Ink and Tongue

Baylanna-assassin


I pulled the cloak over my head, as it began to pour. I felt the two swords weighting down on my hips. My fingers were frozen, stuck to my gloves. I was out to find the king, to kill him at whatever cost. But i needed to find one of the twins. The ones who were born as I was ordered to be killed. I groled deep in my throat the vibration shaking thought my whle entire body. I held my hands by my sides as they brushed against the beauty of my sword. I smiled everyone thought I was dead, at least those who knew me. I stopped, frozen where I stood and looked up at the castle, the castle I had been tooken to, the castle I had called my home, until the day the twins were born. I started to walk inside when a powerful arm took a bruising grip around my upper arm.

"Stop!" A voice said.

Shadow princess:

She jumped up onto the stage for the strolling players. They needed to liven up this dreary day. She sprung into a leap as the door creaked open and slammed shut. She saw a few enter and whisper to the one by the door. She kept her smile and watched till the man nodded. The two continued in and she averted her attention. "Shall we have a night?" She asked the crowd. She got a roar of response and her smile grew. The strolling players were good to her. Only one knew her secret. "Now. Let's start off!" Another roar with whistling mixed in greeted her.

"Our special shadow, mates!" Another roar and her routine began. She ran across the stage trailing a ribbon of fire and then she broke it apart so simultaneously it usually didn't click in any of the people's heads. They all knew that one too well though. I guess I'm an act they can't get tired of, She thought to herself as she kept her smile. One. Two. Three. Bamb! A fire ball exploded over the audience and most started clapping. Oh on you don't. She wasn't done with her act yet. Let's spice it up. Her smile grew. She pulled all her strength as she summoned the fire. Calmly now. .. She set the fire onto her and at the last she flung her hands out to the crowd. Another pop and the fire obaid and created for her a dragon of fire. It went of the crowd and with a burst became nothing.

One of the fire eaters had been scared. She smiled and she went light headed. She fell back and was caught. She looked up into the eyes you wouldn't mistake for a girls. She smiled at the guy before she closed her eyes. "She's fine. She oer did it," He called to the crowd. With that the crowd applauded and she blacked.

*wops* *

Isabella

Shivering, I huddled closer to the red thing attached to the tree. It only emitted a small amount of heat, but it was enough to keep me from completely freezing to death.

I should have stopped that last traveler. I thought regretfully, knowing I didn't have the guts to stop anyone anyway. I was so scared of....everything. It was all different.

I didn't even know if the things coming in and out of this warm red thing were dangerous.

I heard footsteps coming down the path. Listening carefully, I knew there were two of them. Nervously, I peeked around the tree and saw two men walking toward me. Quickly, I shrunk back into the shadows, afraid of what would happen if they noticed me.

It was colder here, and I could tell that I was going to get sick if I didn't find someplace warm to stay.

My nose twitched as the men came closer, and I felt a sneeze build up in my nose. No! No, no, no! I repeated just before letting out a relatively quiet sneeze.

The men stopped.

I curled up into the bush I was next to, hoping they wouldn't poke around looking for me.

Cyril Miles

Coils of darkness infiltrated the horses' manes as they plodded along the over-grown, dirt path, pulling behind them a rickety, old cart that moved with the heavy creaking and groaning of hinges. The moonlight picked out the driver's hair, highlighting the blond-white with silver and it did the same for the thick, curling moustache under his nose.

The driver appeared to be drunk and more than a little blind, passing his condition on to the cart as it swayed back and forth along the path, having trouble staying in a straight line. The man sang in a rich, tenor voice, bellowing his music out at the world. It was the sort of song that could only be sung on such a night and with the driver in such a condition. Every second word made the pursuer's face blush and if she'd been tracking a more intelligent man, she'd have thought he sung it on purpose.

Smiling as he sang, Cyril held the reigns loosely in one hand, the other forever hovering over the flask of whiskey beside him and not far from the largest knife tucked into his belt. He wasn't sure who followed behind on a very fine horse that barely made a sound as its hooves glided across the rock strewn path. But he was sure that the pursuer was female. Earlier, he had caught the scent of a very strong, very expensive perfume and he couldn't help but wonder who would go to such trouble to track him. Or who would be so skilled and yet give herself away with such a foolish mistake.

