(Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board)

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Wed Jan 15, 2014 11:13 pm

Rilos' meekness was really starting to put Kagan on edge, and not just because he was still feeling the affects of motion sickness; The dragon lacked passion and energy, and he doubted that those had only been lost when he became injured. His mousy attitude wouldn't do him very good, and it is now the goblin's business to whip this strawberry shortcake into a... not strawberry shortcake. Maybe apple? Pear? Pears are hard, so that would do.

Rilos stumbling garnered a death glare from Kagan, but nothing more, taking a few steps away from the half-blind beast and offering a dismissive nod to the two who startled him. "Watch out, the baby is blind in one eye. Wasn't much of a fight that he lost it in, to boot." Actually, that was a complete lie; that lady was a force to be reckoned with, to be sure.

Kagan then butted into the question that Atleon had posed, knowing more about the metalwork than his companion. "It's not really armor, prince. In battle, this stuff is practically useless." He walked around and rapped his knuckles on the thin armor, a hollow clank resounding. "It's more a cast than anything. Enough to keep his bones in place, but other than that." He could only offer a shrug at this. Honestly, he had no clue how armor would really work on dragons; There's never been a demand for it, and he knew that most dragon claws could pierce standard armor. Perhaps with some reworking?

~*~'Timeskip'~*~

With everything in order, the platoon of soldiers packed up camp and began the slow march towards Harglen, wounded soldiers loaded onto eery horse and dragon that was available. The town seemed empty on their arrival, there was next to nobody bustling around outside, and eyes peeked out at them from every window, watching. Ericius led the group to the town's largest inn, where a large man in an apron waited for them, arms crossed and looking sour. This is where the wounded men would be staying and, after payment had been made, they were ushered inside, a doctor and mage waiting to offer treatment. Leaving the men to heal, the rest of the army scattered, finding places to stay while they waited for Atleon to decide on their next course of action.

Last edited by Eldarwen on Tue Jan 28, 2014 8:04 am; edited 1 time in total

He would have to get back to that conversation with Rilos and Kagan at some point. He really did. The goblin had done a rather interesting thing with that protection he had created for the Spined Shadow and Atleon definitely wanted to hear more about such an endeavour, especially now with a war looming on the horizon, they would have to take everything they could get in terms of help and defence. What did the people of Dragons’ Cove know about the offensive act of fighting? Literally nothing! So they would have to be able to rely on a sort of defence mechanism that could keep them alive. As much as possible at least.

For now however, they needed to decide what to do next. Or rather, he would have to. Only, he wasn’t quite sure anymore. The prince had thought coming to Harglen might give them more than just the basic help they needed for their wounded, but he should have known better than to count on these people. Ericius had already prophesised that they were not happy to have the Prince in their midst. They weren’t going to listen to him.

However, they might listen to people who did not wear the royal colours. Moving to the outskirts of town, where they were out of the way of those helping the refugees and wouldn't be overheard too much, Atleon waved the ones who had so graciously offered their help and those who had already helped on the road and in Racksom over to him, and addressed the round:
“Most people here do not like me or any other member of my family. Thus, I would ask this favour of you. Spread the news of the oncoming war, try to find people who are willing to offer their hand in battles we are soon going to be facing, whether they believe it or not. But be careful. Do not turn them away, do not shut them down or give them ammunition to use against us. We would not want our own people to become allies with the very people we are going to have to face. I implore you to use tact, but stay firm in your endeavours. We will need all the help we can get!”

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Sun Jan 26, 2014 2:49 pm

If truth be told, Rilos didn’t know much about his armour; perhaps in hindsight, that wasn’t for the best, but there wasn’t much he could do about it for now. Later, he would have to actually pay attention to Kagan if he went off on one of his rants about metalworking… the goblin was constantly grumbling about something or other.
For now though, Kagan did actually come to his rescue. He was surprisingly helpful at times. In fact, he was much more suited to all of this than the Spined Shadow was. Could he not just retreat back to their camp they had made out in the middle of the Everplains and forget all of this?

“I crashed into a house,” Rilos mumbled, turning his head back and forth as Kagan walked around, although the goblin was probably right in downplaying the events of Racksom. There was no good in feeling sorry for himself. At least everybody else seemed to vaguely know what they were doing however, which was somewhat of a relief.

