"Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen)

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Wed Dec 29, 2010 11:50 pm

Atleon joined in Lena’s laughter when she adopted the same manner as him. Yes, they would indeed learn sooner or later, there was no rush. They had quite a few days of travel ahead of them and a war to fight, there was plenty of time to get to know the rest they needed to know about each other.

Their light and amused mood was very abruptly disturbed however as seemingly out of nowhere an arrow swooshed past Lena and she was almost immediately being attacked by man who had come running for them from the last line of trees not too far off. What the hell is this?! Atleon thought while already drawing his sword and setting out to sprint to Lena to help her as the man was wildly lashing at her in a very obvious attempt at killing her.

Yet, before he could reach the avian, another man stepped forward, his voice resounding far and strong, immediately stopping the prince dead in his tracks. “Well well, you have not been researching my travel companions well then, have you?” he retorted at the man’s ridiculous statement. His face was set in a blank mask, while behind he was raking his brain as to who on earth would send out an assassin after his hide now of all times and why. Sure enough, he had enemies but he would quite like to know who in particular this breed had come from. The man’s sarcasm was beginning to get on his nerves and he adopted the same tone when he replied: “You mean, you want to try to assassinate me. Let’s have a go at it then, shall we?” A furious look passed over the man’s face but he had himself well enough under control not to let it shimmer through too much before it disappeared from his face again.

Sothen deliberately slowly unsheathed two swords from his back and slowly circled them in his hands while Atleon took a ready stance and waited for Sothen to make the first move. It came swiftly and extremely quickly, barely giving Atleon the chance to parry even though he had been waiting for the blow. Sothen hit hard and he hit quick. All Atleon could do for the time being was parry the blows and try to get used to the fighting style to then look for a hole or a weakness. This man was definitely well trained in sword fighting however and the fact that he was using twin blades did not make the task of defending himself any easier on him. He did not even have time to check up on Lena, though he dearly hoped she was alright.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:52 pm

Sothen crossed his blades in a customary X fashion as Atleon made his advances against him. He grinned at the thought of how enjoyable this would be. He was hired by some unknown man that had approached him and give him a large sum of money to be rid of the seemingly rogue prince. He had been on his own for a while now and it was news to Sothen that he was traveling with someone had come to shock and he had to scramble to gather another alley before his impending attack. He had planned to attack the prince after he had left the Dragon Riders headquarters. There was no way he would be able to play out the assassination on the entire city of elves, humans, and dragons hanging around. No, this was the best method. Without caring how his partner was doing he pressed onto Atleon.

“Pity, when I kill you the woman will be bound, and prepared to be sold to the highest bidder after I have some fun with her, of cuorse.” He goaded the man, using one blade to block Atleon’s advances as he spun around to bring his second blade towards his torso. The man that paid him only asked for the body, not for him to be alive.

Lena knew she was no match for the man in front of her without a blade and put all her effort into pushing the man and his weapon from her neck. Once she had forced him back at least a foot she strapped back on her bow and withdrew a simple short sword. She wasn’t super skilled with it but it was better then trying to fend off the man in a close combat situation with a bow. Lena charged her bow this time, holding the blade low to strike him.

The man simply sidestepped Lena and as the momentum of her run ran her past him he used the butt end of his sword to hit into the back of her neck. Stars danced in her eyes as she tried to regain her footing but she let the rest of the momentum take her down to the ground as she rolled away from the weapon coming down on her back. She rolled a second time to gain further ground and then brought herself in a kneeling position. She waited for the man to advance on her as soon as he was close she leaped into him, cleaning slicing her short sword through his stomach. She then landed hand on the man, and the hilt of her sword. She would gain a few new bruises from the event but overall she was fine. Once the last breath from the man beneath her left him Lena stood, drawing her weapon from the body cavity and flicking the blood from it before sheathing. She then turned her attention to Atleon.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:49 pm

If he could not soon find a flaw in the man’s fighting, Atleon would have to revert to dirtier measures. The anger was certainly still simmering behind the mask of the assassin’s face and it should not be too hard to have it resurface and fully show. It would certainly weaken his concentration and might give Atleon the chance he needed to end this quickly. He was not one for fighting dirty but this was tough. Sothen seriously knew how to handle himself, though he liked showing off too much, yet the fact that he had two blades and Atleon only one made it hard to really use this at an advantage without completely exhausting himself because this could go on for quite a while. And then there was Lena. He had no time to check up on her but he sincerely hoped she could handle her opponent otherwise he would not only have her blood on his hands but a second assassin to fend off. It would make this whole thing all the more challenging because there was no other way, these men had to be dealt with. It was not something Atleon liked to do but he could not risk scum like these two running off into the world, telling everyone where the dragon riders could be found. He simply could not let that happen. It was bad enough that nobody had noticed the presence of these two rascals and he made a mental note to scold Galina about this at some point. After all, it had been her who had been on watch when Atleon and Lena had come by her.

