We’ll want to wait for it to cool down on it’s own and return to it. For now, let’s have you start on the hilt. We have a template already close to the hilt described on the design so I want you to start there.” He led her over toward another large shelf in the opposite corner of where they were working and pulled out a drawer with wooden handles and other materials. He pulled out a red wooded handle that had not yet been sanded.
Vanrift dropped it in Artemis’s paws as he pointed out the shaping changes she needed to make by cutting the hilt down with a knife. She nodded to his instructions without much question and he set her to work.
***
Being a warrior had honed some skills that others tended to forget would lend themselves well to crafting. As Vanrift instructed her, she was able to use the knife to make super precise cuts as she carved away, knowing her precision was due to years of precise injuries to incapacitate an opponent in a fast manner.
If her lack of talking bothered him, he didn’t show it. Arty was usually a quiet vay, with Horai being one of the few to drag it out of her, and even then, half their conversations were mental too. Hearing the noises above, she remembered this pair lived above the forge, so it shouldn’t have surprised her when she arrived the first time. She reached with her bond to feel for the bloodmarked vay, but she was still sleeping, unaware of Artemis’ toil in the early morning.
She held up the carved hilt for inspection, a questioning look on her face.
***
Vanrift turned to her, walking closer grasping the hilt. As he ran his paw over the shaping feeling for any bumps he chuckled.
“Looks great, why don’t you finish sanding and then apply the stain. I’ve just finished sharpening the blade and testing the quality.” Artemis nodded with a grin and Vanrift returned to the blade. He dipped the blade in a black vat of warm liquid and waving it around in the pool. He slowly pulled the blade out as it ate the various lights around the forge in it’s now void dark surface. The blade was finished, and the finishing touch was seemingly just around the corner.
He dried off the rest of the blade with a towel. He turned towards Artemis who was gently painting the finishing touches on the stain. She presented the finished hilt to him and he quickly grabbed another bucket with a bright blue liquid, taking a brush and filling the inside setting of the hilt. He placed the blade in it’s chamber and pushed it down. As it slid down the chamber and almost clicked into place once it hit the edge Vanrift took a deep breath expelling flames once more. The blue liquid turned black and tore off as he did it. Once he pulled away the hilt looked flawless. He handed the finished sword to Artemis giving her an approving nod while he tied the wraps around the hilt for the decorative look. “Thank you for assisting me, hopefully to many more.” Vanrift gave her a warm smile and Artemis nodded in agreeance.
Looking back, Artemis could hear the sounds of battle raging behind her. She yearned to join them, knowing her skills were better than some of those that had been tracking the beast. She would last longer, deal stronger hits - yet there was something odd about the Zataro. The crystalline growths on it seemed unnatural, and the longer the fight went on, the more it seemed more mindless than the stories she had heard of the beast.
Reports from the guild members who had been tracking it varied, but crystal growths in the blood, both seen by her companions and by herself in battle proved that this beast was far different.
So when something glittered out of the corner of her eye? She knew she had to investigate. She had heard rumors that the Zataro wasn’t going after the thing, and figured they were connected somehow. Was this thing controlling the Zataro? Were they both experimentations from whatever had possibly brought the blasted beast into existence?
Arty burst through the underbrush, reading her weapon. She was expecting an enemy at best, a pup of the Zataro at worst. Neither were there in front of her as she squinted down at the creature.
It resembled a porcupine, or a hedgehog, or just some sort of furry mammal. Growing from its back and the tip of its tail were long strands of crystals, and smaller crystals lay like scale growth on its legs. Outside of the crystals, the brown fur looked soft, and she could almost hear Horai now in her mind telling her to just grab the blasted thing and go.
It munched on a berry, and finally looked up at her with eyes that seemed to sparkle like the crystal growths.
She wasn’t even sure if she could grab the creature. Best she could do would be to summon her shield, capturing or herding it. Any attempts at physically trying to restrain it would result in those crystal quills in her skin. She wasn’t keen on pulling those out. If they were anything like the ones on the Zataro, she had seen the damage they could inflict, and she would rather not be sliced by impossibly sharp barbs. There was also the chance this thing too had the poison the Zataro liked to wield, and she didn’t have any antivenom on her at the moment - stupidity on her part to neglect that when they were fighting a Zataro of all things.
The quills on the creature seemed to puff up at her approach, and she could hardly blame it; armed with a weapon, covered in scars and a gruff appearance. Arty was not a pretty vayron by any means, but at least she wasn’t Horai - her partner would have scared this thing to Hell and back if she was here. Besides, she was not much in the department for fast, her puller build and long fur dragging her down. If this thing got away, she’d be shit out of luck if she couldn’t bring her shield up fast enough.
Being the more diplomatic of the two, she placed her weapon back into its sheath on her gear. The magical axe lost the glow on the runes that indicated the enchantments going inert as she dropped her hold on it.
“What are you?” She whispered curiously, not expecting an answer. Instead, she reached with a paw to bring a branch of the bush down to where the creature could reach it better, letting it grab at the berries that were previously too high for it.