==X==

Although they headed closer towards Harglen, the Price stopped as soon as he barely set foot inside the town. Thinking to stay close to Atleon, Rilos stopped with him too. The fact that the streets of a human town weren’t really built for big dragons also might have had something to do with it.
“More fighting? Do you really think so?” The first thought through Rilos’ head was that he really didn’t want to partake in any more battles, especially if that terrifying Sunblaze was going to show up again. A small shiver ran down his back in dislike of the thought, but he tried to push it away. “What are we doing, your Majesty? I mean purely in the sense that, we have been er… separated from everyone, for a while. What plans are there?”

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Sun Jan 26, 2014 9:16 pm

Jackdaww was relieved when the focus was taken of him and the group began to move again. They were getting closer to Harglen every day, so the best thing they could do was keep moving.

For the remainder of the day they continued the long march towards the city. Jackdaww stayed near Measle, so he could lean on the dragon when his half-healed leg became painful, but that seemed almost completely healed by then. He was still astonished by how well the healer had coped with that – he had near enough splintered the bone into tiny shreds, and he honestly hadn’t though that there was enough left to fix it.

The pair of them remained near the front of the column, as the supply carts and their injured companions were taking the back of the line. In truth, Jackdaww was curious about the conversation going on between Atleon and the others too, so if it wasn’t too secretive, he wanted to keep up to date with what was going on.

--

Measle tried to keep Jackdaww hurrying along for the day, as the man had a bit of a tendency to wander off. By the time they reached Harglen, though, both dragon and human were completely focussed. Measle was convinced that they wouldn’t be met well, and suggested to Jackdaww that they help the injured in before entering themselves. Jackdaww’s attire made it very clear that he was a soldier, so Measle’s logic was that it would be better for him to enter after the wounded.

Once most of the column was on their way inside, Measle spared a look in the direction of Atleon and the new dragon-goblin pair. He waited for a moment of quiet, before quietly asking, “Is there anything in particular you would have us do while we are here?” He gave Jackdaww a gentle nudge to make sure he didn’t say anything – Measle was convinced he would only mess things up, and waited to see if there were any direct orders to deal with before leading Jackdaww into the city along with the last of the others.

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:49 pm

"O'course more fighting. What d'ya think, we can send a box of chocolates an' they'll go on their way?" Fighting was inevitable; whether Kagan and Rilos would participate was up for grabs. The only reason he had helped in the first place was because he had gotten swept away in the action (not the first time he'd butted into a fight, either. Sometimes it's just fun to brawl), and he had taken some heavy blows for a cause he didn't really care for. His beloved pipe! He'd never find a simple, shoddily-carved piece of art like it ever again. Those damned foreigners, coming in like they owned the place and making him lose his possessions. Perhaps he did have something to fight for, to avenge his fallen smokestick from those Surahnian dogs. They probably smell bad anyways, so it would be a service to the world to bury them in a deep hole.

Turning to face Measle and his human, Kagan gave a huff and took a seat at one of the scattered tables, leaning back into the chair. "Yeah, find food. Some entertainment might be nice." Maybe they could find a decent steak. It'd been a while since he had meat that wasn't a small bird or a rodent. Rilos ate everything bigger than his hand, and scraping up enough food for two wasn't easy.

The goblin's sour attitude and rudeness was quickly grating on Ericius' nerves, but he held his tongue. From what he could tell, he and the armor-clad dragon with him had done Atleon a great service, which warrented a begrudging tolerance. He shot a death stare at the green man before turning to Measle, an edge to his voice. "Don't do that, we can have food brought." He could see the goblin throw his head back and groan, annoyed that his request was denied. Good. "I think, for now, we should plan out our next steps," He turned to Atleon, tilting his head, "What do you think?"

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Tue Jan 28, 2014 8:25 am

For a moment, Atleon just stared blankly at the people gathered around him. What had not been clear in his request for them to get people to help them in a war? What had not been clear in the fact that they needed to spread the news and find more people for their cause? What? Was he speaking another language? Or in riddles?