Apparently however Sothen wanted to adopt the same method, though unfortunately for him, threatening to have Lena sold off did not unnerve the prince, who had dealt with this sort of person quite a few times and knew that they were only trying to get a rise out of their opponent in order to defeat them easier and quicker. Pretty much what he had intended to do himself. The speed of their respective blows did not seem to want to diminish either, at least Atleon was now able to strike himself every now and then, pushing back Sothen a few steps whenever he attacked, instead of just parrying the blows like he had initially done. When Sothen waved his blades around again in a demonstrative way before crossing them ones again to parry one of Atleon’s blows, the prince moved back his arms too slowly, one of the twin blades fiercely biting into his arm. It was a clean cut, though it was rather deep. Angry at this, Atleon took a deep breath to not act without thinking now but nevertheless put more force behind his next blow, finally wanting to disarm his opponent, or at least getting rid of one of the blades. This dancing around had to stop now once and for all. Feigning to strike from above once more, he managed to trick Sothen into crossing his blades in a parry, only in the last second changing direction and striking with an underhand blow, thus ripping apart Sothen’s x-crossed blades from underneath. As he twisted his wrists to again change direction of his sword, he ripped one of the blades out of Sothen’s grip and sent it flying.

“Want to tell me who hired you before I send you to your grave?” Atleon asked with an arrogant smile on his face as Sothen gulped, realising that this was not turning out the way he planned it, but he was not going to give in just yet. As they began dancing around each other to try to catch the other one off guard, Atleon realised that the fighting noises from the other pair had ceased. Not daring to look away for that would mean his certain end, he simply called out to the avian: “Lena, are you alright?” Sothen was not going to give up just yet and Atleon was concentrating on every move of his, but he wanted to be certain that Lena was alright and that he was not suddenly going to be attacked from behind by the assassin’s helper.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:10 pm

Sothen felt that he had drawn his game out too long, that baiting this man was not as a good of an idea as he had first thought. It was only proven even further when one of his swords was ripped from his hands. “What pleasure would that bring me, even in the afterlife, dear prince?” He hissed, going back to the battle with the man. While he was more then confident with two blades only one opened a lot of vulnerable spots for the duel wielder.

He dared to look behind him to see his companion on the ground, and the avian rubbing at the back of her neck. “Fine.” She grunted back to the prince, his companion didn’t even knock her out?! For the first time in his life, Sothen felt the cold prick of panic well up inside of him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to take the both of them on and even more so without a second weapon. He would die here and be no more in this world. As his panic set in even more of his attacks became vigorous but practiced and he fell into a simple pattern of parrying, blocking, and short jabs.

Lena feeling slightly dizzy and a headache pounding at the back of her head decided not to assist Atleon unless it looked like he really needed it. She looked down to the man that had attacked her and began raiding his pockets for anything useful for tips. She bent down and searched everything but to her disappointment found nothing. Upon standing Lena felt an overwhelming dizziness come onto her as if she had stood too fast but it wasn’t going away. Within seconds she found herself sitting squarely on her bum.

Sothen grinned, if he could kill the prince now he could have a prize to take home, but his thinking was clouded with his ever-rising panic and energy that built inside of him. “Die!” He almost commanded to the prince as he rushed forward. But to his surprise he did not feel his blade slice through the man’s soft flesh but someone else’s’ though his own stomach. He looked down to see Atleon’s sword through him and knew that very moment that his panic had gotten the better of him, thus casing his abrupt ending. With a few long moments of staring in horror at the prince and he finally fell from the man’s weapon, drawing the last breath of air he would ever breath in this life time.

Lena looked up from where she was sitting to Atleon. “’Bout time.” She commented, eyeing the man for injury and was pleased to see nothing major marring him.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:24 am

As Sothen dared to look behind him, Atleon immediately used the opportunity to change his stance, knowing that the assassin would now make haste to bring an end to this and would in his rush very likely not pay any attention whatsoever as to the position of Atleon’s sword. He was absolutely right about it. It only took seconds before his sword silently sliced into Sothen’s guts, completely ignoring the assassin’s scream. “It’s a shame though that you will now not be able to tell me anymore who sent you,” he stated coldly. But I will find out one way or another anyway, the prince added silently.

“Good things come to those who wait,” Atleon grinned in response to Lena’s dry comment. However, as soon as he turned around and saw her on her bum, worry creased his forehead. “You are not fine,” he grunted in obvious displeasure. He followed Lena’s example and quickly rummaged through Sothen’s pockets but there was nothing of use to be found in those either. Grunting, he looked back to Lena. She looked a little pale as she was slumped on the floor there, between two bleeding corpses. “Let’s move into the open, at least then we’ll see if someone else is going to come for us.” Not waiting for a response and not even caring about the protests he was going to have to listen to for doing this, he picked up the bags with one hand and Lena with the other, leaning her against him for support while he marched on for a while. He did not walk too far before he set Lena down on the floor again and handed her a water skin from his pack. “Here, this might help a little.” Eyeing her curiously, he asked: “Do you get this more often?” It would not be a good thing if this happened to her in a fight because that would definitely be signing her own death sentence.