Embertongue

The woods were darker than the square had been, but at least they provided a shelter from the wind. Only a faint, chilly breeze blew between the trees, causing their lower branches to sway and creak quietly. Zilo walked as close to me as possible, glancing back and forth warily.

"Relax," I chuckled, finding comfort in the shadows of the trees. It used to be one of our favorite places to go when we were kids. We being Dustfinger and I, of course. "We're almost there. See over there, that nest on the tree?"

The boy nodded, peering through the bushes and moss-covered logs that littered the ground.

"That's a fire-elf nest."

"I know!" he cried, staring up at me incredulously. "You taught me that, all those years ago. Don't you remember?"

I nodded, smiling and felt a small, wet muzzle poke into my chin as a tiny marten clambered out of my coat where he had been sleeping, nestled against my chest. He made it onto my shoulder and sniffed the air.

"Prick, you can go hunting now," I said, lowering him to the ground. The animal, still very young, looked back up at me before scampering off. He headed towards the tree where the nest glowed softly, like a dying ember.

The boy and I approached the tree, Zilo still glancing around as if the shadows would come alive at any second and devour him. I almost chuckled again, but something caused me to catch my breath and stop suddenly in my tracks. Zilo heard it too and spun around where he stood, staring distrustfully at the tree.

Someone had sneezed.

I shoved the boy behind me and narrowed my eyes, calling a small flame into my hand quickly and quietly. The sound had come from behind the tree.

"Who are you?" I called, lowering my voice into a growl. There was no answer.

"I know you're there. If you don't come out, I'll force you."

Cara:

I sighed as I followed the male in front of me on my gorgeous black horse. My brother and I had ventured forth from our secluded spot in the woods. I loved night. My brother was behind me and he was not happy about that. But I loved riding and had begged to be able to direct the horse.

For the fun of it, I had decided to follow this guy. My perfume was a bit strong because of my excitement about being around people. my brother was a hermit, but I was a true people person. I loved being around people. I looked up at the stars in total bliss.

Carman:

I growled. I thought this plan of my sister's foolish. I just wanted to find a place to sleep and then grab the supplies we need before we headed back to our secluded forest.

I saw my sister look up at the sky and growled. "Watch the road!" I hissed.

She glared. "Sh!" she warned.

I rolled my eyes and just held onto her waist. This was ridiculous. But...I could never refuse her. I adored her with all my heart. I just wanted to keep her happy.

Isabella

The man closest to me held a flame in one hand, and spoke threateningly to me.

Cowering, and pressed myself further into the bushes, curling into a small ball. Please don't notice me, please just keep walking... I thought, watching the man move. He held the flame in his hand as he moved toward the bushes.

"I kid you not, I will set this brush on fire," he warned.

"Em, let's just go," the other man said, stepping forward. The first man held his hand out to quiet his partner.

As the man moved closer to the brush, walking past me, I caught sight of his face. He looked quite attractive, even with the two scars I could just barely make out in the dim light.

He reached down, setting fire to a bush a ways away from me. The fire spread quickly, and I realized there was no where I could go.

As the fire came closer to me, I cried out, diving from the bushes to the ground. I tripped, landing roughly on my knees in front of the man called Em.

"Stop the fire," the other man suggested silently. I refused to look up, hoping to be forgotten quickly. I remained on my knees, tucking the rest of my body into a small, and very frightened, ball.

The cold got to me almost immediately, and I began shivering from both my fear and the cold.

Baylanna-assassin

I saw two men, guys, boys almost what looked like trying to get a woman out of hiding. She had a right to be wherever she was. I started walking up to them my swords almost pulled out of my belt. I walked up to them, my hood covering my face, and my natural left sided face tattoos. My white cloak didn't drag on the floor and my boot were anything but silent. I saw the woman hiding in the brush.

"What do you think your doing?" I asked the two men, as they put out a fire.

The men looked at me mysteriously... If it's a fight they wanted let the games begin...

Raven Tanner

Raven was rather dissappointed to have his reading disrupted. He was rather engrossed in the book, one of the few histories of the times of Sir Polonius Hawk not written by Cyril Miles, and would rather have remained quietly sitting at his table than be interrupted.

Nevertheless, when he looked up and saw the Innkeeper being threatened by a pair of fire raisers, he sighed and took his feet off the table he was sitting at. He began to walk over to the bar, though he was careful not to be noticed as he approached.