He really didn’t have the energy anymore to even call them out on it, but he was growing tired of having to repeat himself. And this was only the beginning. He needed some sleep, desperately, but there was no possibility of that goal being reached – not in the near future in any case. Too much was at stake and he didn’t want to sleep only to wake up and find that smug pale idiot staring down along a sword at him.

“For now, we’re doing just what we intended. Get the injured sorted, get a little bit of rest, some food and try to convince people to join us.” A little more emphasis on that last part was necessary quite simply because it was the most important part. It was of no use trying to go against a trained army with just a handful of people, even if there were dragons amongst them as well.

“We need to set up our own army,” Atleon continued as he looked at Rilos, “because yes, there will most definitely be more fighting. If anything can be learned after what happened in Quinsilla and in Racksom, it is that these people aren’t going to stop before they have the whole island under their control. They do not just want one city onto themselves, they want the whole island. And that means your goblin clan will be in for it as well.”
The prince pointedly looked at Kagan, who was sprawled over a chair as though nothing could worry or frazzle him. He was going to learn soon enough as well that the world wasn’t quite the happy place anymore that he still seemed to envision. Though in all honesty, Atleon wouldn’t mind being able to cut himself a piece of that worry-free attitude.

“Once the word here is spread,” he let his eyes wander over the rest of the small group, “we will move to the Academy. We’re more likely to find help there, and with a bit of luck a few Elites will be in residence. They will be able to alert the rest of their troops. But for now,” his eyes rested on Measle and Jackdaww specifically since the man was limping a little more than he wanted to acknowledge, it seemed, “you should get yourselves fixed up. Get some food and some rest. But I do want results by the end of tomorrow. We need to move quickly and we will need all the help we can get.”

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Fri Jan 31, 2014 2:51 pm

Rilos had his head stuck through the window of the building that they had all gathered in, the rest of his body much too big to fit in the room comfortably. This was the problem with humans, they never remembered that dragons inhabited Dragons’ Cove as well, and their structures were most inappropriate. Sometimes he really did wonder why, given that their isle was named after the dragons.
At least he couldn’t see any of the looks given to the rest of his body sticking out into the street, paying attention to the events going on inside.

The conversation wasn’t quite what the Spined Shadow wanted to hear however, when it was talk of what most definitely could be bracketed into ‘war planning’. He wished desperately that everything could have been peaceful again and that he could happily potter around the island as he had always done, but that was not an option any more. Rilos was not a fighter- but he wanted to help.

“Most of us cannot fight at all. We are a peaceful land, not one given to fighting. I do not think finding an army will be easily done…” said Rilos doubtfully, tailing off until he realised that there was no good in negativity alone. “But, perhaps those who saw Racksom will want to fight now. Some of them. I uh, think I am rather unsuited to those things, but erm… others might be better? The Academy, yes. They will know how to fight.”

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Sun Feb 09, 2014 5:45 pm

Jackdaww looked decidedly confused by the conflicting orders briefly, before his mind managed to catch up with the conversation properly. “Of course, sire. At once.” He bobbed his head – not quite the same crazed bow that the newcomer had displayed, but a disciplined display of respect. With that, he left quickly, making his way through the city streets carefully, still leaning on Measle slightly for support.

Spread the word. Right, that was simple enough. Jackdaww was convinced he could do that properly. As they walked, Jackdaww and Measle between them explained the situation to any passers-by, trying not to make it seem hopeless, but not sugar-coat the situation either. That in itself was difficult, and before long Measle was in charge of the talking, while Jackdaww planned out where they might find rest that evening.

Before too long had passed, they had to stop. Jackdaww could only limp along so quickly, and needed frequent rests. He hoped to be fit again by the time they moved out of Harglen so he could resume his place in the front of the fighting. It was all he knew, and heavens knew that the DDC had few enough real fighters.

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Tue Mar 11, 2014 8:58 am

Atleon wanted to scream in frustration. He really, really did. How could people be so incredibly boneheaded? Stubborn, silly, stuck in their ways and just…

He took a deep breath as he looked into the head of the village’s eyes. For some reason, the two of them had never gotten along. Personal chemistry or whatnot being the ultimate reason for this mutual dislike. As it were, Atleon and Thanis were now staring at each other, neither of them willing to back down, and thus both of them stuck in this room together, trying vainly to have something resembling a polite conversation. And failing hard.