“We might need to work on your skills with the sword a little,” he said with an amused twinkle, “but you held your own in this encounter. That’s a trait I quite like having in a companion.” Atleon was not one for being mushy, so he usually just stated the facts as they were, either people dealt with his tone or not, but he was not going to sugarcoat anything when there was absolutely no fundamentally important reason for it, and he knew by now that Lena could handle honesty, being one for it herself. Thus, he was fairly certain that she could take his critique if he were ever going to watch her fight, since he did not have time to consider her skills in this one.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Tue Jan 11, 2011 4:21 pm

Lena was more then displeased when Atleon came over and wrapped a strong arm around her waist pulling her up and along. For the majority of their short journey to their next stopping point a stream of steady curses left the young woman in a very unlady like fashion but she didn’t put up a struggle against Atleon like her cursers had promised. As she was set back down and handed a water skin she took a sniff of the unseen liquid inside before taking a large gulp of it.

“I’ve never just fallen over in the middle of a battle.” She stated plainly and then turned slightly so her back was showing to him, and for a moment it would have looked like she was childishly going to ignore him. But her hand came up to move her hair from her back to show her bare neck. A large black and purple welt on the top of her spine was beginning to form and the skin around it red and angry looking from the swelling around the area. “I took a hit from the hilt of his sword.” Hoping that would convey the reason for her dizziness.

At the comment of her needing to work on her skills with a blade, she only shrugged in agreement. “I’m not accustom to using them.” She grinned this time back at him and turned around back around to face him fully at holding her own. She usually fought her battles from a distance but even she knew that wasn’t going to sufficient for the up coming battle. The thought of sparring the well seasoned prince to gain more experience seemed like the best way to go but what pride she had in her would not allow her to make the suggestion out loud. With a slight frown hovering on her lips she rubbed at the spot on her neck and slowly forced herself to stand. “We can’t just waist time by sitting here.” She handed him back the water skin as she went to grab at her pack.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Tue Jan 11, 2011 8:21 pm

Atleon couldn't help but chuckled at the steady stream of curses but didn't take them serious anyway. Though he was quite concerned when he saw how large the bump was the hilt of the attacker's sword had created. "It's turning quite a nasty shade," he commented, adding a polite "May I?" before simply touching his fingers to the spot to feel around for any hint of broken bones or other. Though it seemed like it was only massively swollen and probably sensitive to anything touching it. Nodding, he agreed with the unspoken suggestion. "This will probably cause you quite a bit more trouble in the days to come. You will have to keep moving your arms, probably your wings as well to keep the muscles from going stiff when the pain of the wound begins to spread out." There was this one herb Siofra had explained to him once would cool off wounds like this and make them less of a nuisance but he could remember neither the name nor the shape of it, thus he simply vaguely stated: "There is an herb for this kind of thing but...," though he decided to let the rest of the sentence float in mid-air, reluctant to state he didn't know, since he knew but just couldn't remember.

"Anyway, you're right, we should keep moving." Atleon picked up his pack as well and began walking onwards again, the mountains not seeming one bit closer than they were before, though that was hardly a surprise seeing that they lost quite a bit more time with this little incident than had been necessary. It also made his thoughts go round in circles again, wondering who had sent Sothen. Finally, he was getting so hacked off at this, that he grumbled out loud: "Who the hell sent that guy?!" Only noticing, when he had said the words, that he had actually been thinking out loud in the end. "Sorry, it is just annoying me that I don't know who I have to be watching out for again now."

To distract himself from this, he barely left Lena a chance to comment, and returned to the earlier sword subject, plainly stating: "Since you will have to keep your arms busy to keep from growing stiff and having your neck hurt like hell, I suggest that a bit of sparring once in a while might be good practice for you. Two problems - for lack of a better word - taken care of in one go, right?" He was silently hoping she wouldn't take it as an offence that he was phrasing it this way, but he was still slightly edgy from the fight so he was quite blunt.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Tue Jan 11, 2011 9:12 pm

Lena blinked, unsure of whatever herb it was that Atleon spoke of. She wasn’t into the plant thing and only used them when she was rather sure of what it was and what it did. There were too many poisonous plants out there that could make her sick, or worse kill her. They walked on, Lena was more eager to get to the mountains than before. The pain was starting to spread as the prince had promised and a stiff ache in her shoulders caused her to roll them over and over only to wince in pain from the original welt on her neck. What a miserable wound.