"...and we're going to search this den either way; we might be easier on you if you co-operate."

"What're you searchin' for anyway? Ain't anything worth finding hereabouts," replied the innkeeper. As defensive as he was about his property, he was unlikely to try and turn away fire raisers.

"We're just going to make sure your inn isn't hiding any troublemakers, and then put up some posters to warn people about them," said the second fire-raiser. It was a classic good cop bad cop routine.

"Well I don't be thinkin that's...."

The first fire-raiser swept the bar clean, letting the various muggs smash on the dusty floor. "You don't get to think. You get to sit there and watch us do our job, and not interfere. Understand?"

The innkeeper gave a sigh of submission, and nodded slightly toward the second fire-raiser. To the fire-raisers the nod meant nothing. To Raven, who had just walked up the raisers, it told him what he needed to know.

He grabbed the second fire-raiser by the back of his hair and smashed his face into the bar. The first fire-raiser then turned on him, snapping a knife out of its sheath as he turned.

The innkeeper, who had been holding a wooden club below the bar, cudgelled the first fire-raiser to the back of his head, letting him fall to the ground next to his comrade.

There was a moment of silence

"Cheers Tanner, these sorts can be a bit of trouble."

"I'd get them bundled out of the city tonight Marcus, if you let them loos they'll be back with their friends, and I won't be around to help?"

"Not that you're help's crucial to the survival of my business Tanner, but where are you going all of a sudden?"

"See these?" Raven replied, picking up one of the papers the second fire-raiser had been holding and showing it to the innkeeper. "Bear's an awful resemblance to me doesn't it?"

"Well you don't sneer that much, and I wouldn't have described you as a..." The innkeeper took a moment to read the wanted poster, "dangerous menace. Especiall not one with psychopathic tendencies."

Raven took the wanted poster with him as he left the inn and saddled his horse. It was time to be on the move again.

Cyril Miles

Trundling to a halt, the cart was stationed just off the path in a small grove of trees. Cyril fastened the horses' reigns to the cart and jumped down from his seat, stumbling just a little as he hit the ground. He was starting to wish that he wasn't pretending to be drunk. Of course, if there weren't people following - he had surely heard voices - then he wouldn't have to.

Cyril sang another line and winked up at the stars which seemed to wink back at him. Either I'm getting too good at acting, or it's time to stop taking sips from the flagon, Cyril thought to himself. He walked around to the back of his cart and made some show of checking the wheel while casting glances into the darkness for his pursuers. There was a glimpse of movement. He straightened.

"Alright, this is the end of the road. I hope you enjoyed the singing but I'm going to bed now. Goodnight." With a silly, flourishing little bow, Cyril climbed into the cart and rummaged around for his blankets, still looking out into the night.

There were muffled voices. Then silence. Then whispers.

"Sorry to have bothered you..." a voice called out at last. "But... could you point us in the right direction back?" Cyril chuckled and rolled his eyes but one hand still hovered by that knife. The voice sounded young. Young and strong and he wasn't taking any chances.

"Come over here, let me get a look at you. My eyes aren't too good these days!"

Shadow princess:

Her eyes flew open. Her good friend had gone and she needed to go. She had meant to leave after her act of stupidity. She threw her legs over the edge of the bed and got up. A little light headedly she wobbled over to the coat rack and took a nice sized coat. She tended to borrow a lot for wen she needed not to attract attention. Didn't want any fire raisers to want her to dance for them.

Opening the back door she stepped out into the cool air of the shower. It was calming. She wanted so bad to feel the rain through her hair but it was breaking a few of the laws set up to keep her hidden. She did it anyways. Who's going to see me? Then guard? She walked slowly through the rain, her head down. She heard voices up ahead. She needed to ovoid that. She pulled her hood up over her head once more as she passed a women confronting two men that seamed to be looking for something. She watched the ground as she tried her best to walk past them, unnoticed.

Embertongue

I turned at the sound of the voice and saw a cloaked woman approaching, her face hidden beneath a hood. There was a moment's silence as she came to a stop a few feet away, her stance tense, like a coiled snake ready to strike. I regarded her with an expression of boredom mingled with annoyance.

I stepped in front of the woman still huddled on the ground as Zilo came to stand next to me, arms folded across his chest as he gazed at the intruder with no emotion showing on his face. I was surprised, and proud of him.