After the others had scattered throughout the small town to do their jobs, Atleon had taken it upon himself to do his and meet with Thanis. It was what custom and manners dictated but neither of them had been looking forward to it. Ericius had already warned him that the people of Harglen weren’t too happy about the refugees’ presence, even less about the prince’s, but he hadn’t imagined his welcome to be so very hostile.

“Fine. I’ll get out of your hair. But you better see to the injured and help them. You can stick your head in the sand all you want but it will not erase what they have lived through.”

Thanis just continued to glare at him like a petulant little boy. It made the prince want to do his head in. The leader barely gave a curt nod but he did. It was all Atleon needed.

“Thank you. The rest of us will move on and get out of your way, but I urge you to mark my words and to consider your options.” Atleon didn’t wait for another reply, knowing full well that Thanis would only want to spite him, even if he did understand the gravity of the situation.

When Atleon stepped outside, his eyes instantly fell on Ericius, who had been close by ever since the prince had parted from the rest of their somewhat able troupe.
“It’s a shame,” he muttered, knowing the dragon would be able to hear even if he didn’t raise his voice. “None of them understand. Heck, none of them even believe what we’re trying to tell them. It’s like they consider themselves so very high and mighty and that nothing can touch them that they prefer to sit around and wait to be run over instead of fight for their homes and their families. Or their own selfish lives at least, if other values mean nothing to them.”

Sighing, he added. “Let’s go meet the others. It’s time we hashed out the rest of our battleplan.” A short and bitter laugh rose from his throat as he briefly put his hand on the dragon’s shoulder before moving off towards where they had previously met and where they were all going to gather again to exchange news of what they had hopefully achieved during the day. He couldn’t believe he had wasted so many hours arguing with Thanis, over nothing! Atleon could only hope that the others had had more luck and that they had managed to gather a few people willing to fight for Dragons’ Cove. The island desperately needed it.

He really hoped that he would be greeted by a pleasant sight and that it wouldn’t only be Rilos, Kagan, Jackdaww and Measle waiting for him, if the goblin even returned. And the prince wasn’t so sure about the others anymore either. They all had taken quite a beating and deserved a break, but unfortunately, Atleon couldn’t give them one. They couldn’t afford it.

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Sat Apr 05, 2014 5:38 pm

It had been an… interesting sort of day. Not one Rilos wanted to repeat, in retrospect, but also one that he was rather glad had come about. It was certainly one to remember.
After Atleon had dismissed them all, he and Kagan had wandered the streets of Harglen, Kagan his usual cheerful self, with not a care in the world as for what was going on around him, it seemed. The goblin was unstoppable, and unflappable. Rilos, on the other hand, was meek enough for the both of them, and demurely tried to think over the Prince’s words and how they could be put into action. They needed an army; not the spined shadow’s strong point, despite his fierce appearance. He had no idea how to go about collecting an army, especially when so many of them they passed recoiled in dismay at the sight of the big dragon. Paired with Kagan, goblins being a rare sight, they really were something to behold.

Rilos was rather dismayed when he found they started to attract so much attention, wandering through the town trying to do as Atleon had asked and ‘improve’ things (however one went about doing such a thing), that they had grown a tail. Looking back over his shoulder, he only just caught a view of a small night dragon that decided it was a brave thing to leap on his purple tail- thankfully the most intact of the three he had, but unexpected all the same. He gave a small yelp as he felt tiny claws dig under his scales, turning to reprimand the grinning animal.
“How uncouth! It is unkind to leap on another’s tail without their saying so.” This created quite a stir, unfortunately in the wrong way, and soon the rest of the tiny herd of dragons that wandered as a pack through Harglen were using Rilos as a climbing frame.
It was not going well at all, this recruitment; unless, Atleon wanted to wait a few years for these young recruits to grow up. To dissuade them from their first game, the dragon started to tell stories, making them sit neatly in a circle and keep their little bums firmly plonked in the dirt before he continued each time.
Surprisingly, he became rather popular rather quickly; it was not just the children, and not just dragons, that wanted to hear of the fall of Racksom. While some with stories were obviously lying, Rilos had the looks to prove his words, and soon there was a hushed silence over the ever-growing crowd that surrounded him, listening to one tale after the next of what had happened at Racksom, the battle at large, then with a little more persuasion, the tale of what had happened to Rilos himself. Everybody wanted to hear, and nobody wanted the dragon to leave, his account a stark and grim reality.
At least Atleon will earn believers of what had happened in the western city, Rilos thought as he started over a third time, to the largest crowd yet. This may not be an army, but it is better than non-believers and naysayers.