As the time slipped by and they walked in a comfortable silence Lena took notice that Atleon was not comfortable at all, quiet the opposite really. He was fidgety and somewhat annoyed looking. She kept her questions to herself for the time being, knowing that eventually he would say something. And if on que, the annoyed prince finally spoke his thoughts and the avian could only offer a shrug in reply. “I doubt he would have given us information even if we didn’t kill him.” She was about to add something else when he quickly changed topics to her swordsmanship or lack there of.

She eyed him for a good moment. Having been with him for a few months Lena found that Atleon had not annoyed her as many men had. Most of them either thought her out of her place for being so bold or needing protection and the second being the worst for her. The woman would not take handouts for anything but much needed sword practice? Perhaps. “I suppose it will be useful.” She muttered at least he was willing to think I was possible for her to learn.

As they kept walking Lena stopped out of nowhere, her eyes fixated on the ground just to the right of her. “Oi. Atleon, look at this.” She waved him down to join her in a squat in front of an odd looking track. “Goblin?” She asked, actually unsure of what the track really was. “I thought they would be on the other side of the mountain, not all the way out here.” She commented out loud with a frown hovering on her lips.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:34 pm

"You don't have to," Atleon smiled, amused at the avian's reaction. "It might just come in handy at some point, especially when the bow cannot be used anymore. But I guess we could make a good team in this manner. I do the close range and you cover my back from afar with the bow." Mulling this over a little, he added thoughtfully: "Yes... That could work quite well indeed..." It was always good to have someone covering your back in a battle, especially if that someone was good with their weapon and had quite a view of the happenings.

His thoughts were quite abruptly however as Lena bent down to examine something and beckoned him over to have a look. She had discovered an oddly-shaped track imprinted in the grass and there were a few more like it not too far off heading along, parallel to the mountains. "Goblin? Hmm... I'm not sure either, especially since they really should not be this far into this territory yet. Yet, I have never seen a track like this either and with the information we have, goblin would make sense," Atleon frowned. The fact that neither of them could identify what it was made him uncomfortable, disliking the idea of encountering unknown possible dangers. "Though the goblins would travel in larger groups than this, or that would be my guess at least. Unless..," he trailed off, reconsidering the possibility which had just popped into his head. "Unless," he picked up where he had left off, thoughtfully looking at Lena, "they are already sending out scouting groups to the territories around the troll one, maybe in consideration on invading those next. And if that is the case then we have to give notice to the dragon riders so they can prepare accordingly and pass along the message to the appropriate people." The prince very much disliked this possibility, though they had to consider it, in case this was really a goblin track, which he was still unsure of. "It doesn't seem to be too old... What do you think? Any other options on what it might be?" It was a ridiculous question since neither of them knew what it was but he hoped for a better explanation than the one that meant full-out war. "Maybe we should follow the tracks for a little. See where they lead us, and maybe giving us an indication of who or what made them." Not to mention find out what the creatures' plan was if they were hostile.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Thu Jan 13, 2011 7:29 pm

Lena shook her head. Tracking too a lot of time and effort that the young fiery woman just wasn’t born with enough patience to do. Even so she could recognize a few tracks but this one eluded her completely. “I’ve no idea, but lets go find out, hm?” Lean said with a grin as she stood hiding as much of the ache from the wound on her neck as possible. Lena unfolded her wings and looked to Atleon. “I will search from the sky see if I can spot anything since I can cover more ground.” Without waiting for a respond and one hard pump of her wings Lena was lifted into the sky.

The cool air rushing past her was refreshing having spent so much time on the ground as of recent traveling with Atleon. She didn’t particularly mind, but the sky was as much of a home to her as the ground was. Focusing back on the ground for any sign of a band of goblins or anything else for that matter. She noted several lanes of trampled grass from a large number of beings. She looked down for Atleon on the ground and pointed in the direction she saw the trails in the grass. They were looping around the mountain and back into it.

(( T-T Fail reply, I know.))

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Wed Jan 19, 2011 10:09 am

“Yeah that’s fine,” Atleon replied, into thin air really as Lena had already taken off towards the skies without having waited for a response, but it would have been the logical choice of how to handle things anyway. Atleon kept moving along the grass plains, following the tracks, trying to distinguish anything particular about them, anything that would give even only the tiniest of clues as to what was really going on here. From time to time, he looked up to Lena to keep an eye on how far ahead she was so as not to lose each other out of sight.