While it continued to munch, she animated a quill and some parchment, glad she had brought some of the search reports with her. A quick doodle of the creature was done in the margins, some notes about its behavior and habit. Anything that could be of use. The Mounted Patrol hadn’t mentioned any other creatures, so she suspected they didn’t have anything. She wanted to scoff and call the group a bunch of amateurs, but Vanquest’s own reports weren’t any better. She praised her quick thinking and sharp eyes for even finding the creature.
While she had never been to Vitalus herself, she wondered if these creatures were from there, even if the Zataro seemed to be something entirely unseen before. It was a land of magic after all, who knows what it was hiding.
“You’re kinda cute, just don’t let Horai know I said that.” She smiled a little to herself, knowing the angry angora would likely try to have her hide for going after a ‘cute’ creature and ducking out of the fight. A fight she should probably try to return to.
“Well, seeing as you’re not a threat, I’m going to go help my comrades.” Even if she couldn’t reach the Zataro again, she could help give orders to her guild mates that remained on the battlefield, and direct the injured to the medics, like a good commander should. A report of a seemingly harmless but distracting creature should also be handed off, so with a sigh of regret for letting herself be pulled away, the warrior turned to leave the creature, as the priority was not with it for now.
Artemis woke to noise. And if it was loud enough to wake her, she knew it better pipe down real soon before it woke Horai.
Too late for that.
Artemis sighed at the statement and padded out of the room. At least she could go find what was causing all the commotion. She suspected Horai would be in the mess hall at this time of morning - damn straight - and so she headed in that direction, groaning outwardly as the noise got louder. What the hell was the guild getting up to?
Flags decorated the dinding area and she blinked, taking a few moments to recognize that those flags were not normal guild flags, nor for any other guild she knew of.
Pride month. Horai supplied helpfully. Even mentally her voice sounded like she was talking through a mouthful of mutton, which was exactly what was going on when lavender eyes fell on blue ones.
They didn’t have anything against pride, far from it, but the guild leaders sometimes found that people got a little too enthusiastic, and for Vanquest, they really didn’t need any accidents on the job. Horai’s temper too didn’t mesh well with any celebration, and Artemis found she snapped back at people running around and getting underfoot far more often.
She needed coffee. Grabbing the entire pot instead of just a mug, she carried it over to the table, setting it on her shield and putting it far up above the heads of those running around. Pushing aside confetti in an assortment of colors, Artemis took a seat next to Horai, and finally settled down to nurse her pot of hot liquid.
I swear they start earlier each year.
Artemis hummed her agreement. Morning Arty was even less talkative than usual. Most of the guild members had gotten the hint not to bother her until after at least a mug of the hot bean juice, but clearly someone didn’t get the message as they sauntered up to the table.
Horai’s lips raised in the start of a snarl, but Artemis just gave a slight nod of her head. Might as well get this over with.
The female, a soft colored tobiano angora, slid into place on the other side of the table.
“Soooo, where’s your pride?”
Horai failed to stifle a laugh at the dead expression Artemis shot her way as she made eye contact with the reptile tailed angora and upended the pot, gulping it down as she stared across the table.
“Oh come on. We go through this every year.”
Can I scare her away yet?
No.
“And every year it’s the same thing. You two go about things like business as usual-”
Now?
No.
“And then everyone knows you two have the most reason to celebrate!”
What the hell is this bitch prattling on about?
I have no idea.
Horai rolled her eyes - she wasn’t one for celebrations and surely she and Artemis could celebrate by doing their normal.
“Not our thing, but glad everyone else will enjoy themselves.” Horai swiped a sip of Artemis’s coffee - to which she gave her a raised brow, but in truth could never be annoyed at sharing with Horai.
The angora gently smiled at them and seemed to get distracted for a moment.
The wolf puller slid her coffee back towards her and leaned around Horai, “And what’s the thing in your head saying?”
Kori shook her head giggling, “Nothing, he just wishes you two would have a bit more fun. Not that you’re killing ours but we never get to see the other side of you guys. It’s always-” she cut herself off taking a big gulp of hot liquidated beans.
Horai and Artemis looked at each other, Horai giving her a grinning smirk, “Training? Battle? Defense? Magic?”
Kori looked at her like she’d been caught and nodded. Artemis rested her head on Horai’s shoulder and eyed Kori, “And for that… you’ll be doing double shifts.” She turned her pot of coffee with a claw while smugly looking at the white and brown puller.
“Ugh, whatever! You two enjoy whatever you do in your free time - the rest of us are gonna get finished on decorating.” She got up from her seat and sauntered off to other guild members covered in various colorful paints.
Horai leaned her cheek back on Artemis, her eyes closing so she could shut out the morning ruckus. Horai took the chance to grab the coffee pot once more, taking a long sip. Artemis’ eyes shot back open and she gave a look between a scowl and pouting. Horai grinned at her before returning her drink.