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:39 pm

All the depressing things Atleon had imagined finding upon his return to the initial meeting place with the other defenders – as they seemed to have called themselves unofficially – what he actually found was absolutely not what he had expected.

He had come upon the group seated eagerly all around the Spined Shadowdragon and was absolutely stunned when he realised what was going on. With all that he had wanted to do and say, everything he had wanted the people to know, it had not occurred to him to just sit them down and just narrate it all to them in a way they understood probably way better than any other way it could have been told to them. People remembered stories, anecdotes, but they didn’t remember what other people wanted them or urged them to do. If anything was going to get the word out, this definitely would.
Rilos was living proof that it seemed to work to at least get people to listen in a first stage, and if the many sitting around him were anything to go by, the dragon had more than achieved his goal.

The prince couldn’t help himself but leaned against a wall on the outskirts of the place they had commandeered and just listened in, a small smile playing around his lips. The stories might be grim but they were truthful. There was no whitewashing anything, there was no hiding anything; it was plain and simply a retelling of what had occurred in Racksom, of what had happened to Rilos and Kagan.
Atleon hadn’t been sure what had happened exactly to the two of them but listening in now, his sympathy for the pair grew, despite the goblin’s attitude.

He waited, not saying a word, but observing the crowd, observing Rilos and trying not to let the terror of what had happened wash over him. He didn’t have time for that.
His eyes were still on the Spined Shadowdragon when the latter uttered his final word, followed at first by the stunned silence of the crowd.

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Sat May 17, 2014 2:57 pm

Rilos didn’t spot Atleon lingering at the back of the crowd when he appeared, too many people milling around for him to notice one more man, and anyway, he had a story to attend to. It was a little frightening, to have so many pairs of eyes on him, drinking up his appearance, so many ears listening to the words he spoke. He faltered now and then, trying to put things nicely, trying not to show up the Defenders and reinforce the bad opinion that already seemed to haunt Harglen, but instead turn them towards their cause; that was what the Prince wanted, didn’t he? More Defenders, more soldiers, more backing their case. Or at least, for the word to spread, of what had happened in Racksom, to stop pilgrims travelling from one power Stone to the next from visiting the city. It wasn’t safe there any more.

He came to a faltering end and looked towards Kagan, then out at the crowd that were already starting to become noisy again. So soon! It seemed only his story was on the lips of those in front of him however… good, although… strange. Strange for it to be him in the limelight, so to speak. The crowd went back more than a few layers now, causing a blockage and disturbance to those that wanted to actually use the square; perhaps that was a good thing, but also not so much, Rilos didn’t want to cause trouble…
“Oh! My Prince.” Finally he spotted Atleon, skulking at the back of the crowd with... well, pleasure, hopefully, on his face. He caught the man’s eye, then remembered protocol and dipped his head, hoping the crowd wouldn’t mob him after hearing all they had heard. Sure enough, whispers and heads started to turn, Rilos still a focus of attention, and more than a few waiting for more tales, or wise words.
The Prince…

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Wed Jun 04, 2014 8:53 pm

When the whispers started, Atleon felt a shudder race down his back but he suppressed any outwardly visible signs of it. He wasn’t quite sure what he had expected of the crowd – a sentiment that was starting to be far too familiar for his liking – but he was wary of the many gazes that suddenly turned towards him, inspecting him, weighing him, measuring him.

He dipped his head back to Rilos as the dragon bowed to him and offered him a smile. “Hello, Rilos.” The dragon still had many people hanging off his lips even though he wasn’t talking anymore and Atleon felt a little awkward with the silence. He didn’t want to break it but it shouldn’t stretch on for ages either.