There was something weird about those tracks but Atleon couldn’t quite put his finger to what it was. They were swaying from side to side sometimes as if trying to decide on which direction to take maybe. Or it could have been for any other reason. The next time he looked up, he saw Lena gesticulating towards him and pointing towards something she had obviously discovered on the ground and Atleon picked up his feet, now running along the trail to find whatever it was she had seen from above. He found what it was soon enough and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the sheer number of footprints scattered in various lines. The grass was almost completely trampled for the most part and there seemed to have been a very fast group or several groups coming through here. Waving towards Lena to come down, he immediately called out as soon as she was near: “Where do those all lead to? Is there anything living still around here?” His brain was trying to analyse this from every angle, hoping that it was not squadrons of war-lusty goblins or other beings that had come through here. The tracks seemed to be fairly regular, as if walking in line but that could just have been an impression. There were animal tracks mixed into the ones they had discovered earlier and couldn’t properly decipher, which made it a little harder to read it all. The animals could have been part of the original group, they could also have been coming through later on their own. There were bound to be a few herds of wild horses around here, animals having fled in panic at robberies or from fights or whatever else and having banded together for survival. “This is not good Lena. If whatever this group is has headed towards where we’ve just come from…” He trailed off as there was no need to point out the obvious in such a case. “I just still don’t get what these tracks are…,” which was obviously frustrating the prince but he kept a handle on himself.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:03 am

Lena was frustrated, but landed near Atleon shaking her head. “It’s obvious whatever it is moving in a group. There are no real constant tracks. Perhaps scouting parties?” She suggested, hoping that she wasn’t right. But a cold weight dropped in her stomach, thinking that her guesses might be so. “I don’t think we should split off anymore…just in case there really is something out there that might attack us.” She wasn’t familiar with goblin’s and their attack plans but she knew they were stupid creatures in general not usually ones to form attack groups.

“Might as well head further in.” She said, shaking the gloom from her voice as she headed further into the grassland area. The mountain literally towering over them and sending gentle but cool breezes their way. Despite the beauty of it all, Lena was still worried.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Fri Jan 21, 2011 7:58 am

They were both worried about the situation that much was for certain and their thoughts seemed to lead into the same direction. “It might be scouting parties,” Atleon replied, noting that Lena wasn’t happy about that thought either. “But if these are goblin scouting parties than someone or something else is leading them…,” and who- or whatever that might be seemed to be thinking strategically, which could be dangerous. Goblins as such could have easily been thrown off their guard but not if they were under someone else’s command. They might be stupid but they were obedient if they had the right reasons. He should have thought of this as soon as he’d heard that they had attacked the trolls. It was not unheard of that goblins had started a war, or at least a few battles with other tribes, but they had never fully advanced into territory with the seeming objective to claim it. Minor quarrels over resources or whatnot, though those came nowhere close to what this all seemed to be about.

Atleon furrowed his brow at Lena’s ignorance of his questions but decided not to say anything about it and simply fell into step next to her as they headed further along the tracks in hopes of finding more information. Lost in thoughts, he pulled out the mail shirt from his pack and stripped it over, not wanting to take any chances. There were too many questions that needed answers and there seemed to be no way of getting them. After what seemed like many more hours of walking than it actually were, Atleon suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and motioned for Lena to crouch down along with him, immediately putting a finger to his lips. Something was out there but despite the open plains, Atleon could not see anything. Looking at Lena, he questioningly raised an eyebrow, wondering if she could distinguish anything useful. Listening intently, he tried to discover which direction the sound had come from but now everything was quiet. Almost too quiet. A seemingly deadly calm had come over the grass plains and there was absolutely nothing to be heard anymore. Like the calm before the storm, he thought grimly, tensing even more in anticipation of might now hit.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Mon Jan 24, 2011 2:14 am

Lena stopped walking seeing small flickers of light ahead of them. “Fire.” She mouthed, worried. It wasn’t as if the lights were a wild fire of any sorts, no the fire was in small blotches like a campfire. There was someone over there. Perhaps a lot of them. She looked to Atleon, worried now. If there was an entire army of whatever over there they were going to be out numbered. While she felt comfortable with her fighting skills against her foes, but the sheer numbers alone would be the determining factor in if it would be comfortable to fight or not.

“Shall we check it out?” She asked, readjusting her bow and putting a hand on the hilt of her sword. She kept low in the high grass and made a wide circle around where she had seen the fire to ensure they would not be seen by scouts if there were any out there. Then she caught sight of them. Goblins. Their fears were confirmed and even more so when she saw the sheer number of goblins moving about the camp. “There has to be someone leading them….” She said the obvious thought out loud unsure what else to say.

((So we haven’t had time to talk about what we wanted to do…so I just went ahead and did this. If we want to change it or you had a different idea please let me know))

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Tue Jan 25, 2011 10:24 pm

As soon as Lena looked over at him and mouthed the word ‘fire’, Atleon’s frown deepened. These were not good signs, any of them and it made him seriously worry about what was going on here. His gaze ventured back to where she had seen the fires and the same thought struck him. These were campfires, and not even a few of them. Either they had been reading the tracks wrong or they had not all come from the same direction because their numbers seemed to be higher than the footprints had lead the prince to believe.

