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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2014 15:40:46 GMT -5
Even though his heart had stopped beating wildly and his lungs had ceased burning a long, long time ago, Bishop could not shake the heaviness that weighed on him. It wasn't quite fatigue, more like... an expectation. A duty. There were others relying on him. He had to succeed. He had to prove to his herd, and to Ba'Yagu that he hadn't taken up this title in vain. He would do his father's legacy proud. He had to.
The quiet of the forest around him was rather cloying, and it left him to stew in his own thoughts. He had lost sight of Ozzer after he'd passed through the wall, and he'd seen hide nor hair of another Loner throughout the whole day. The sun had now set over this new and strange land, and he felt decidedly... alone. At least previously he'd been paired with someone for the race, and through the mist he'd been able to make out other figures, but here there was nothing but the denseness of the giant trees and the complete and utter isolation. He supposed it made sense, when he really thought about it. It was all in their title after all: the Loners of Chevalin.
That didn't stop him from being lonely, though.
The big, dark stallion carefully navigated through a tightly clustered grouping of trees, but found himself at a dead halt when he heard movement around him. His ears flicked and twitched anxiously, and he drew in a deep breath... but what came to him was not the threatening scent of a predator. Rather, the scent of another horse! Bishop carefully started forward again, catching a flash of white through the trees. It didn't take much- his long strides ensured he caught up with the other fairly quickly.
"Hey!" He called, attempting to keep his voice low, so as not to startle the mare and also not to alert anything in the immediate area of their presence. He didn't know what potentially lurked out here. "Please, wait up?"
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2014 16:14:57 GMT -5
Sometimes being a Loner was fairly chaotic. Obviously Ba'Yagu had tried her best to keep the lone travelers together, but it wasn't an easy task. Nimh herself wasn't completely innocent either, she was used to being alone and trusting only herself. She knew that when going got though, she could trust herself and most often others would only weigh her down. So when she had won Little Bird and proceeded through the wall, she knew she was supposed to have a partner. Or at least it might have been the smart thing to do. Yet, when she didn't spot someone right away, she decided to go on her own.
The trees were enormous and the unknown behind every turn was both exciting and terrifying. Nimh wasn't absolutely sure what they hoped to accomplish here, if this was supposed to be their new home given it was safe enough, or if the witch expected them to conquer some bigger task. All in all, it nagged in Nimh's mind that she didn't know more about this place. Obviously the witch knew something, and Nimh would have liked to know it all as well, to the smallest detail. Yes, she was overly curious but a survivalist at heart, too.
She heard steps in the middle of a group of trees, and turned around to see a dark stallion. She hadn't really gotten to know him, but of course they'd seen each other during the trip multiple times. She halted for a moment as her eyes quickly assessed her company. The stallion was heavy in build, much like Nimh herself, but with of course that little bit of extra muscle that came with the gender. Nimh supposed she could have ended up with a lot worse accomplice and the stallion could most likely pull his own weight. And he wasn't particularly uneasy for the eyes, either. But there was no time for such nonsense, Nimh reminded herself.
"I'm Nimh", she then said. She was pretty bad with names and wasn't sure if she'd ever actually introduced herself during the past weeks. She had tended to keep to herself, being bundled up with others for prolonged amounts of time was difficult and energy-consuming for her. Her ears flickered forward to catch and actually memorize the stallion's name this time.
She was about to say something more, when there was a blood-chilling cry. It was quite unlike anything Nimh had heard before. She instantly looked at the stallion. Was one of their own in trouble? It sounded a bit like a cry for help, but she couldn't be sure. She turned a bit, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.
"What do you think that is? Someone in trouble?" Nimh then asked, feeling anxious.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2014 13:20:33 GMT -5
"Bishop." The dark stallion chimed happily, glad for the pleasant company. He'd come to know several of the other Loners on this journey, but as friendly as everyone had seemed face-to-face, there was always this little wall he could sense between them. They knew him, they acted politely, but it seemed like there was just a bridge that none of them wanted to cross to truly make friends. Maybe that made him unusual, but he wanted to cross the bridge. Regardless, their mission wasn't really one that allowed for lots of socialization. There was strength in numbers, though, so banding together with this mare would do him good! It would help that she seemed nice. For a minute he allowed himself to appreciate the trinkets tied into her mane...