All of a sudden, the decision was taken off his hands when a fairly young men, almost a teenager still got up from the middle of the crowd and showed off his muscles and swinging a tree branch shaped into a walking stick around. “I will fight for you!”

It sounded corny and looked like a young child’s demonstration of inexistent muscles, but Atleon was moved by it nevertheless. All the more so when suddenly more of them stood up. They were all so young...
On the other hand, there were those starting to throw blame in his path. He could see it in their faces, in the words whispered to their neighbours, and it wasn’t long until the first one of them stood up. Apparently it was the first boy’s father nonetheless, taking him by the scruff of his shirt and shaking him.
“You want to fight? For him? For the so-called prince who dragged his people to death without batting an eyelash?”

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Fri Jun 06, 2014 12:48 pm

A smile found its way to Rilos’ mouth as Atleon greeted him, excited that the prince remembered his name. He felt rather special, when he was greeted by someone that all these others just gawped at.
“Hello… uhm. These humans wished to know of Racksom.” He gestured around with his nose, seeing how there was now a split of eyes towards him and Atleon. A few people jostled to see, pushing against one another, and Rilos eyed them in concern. He certainly didn’t want anything bad to start off from his words, like a riot or something similar… His head snapped back across at the new tinny voice shouting from the crowd, pleasantly surprised at the words.

“I will fight for him! Didn’t you listen to the dragon’s words? They need fighters. I will fight, I can fight!” The boy scrambled to prize his father’s fingers away from his clothing, still holding and waving his walking stick in the air.
“You are crazy. Preposterous tales, that’s all these words are. I’ll knock some sense into you.” The man gave his son another shake, refusing to back down. “The pair of you, spreading these stupid tales and lies. You’ll get my son killed, under your reign!” A finger was pointed angrily at Atleon, a couple of other voices raised in agreement. There were others that shouted for the Prince’s side, but they only added to the din and confusion, the quiet enrapture of Rilos’ words completely broken in an instant. “We want none of your words here! Harglen for peace.”

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Tue Aug 12, 2014 12:34 pm

Jackdaww had been listening to Rilos' speech from near the back of the crowd, keeping an eye out for any potential threat to the Prince. It had been years since he left his training to be an actual guard, but somehow the old instinct kept creeping back. And to hear the man shouting, criticizing the Prince, sent a shock through him. Dragged to their deaths? No, nobody had been 'dragged', the battle in Racksome had been fought to protect a great city - a cause worth fighting for, no question.

"Don't you see?" He called over the noise of the crowd, surprising even himself with the outburst, "There won't be peace in Harglen if you don't listen! You think that the Surhanian armies will just leave you here, in peace?" Measle was giving him a sharp look, which seemed to say 'stop talking before you embarrass yourself', but the crowd was watching him now.

Jackdaww swallowed, suddenly realising just how many people he had just shouted at. "Well, they won't. You can either fight for your homes, and your lives, or stay here and be wiped off the map. With the Prince, you actually stand a chance of surviving the invasion and securing a bit of peace in the future."

The man shouting at his son looked up angrily, as Jackdaww’s addition to the argument seemed to have convinced the boy that he wanted to join them even more. The rest of the crowd was awash with whispers and mumbled thoughts, and Jackdaww couldn’t tell if he’d helped, or just made things worse. He hoped that at least someone would realise that they spoke the truth and agree to help them.

((I am SO sorry for the long delay in posting! If anything needs changing let me know))

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Wed Oct 29, 2014 10:30 am

Before Atleon could step in to try and appease the father and maybe to even douse his son’s spirits a little – it was valiant and he loved the enthusiasm. Heck, they needed enthusiastic and willing fighters – because he really was so very young, Jackdaww suddenly spoke up.

The usually quiet knight had the crowd’s attention quicker than he probably would have thought and no sooner had the words left his mouth that the whispers took up again. There were more people talking now then before, the last of Rilos’ storytelling magic now broken.

It was impossible to figure out whether people were condemning Jackdaww’s words and thus Atleon’s actions, or whether they were finally starting to see sense. It was odd. They had heard all of what had happened through Rilos and Kagan; he himself had talked to Thanis though it was no surprise that the latter was not keen to listen to any advice; they heard the other survivors talking and most of all they saw the evidence! How could they bury their heads in the sand?