Atleon nodded in response to Lena’s question and crouched over the floor, remaining as low as possible. It was not a situation he liked, they were far too vulnerable in this situation if they were discovered, and when they finally discovered that it was indeed goblins they had been tracking, the prince was even less pleased. “We need to find out who or what is leading them,” he whispered, “if that is even possible.” This came at exactly the same moment when Lena was urging him that they needed to find out this exact same thing. He was glad they were both thinking along the same lines and knew what was important in this.

He motioned for Lena to go round one way, he would be going the other, even though they had only shortly before decided it was better to stick together. This was the quickest way to discover something in a short period of time because the longer they remained here, the more likely they were to be discovered, which was something Atleon was not willing to risk. “If they see you, take flight and flee. Quickly,” he told her, crouching along his side of the camp, trying to creep closer without drawing attention to himself. This was not going to be easy. The goblin had chosen their camp well, shielded by the mountains and even though they were in the grasplains they would see any attack coming. As he crept closer he could distinguish a few tent-like buildings, and the goblins sitting in various groups, probably preparing food and weapons, though he could not distinguish any one or anything in particular that might give a hint. He sincerely hoped that Lena had more luck on her side, otherwise all of this was futile. Though there had to be some kind of information to be gathered here!

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:19 pm

Lena crouched down besides Atleon, fully agreeing that if they could find the leader of this group of goblins would easily fall apart and into panic. Perhaps they could help end a good portion of the battle against the trolls right then and there. Though Lena doubted it would really be that easy.

Lena didn’t like the idea of fleeing and leaving Atleon there by himself but it was true that if she drew the attention to herself while fleeing, and her white wings would catch at least some eyes, and with those thoughts that made her agree. “Be careful.” She issued it with more worry then an order, thought she knew it sounded a bit rough coming from her. The woman wasn’t used to fighting with someone let alone caring about their well-being. She couldn’t just say it was because he a big bad prince but because she counted him as a friend and Lena was a fiercely loyal person.

She made her way around the other side of the camp and kept an eye out for anyone who looked even semi important. She held her breath as a group of scouting goblins came dangerously close to her but was relieved to see that they kept moving. If only she could find the leader she could take them out with an arrow from afar to cause chaos amongst the war party.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:52 pm

Atleon, after a long time of having dismissed such thoughts, wished he had a mindlink to one of the dragons so he could at least alert someone of the danger that was lurking just beyond the grassplains for them. They could send out scouting parties to take in the possible threat these goblins were posing and take appropriate action, or just simply come and rescue Lena’s and his butts when this would go to bits. However, as it was, the avian and the prince were on their own. There were so many people in the camp that it was hard to distinguish who might be in charge of at least a group of people, someone he could follow with his eyes so as to be shown the way towards the leader but nothing, he could distinguish nothing. It almost seemed as if they were all equal, though that could hardly be true.

All of a sudden, Atleon could see a weird stirring go through the masses and seconds later they were all up and running, letting the things they had been preoccupied with drop where they stood. Every single goblin in the camp seemed to ready itself for a battle and Atleon hoped this was not because they had been detected. The goblins however looked neither in the direction of the avian, nor in that of the prince, but rather were facing towards the mountains, which seemed odd. There seemed to be no army coming down through the various little mountain paths that had been carved by smugglers or animals and the main pass was quite a bit away in the direction Atleon and Lena had come from.

Just as Atleon dared to lift himself up a little further from the ground he had been crawling on to have a better look, the whole of the army began screaming in what he could only assume to be some kind of battle cry and surged to the mountain range, steering straight for a thief’s path and… Lifting himself onto his own two feet now, judging there would be no immediate danger for him now anymore, Atleon suddenly saw that there was an opening for a huge cave where the goblins were disappearing in, and by huge, he actually meant huge. “Those damn smugglers must have dug a tunnel through to the other side!” he muttered. As the last of the goblins disappeared inside the black hole, Atleon raced towards where he had split with Lena, hoping that he would quickly find her. “Lena!” he called out, sure that she would probably already be thinking along the same lines as he was. This was their chance to raid the camp.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Sat Feb 05, 2011 12:38 am

Lena was crouching along the camp side trying to figure out who and where the leader was when there suddenly was a lot of commotion around in the camp area. “What the?” Lena had thought Atleon might have been seen and was now being chased down but the sounds of the crowd sounded happier then like an angry mod hunting down a rogue prince. She grinned at the thought of calling Atleon that if and when she got the chance and then put her attention back on the group in front of her.