"What do we think we're doing?" I asked, my voice mocking. "I think what we're doing is none of your business. Who are you, again?"

"Who I am makes no difference here. You were using fire to scare a woman from a bush. Why?" she asked, her voice threatening. I almost laughed.

"Perhaps we are brothers and sister, having a bit of fun on the road after having traveled far. Perhaps we were tracking a dangerous runaway. Perhaps we were hired to kill her. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps."

"If you're brothers and sisters, then why is she cowering on the ground as though you come to execute her?"

I glanced back and saw the girl still curled up on the ground, head bowed and shivering. I nodded slightly to Zilo, who caught on and bent down and began to see to her.

"That, my friend, is definitely none of your business. Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to be somewhere, as do you, I'm sure. It'd be a pity if you never made it there."

She held a weapon in her hand now. I ignored it and bent to pick the woman up. She tried feebly to escape, though she was still shivering violently.

"I just saved your life," I whispered quietly to her. "That other woman would've killed you. The least you could to is cooperate, or I'll leave you to her."

She immediately stopped struggling and shut her eyes tightly. I nodded to Zilo to follow and started back for the path, passing another cloaked and hooded woman. I almost groaned aloud but instead sped up slightly and didn't look back.

Once we were a considerable distance away I stopped again under the shadows of a huge tree and set the woman on the ground. She instantly curled back up, wrapping her arms around her legs, teeth chattering. I bent down beside the tree, collected a few pieces of the driest wood, and started a small fire.

"Zilo, keep the flames burning and see to the woman. I'll be back in a bit. If those women show up again, hide yourselves and call me. You remember how, right?"

The boy nodded. I turned and left without another word, heading deeper into the woods to find another fire-elf nest.

Shadow Princess:

She continued on her way not bothering with the strangers all of them. She needed to get to the castle and quick although she didn't want to go now. She stepped into the woods as to go around to the back of the castle to the secret entrance. She was taking the really long way around. She wanted to spend her time as long as she could but she needed to change into her dress. Well more of the dress up costume for the ball that was to be held. Everyone was ordered to come. The Laughing prince himself said it in front of her. She was annoyed a little bit with him for the time being. She pulled out a card from the costume she had on now.

We welcome you to the costume ball

Nothing before try ed. We wish invite everyone. Everyone. We mean everyone. Now go tell all. Don't hide it. On the day of our beautiful disappearing princess's birthday. Someone may name her if they are to get her to show interest. *yada yada yada*

_The laughing prince

She smiled at the fact the laughing prince was trying to get rid of her. What a darned brother. To rude to understand she didn't want a person to weigh her down. She didn't need anyone like the men she'd met.

She pulled the hood back off her damp head and greeted a fire elf that fly so greatingly to her. Now this one was the only one that seamed to be nice to her. She smiled and looked up to the nest she'd found. A crack sound resounded in the damp area. Someone was here. "Go hide." The fire elf disappeared and she whirled to great the intruder.

Isabella

As the first man, the one called Em, scooped me into his arms, I tried to protest.

"I just saved your life," he whispered. I barely heard the rest of what he said, because the warmth from his body was so distracting. I let myself relax slightly, taking in all the warmth I could while making a convincing show for that woman.

After running a short distance, the man slowed, then stopped, sitting me down on the ground under a large tree. The ground was cold, and I immediately began shivering again. Pulling my knees up to my chest, I attempted to hold in what heat I had left.

"Zilo, keep the flames burning and see to the woman. I'll be back in a bit. If those women show up again, hide yourselves and call me. You remember how, right?" Em spoke quickly and quietly. I looked up in time to see him glance at me, and our eyes met.

I looked away nervously, and Em left.

The boy named Zilo watched me silently. Wondering how he would react, I scooted closer to the fire, warming my body.

Cameron:

I looked at the mn suspiciously. this could be a trap. But before I could respond, my reckless sister had hopped off her horse with a giggle and as standing in front of the drunken stranger.

I growled. "Cara, get back here this instant!"

I saw her stick out her tongue, then with a smile, turned back to the stranger. I groaned. Why did she have to be like that?!

Cara:

I smiled at the man in front of me. "I'm Cara. we're strangers around. Can you please tell us how to get back?"

I heard my brother's feet hit the ground as he dismounted. Soon I felt his presence behind me. His posture was rigid and stiff.

I sighed. Why couldn't he just trust me this onc?