When he spoke up to quieten the crowd, he let none of his frustration show. “I understand that all you want is peace. I understand that you do not want to leave your homes, lose your loved ones or lives. I understand that this all seems implausible and reckless. I understand that you’d much rather wish you had never heard any of this. It doesn’t make any of it any less true though. You heard Rilos’ stories. You can see the evidence of the truth behind his words on his own body. You can see it on anyone else who has been travelling with this courageous dragon. You heard the conviction in Jackdaww’s words. And still you doubt?”

He wanted to add more, he wanted to keep talking, but there was no need. Either they would see or they wouldn’t, and if they didn’t, then there was no need for him to keep talking at them, because in that case, his words would never get through to them, no matter how much he embellished them, no matter how much he tried to convince them that he understood how they felt.

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Wed Oct 29, 2014 1:36 pm

Rilos dipped his head in modesty at Atleon's kind words, reminding himself to thank the Prince for his thought later. He was wholly thankful for the backup, when things were still threatening discontent. The dragon could happily (or as happily as the news rewarded) tell dire tales, but when things turned to debate and argument, he quickly baulked from the situation.

His tails twitched and curled around him as more harried words followed Atleon's small speech, tucking the ends under his warm belly and watching with concern. This was not what he had wanted from his actions; he had wanted the townspeople to understand and sympathise, not gripe and feel anger. Certainly there was a lot of it around, faces dark and unconvinced- although there were those amongst the crowd that looked fearful, and even a few determined, with nods of understanding and a will to help.

"There are plans to be made, my Prince, and the wounded to restore hope to. If Harglen wishes for its peace, then there is no more that can be done to change its mind. Others that also require aid are waiting," Rilos reminded softly. If the citizens of Harglen did not wish to fight against the invading Surahnians, then there was nothing that could be done about it; but when they regretted their actions once they had been turfed from their homes and threatened under new regime, they could not justifiably say that there had been no warning and no thought of defense or aid.

Rilos rose to his feet, slowly stepping his way through the gathered crowds of humans; they could only step aside as he carefully weaved through them, his bulk too much to ignore. It wasn't his place to tell them what they should or should not do, as a dragon and an outsider, but he did think them rather obtuse to ignore completely warnings that obviously had merit.

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:34 pm

"I can only agree with Rilos - if the good people of Harglen wish to aid us, they should have no difficulty finding us." Jackdaww said, loudly enough to be heard, but not so loudly as to cause another commotion. His momentary courage had vanished - he could deal with fights, but talking to crowds? Well, let's just say Measle was wise to distrust him.

He started moving as if to leave,and the crowd exploded into murmuring once again. There seemed to be more of a mix of positive and negative opinions than when they arrived, but Jackdaww couldn't tell if anyone would actually come to their aid. They had all said their piece though, and it was on the townspeople to decide whether to follow the better path that the Prince was presenting.

Measle joined Jackaww in walking in the vague direction of the camp where the wounded were staying, not wanting to create a fuss, but his attention was still on the crowd behind him, in case Prince Atleon should require his aid. A life living in the wilds hadn't detracted from his training as a guard, and being part of the army had brought that side of him out again.

Subject: Re: (Harglen) Somebody Help? (25th Board) Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:51 pm

Much frustration, but Atleon kept the lid tight on it and stuck to his public expression for these kinds of things. For those who knew him, and Rilos seemed to be able to read him rather well already, it would be clear that he wasn’t all too happy about the outcome but there was nothing to be done about it right now.

It was frustrating because these were his people. They were his to protect and they were in his charge. It was his duty to make them aware of these things and to keep them safe from harm. But if they refused to accept help, if they refused to believe what they were told – with proof if the refugees’ condition was anything to go by – then what more could he do?

With a heavy heart, Atleon followed the others away from the crowd and towards the injured. They were right, those people needed their attention more than those who refused to listen and accept what they were being told.

Only time would tell what the future held in store for them.
For now, they would stick to Harglen until they were rested up, at least a little. And then they would move on. The university would hopefully provide more open hearts and ears, and more help in what they were soon going to have to face, whether they wanted to or not.

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