As soon as chaos erupted Lena stood and met gazes with Atleon across the camp. She nodded and ran the short distance to him back across the way that she had come. It wasn’t like anyone was paying attention and if a rogue goblin or two happened to see her she could cut them down before anything was made of it. “Atleon!” She said once she got over there. “Shall we?” She pulled out her bow prepared to take anyone she came across down.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Sun Feb 06, 2011 10:36 am

Once Atleon met somewhat in the middle of their path towards each other, he grinned as he saw her. Her expression showed the same readiness and thoughts as his own probably did. “Let’s,” he agreed with a light nod. Following suit, he drew his sword from its sheath, the both of them now ready to take of any left-overs that might be mulling in the camp. Though after only a few steps closer and into the camp, it was unmistakably clear that not a single soul had remained behind. “Now that is not very wise,” he mused, wondering what on earth these goblins were playing at. They were somewhat more organised and they seemed to have a plan, yet they did not have enough brains to leave a guard behind to watch out for the camp and their belongings? “Well, either this means their leader is not as brilliant as we thought, or there is nothing here to get,” Atleon thought out loud. With a quick glance at Lena, he wondered whether she was thinking the same. There was of course the possibility that a group would soon come back so they had to be swift. “I think anything that resembles a chest might be worth looking at and if we find plans. Everything else will probably just be a waste of time,” he suggested, hoping that this was actually the case. Most other things he could see at first glance in the camp seemed to be provisions, ammunition and similarities, or even a few personal belongings. The camp was rather large so they had to make some kind of decision on what to look through if they wanted to be quick about it and not get surprised by the returning party.

Atleon quickly began rummaging through the camp in search of anything that could give a hint, inspecting a few bags and chests he could find but finding nothing that would give a clue as to what was going on here. All the maps he could find were maps about the various neighbouring territories, quite detailed and nicely arranged, but without any hints whatsoever as to where they wanted to go, what they had planned or what they had already done. It seemed a futile search and it was starting to annoy him that there seemed to be nothing around here that would give any kind of clue. He looked up from the chest he was currently trying to open, his eyes searching for Lena. Did she have better luck than him?

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Sun Feb 06, 2011 8:34 pm

Lena held out her bow with an arrow gently notched in it, ready to strike if she saw her first victim. “Why would they leave their supplies here?” It didn’t make sense to her that such stupid creatures would be rounded into a group and set in an organized fashion but when it came down to moving they would simply leave their supplies? She thought on the lines of the leader perhaps being killed or had died which would make a bit more sense, but why then collectively head off towards their supposed enemy.

She nodded with his suggestion to start looking around the camp for something useful and began searching through packs, chests, and tents. She got into a particularly large tent with a table in it. There were maps scattered everywhere and markings all over them. Battle plans? They had cleverly been traveling around the areas, making spots on the maps, for what she did not know, and it began to worry her. “Atleon!” She called him to her, stepping out of the tent so she could be better seen. “I think I found something!” She waited for him to come over to her and walked him inside the tent. “I think they are battle plans.” She held up a map with several markings on it and with one large circle around the area of the gnoms. “I think they were right about the attack…”

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Mon Feb 07, 2011 8:40 am

Atleon had barely been searching for her when Lena suddenly called out for him. Immediately, he set off toward her voice, wondering where she had disappeared to when her head popped out of a relatively large tent not too far from where he was. Hurrying over, he asked: “What is it?” But his question was immediately answered when she led him inside the tent and pointed towards the battle maps she had discovered. Those were the ones they had been looking for but he had so sourly missed in all the places he had searched. Nodding to her words, he sheathed his sword and bent over the parchments, trying to figure out the various markings. He would have the sword out enough quickly anyway in case it was needed and neither of them was going to be so stupid as to wait for the goblins to surprise them. “If these markings are what I think they are, they might be points where they want to strike. And as far as I remember, these,” he pointed to a few dots, “are areas where a kind of army is stationed, and these,” he pointed to a few more dots, “are the areas without much of a defense, where people will be easily swayed to submission. Or easily killed..”

He let the implication of that sentence fade away with his voice. If they were indeed planning such a full-scale invasion on the trolls and the gnomes and eventually maybe on the humans, it was going to be a full-grown war all over the place. “Remember the plans, as we cannot take them,” he muttered. He would much rather have taken them with him but it would have made their presence obvious, if they had not already left too many tracks that would betray their intentions. “Let’s burn them,” he then grunted, taking one of the carelessly strewn about candles, lit it and carelessly threw it on the map as if it had always been positioned over them and someone had knocked it over in passing. “It might burn a little more than just the maps but,” Atleon shrugged. “Might be just as well to create a fight amongst them.” Seeing the parchment catch fire, he looked back at Lena: “We better get out of here, and head back to the dragon riders, we cannot go to the trolls now without telling them about this.”

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Fri Feb 11, 2011 11:24 pm

Lena looked even less enthused now that Atleon had confirmed her fears that the papers were in fact places to hit. She had expected it, but it didn’t make the news any less grave or any more promising. The looked at the maps as he pointed out the areas he was talking about. “Do you think they have hit any of them yet?” She asked with a bit of worry in her voice as she watched him set fire to the papers.