At least until he heard the cry.
Bishop's senses jumped onto high alert, his ears turning this way and that as he appraised the sound. It certainly didn't sound like a good thing. He looked to his brand new companion and nodded his massive head firmly.
"Only one way to find out." He murmured to her, making sure to keep his voice low, just in case. "We should stay close, but check it out anyway." And with the mare's compliance, he carefully proceeded forward, flanking her on the right and treading cautiously. With hooves as big as his were, there wasn't really such a thing as a delicate step, but he did try his hardest to be careful. If it was something dangerous, they needed to be on guard, but prepared to help if the situation arose. The pair of horses carefully wove through the trees, but as the foliage began to thin, Bishop paused.
Ahead of them in the clearing, leering at them was a calf. A moose calf... all alone.
Bishop looked around, curious. Moose were large and dangerous creatures... surely its mother was close at hand. But something seemed... off... there was a light tug in his mind. Something he ought to remember... tales of creatures who looked like moose but drank blood...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2014 10:59:36 GMT -5
Nimh followed Bishop at an even gait. Large as she was, she had fairly little difficulty stepping lightly. Her ears were turned towards the source of the cry, very alerted and every muscle twitching to bolt into action. Her dappled skin rippled with tension and every little sound became hyphened in her ears.
Nimh paused alongside Bishop and stared down at the lone moose calf. Her eyes thinned into narrow lines as she tried to figure out what this was. The small horns on the calf's head seemed to grow foliage, quite unlike something Nimh had seen before. She remembered hearing something about these creatures, and she had the unnerving feeling it was something bad. Her lavender eyes flickered at the surroundings, trying to see if there were any adult moose around. At least she didn't spot any.
The calf stared at them, it had a crazed look in its eyes as it stepped closer. Nimh glanced at Bishop.
"I have a bad feeling. I think we should go..." she started, her sentence cutting a bit short as the calf revealed its unnaturally sharp teeth and lunged forward. Nimh bolted sideways, her ears pinned and teeth bared, with a surprise hissing sound. She however turned around as switfly as she could, feeling an energy building up and flowing through her, from her gut through her head and a lightly green-omitting field flashed towards the calf's chest. The field itself wasn't too tiring to create, it was fairly small for now but it efficiently paused the calf's first attack and spooked it a little bit. It also seemed to make it angrier, and Nimh shot Bishop a terrified, yet determined look.
"The field will stay up for a little if we run now!" she shouted at Bishop as her little field flickered and she moved to keep it between herself and the calf, who was pawing and obviously anticipating a second attack. A part of her knew that one should probably stay behind and the other should make a break for it, but they both had proved themselves fast and powerful. She really wanted them both to just escape and her every muscle was screaming to flee.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2014 9:36:30 GMT -5
Bishop found himself jerking sideways and out of the calf's range when it lunged, but the faint niggling of remembrance fled his mind. All he could remember was a warning from his mother, passed down from his father, of great moose who thirsted for blood. Surely this couldn't be...? Nimh's words came to him, and his head turned in surprise, ears twitching forward. Her power held the calf back, and he stood in wonder for a moment and a moment only. Her barrier wouldn't hold it for long, but then again... they didn't really need a long time, did they? Bishop leaned away slightly, his heart thundering. Because of Nimh's actions, the calf was focused in on her with anger and hunger... but he couldn't let her put herself in harm's way because of him. Steeling his resolve and pinning his ears, he held his ground for a second, tossing his temporary companion a determined look. "Go on! I'll lead it away and round back to meet you!" He could see the barrier would not hold for long. He didn't have a lot of time! "Hey!" He barked at the calf, rising up on his rear legs to strike at the air with his hooves, trying to catch its attention. He turned and sprung away into the trees as the barrier began to slip away, praying that his plan would work, and praying it wouldn't come back around to bite him in the butt! (I'm so, so sorry about how long this took, but I think that this works as a suitable finish? I've had some more personal issues come up and I just wanted to apologize again for how long this had taken me  I'm really really sorry) |
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I'm really really sorry)