Lena dearly wanted to continue to set fire to the rest of the camp, to set a blow for the dirty goblins and whoever their leader was (and it was obvious they had to have had someone running the goblins. They were stupid creatures not capable of forming such ranks, numbers, or formulated battle plans). Lena readjusted her pack and with one more longing look to the parchment burning and flames now licking at the tent, she followed after the prince. She thought for a long moment. “Would it not take too long to go back?” Lena could obviously fly back on her own and cut the time in half but that would leave Atleon alone. “I agree they need to know but…” If only he had wings, she thought to herself.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:42 am

“They have already attacked some of these, yes. Though how much of them, nobody can be sure. Even if they had hit some of the weaker spots, the news would probably not have reached us by now. Some of these areas are fairly remote and if the goblins have done their job well, they’ve cut everyone off that might have tried to get away. They’ve stayed away from the armed places, probably for good reason, but in my opinion, it looks like it’s more than just fear of actually clashing with an army. They want to draw them out. Yet, again, these are only assumptions,” Atleon added, his face growing somber.

The prince followed Lena’s glance to the papers and the flames, guessing what was going through her head and let a small smile play around the corners of his lips. He wanted to burn this down completely as much as she did but it would attract unnecessary attention. He nodded: “I know, it would take a lot of time, but essentially, we’re only going to lose a few days, which hopefully shouldn’t be too bad.” But then, as they had made their way out of the camp and a bit back into the grasslands, he stopped and looked at her, reconsidering what he had just said, his eyes fixed on her wings. “Maybe..,” he mused, “if you don’t mind, you could fly back, alert the dragon riders and I’ll already head onwards towards the pass in the mountains. You should be able to easily catch up with me.” It might take her a little more time to convince the dragon riders of this information than it would take Atleon but this would save them time. “Just avoid you know who. Try to get to the dragon leader without having to go through all the others. She will be more inclined to listen and see the truth in what you’re saying.” It was then that he realised he had simply assumed she would agree to this, so he smiled apologetically and shrugged. “It’s still up to you however, we don’t have to do it this way, I was merely thinking out loud.” He was not in any commanding position at the moment, so he would not abuse his title to do so. If Lena wished to proceed in this way, they would, otherwise they’d find a different solution.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:49 pm

Lena followed Atleon, keeping her eyes open and alert for any movement in the dark that would get them caught and cause a whole other mess of trouble for them. She waited until he turned to speak to her and had to take a long moment to think. “I don’t mind, per say, but what about you?” She asked, placing a hand on her hip as she thought. Leaving him here in the middle of a war sounded like a terrible idea but the thought of moving on together and not getting help sounded even worse. What more, the two of them heading back would take a fair amount of time that neither the gnomes nor themselves could afford. She gave him a concerned look and then seemed to convince herself. “Alright, I’ll do it…though if I see that….” She stopped herself from saying what she actually wanted to, “Elf…again I may not hold my tongue so well.” She warned him but shrugged all the same.

“I will fly as fast as the wind will carry me. Don’t get killed, alright?” Lena said with a bit of harshness to her tone that she did not intended. Compassion was not something Lena was used to showing and she didn’t have to often usually being alone. With that, Lena opened her wings and winced. She had forgotten about the wound on the base of her neck. Taking time to adjust to the pain, Lena took to the skies and started on her way back to the Dragon riders.

Subject: Re: "Insert Title Here" (Taj X Eldarwen) Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:06 am

Patiently, Atleon waited for Lena to weigh her and/or their options in their current situation. Even though they did not have too much time, he did not press her. It was decisions like that these that needed to be considered before acting to prevent them sliding deeper into trouble. When she finally spoke, Atleon had to repress a grin. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. It’s not the first time I’ve gone scouting around enemy territory, and technically we’re still in neutral land here, despite our little goblin invasion.” At this he waved his hand back towards the camp they had left, where there were a few small lines of smoke beginning to weave skywards. When she continued talking, he couldn’t suppress the grin anymore. Her hatred towards Gaelina was amusing, but he could fully understand it, actually feeling it himself.

“Thank you for doing this,” he replied silently, his face suddenly growing serious again. “As for myself, I’ll head on to the pass to see if the way is clear. I’ll use the same trail we were headed on, if anything goes wrong, I’ll trace back on it, so you can easily find me.” Watching her prepare to take off, frowning as she winced, he decided not to say anything though, apart from: “Don’t worry, I won’t.” And with that they both went their separate ways for the time being.

Atleon quickly retraced their steps and returned onto the path they had initially been on, heading towards the pass in the mountains, hoping that no more nasty surprises were on the way, but he knew already that it would be a vain hope. The goblins seemed to have started a full-out war and with such a prospect, they would have to deal with quite a few more complications. He only hoped that the dragon would listen to Lena, though he didn’t doubt it, she liked the avian. It was the other people Atleon was more worried about, even if he had vouched for Lena, the others didn’t really know her. But it would be alright, he was sure.

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