Birathi (No longer accepting)

Wyverus

The morning was dark and dreary, rather fitting for such an occasion. The bodies of nineteen men, and one hero had been buried over the night. Taur, as the most experienced of the group was reading a passage from a Oxish book. "And as the life ends" he said, "the world comforts it in the clouds, where it shall be enthralled by bliss forever more". Taur closed the book and layed the gravestone that Wyverus and Jenko had worked on. It read 'Palleas, a man with two souls, of evil and justice. And we all know which shone through.'.
All took their turns giving their own respects. Wyverus was last, and everyone had returned to their tents. He stood over the grave, and said nothing.

"Rule number one" a mysterious voice said, "a necromancer should never show emotion".

Wyverus spun on his heels to see a black, hooded figure. Satina, his master. Wyverus went down on one knee "Yes master, he was nothing more than a sorcerer".

"Oh, Wyverus, be risen". Wyverus did so. The figure took down it's hood to reveal a young, beautiful, blonde woman. She looked 25, but she was well over 1000. "You still have much to learn".

"Yes, ma'am, but you would have been impressed by my combat skills"

"Oh yes? How about Hollow Men?"

"Those as well, but I haven't learned how to put them back together", Wyverus grinned. "My I ask why you are passing here master, this is very far away from the Amyethest Labyrinth."

"You may not Wyverus, I need not answer to my apprentice. Anyway, I must be going, goodbye Wyverus".

Wyverus watched her depart into the forest.Just what was she doing here? Something definately isn't right. Wyverus gazed at the mound of earth covering Palleas' body one more time, then got to collapsing his tent. The group needed to get moving as soon as they had finished with the captive.

Jenko
Despite the late night, Jenko was up at the crack of dawn. Habit made sure he was still up in time to start his chores, even if he wasn’t on the farm.

Their prisoner was now with his fellows under the dirt. He wasn’t sure who had accomplished that task. He was just glad it hadn’t been him. All big talk aside, he’d never actually killed a person before.

They hadn’t learned much from their captive, mostly because he was unwilling to actually use torture. All they knew now was that someone had reported a group of malcontents in the area, and the soldiers had been sent to deal with the problem.

He turned to wake his brother, who was sprawled blissfully unaware on the bedroll next to him. Jenko had avoided sharing what he had learned, because it changed everything. If the king new who they were, than it was about to get a lot more dangerous, for both themselves and their families.

If they wanted to go home, they needed to do so now, before someone learned their identities. If they decided to continue the quest, it meant they could never go home unless the king was defeated. They would be outlaws.

Pausing only to make sure Firego was truly conscious; he left the tent in time to see a blond woman slinking off into the woods.

“Who was that?” he asked the necromancer.

Wyverus

"Who was that?" Jenko asked, blatantly reffering to Satina.

"That's none of your business" Wyverus answered, "I need not give reason why". Wyverus walked straight past Jenko and headed for his tent, pulling out the pegs. "What's the plan? Are we giving up, or do we fight onwards?"

"I", Jenko paused "I don't know"

"Is uncertainty a traight a leader should have?" Wyverus sighed, pulling out the third peg. Like it or not, Jenko was the leader of the group. He was the oldest, aside from Taur, the most willing, and he was the most in control of his emotions, aside from Wyverus. Jenko was a good guy, but Wyverus could detect the emotions from Jenko, and they weren't always straight. His vision was prone to being clouded by love and compassion.

"I need to ask everyone what they think"

"Do you know what I think?" Wyverus said standing up to confront Jenko. "I think you should stop talking and start walking. We need a leader of actions, not words." Wyverus glared.

"Do you think you could do better?!" Jenko yelled back. "Do you think we need a leader that attacks his own followers?!". Silence followed. Wyverus knew this was going to happen, it was inevitable. Time to take the bull by the horns he thought.

Jenko

Everything that had been bothering him suddenly came lurching to the surface. Firego’s blatant disregard for what kind of trouble they had gotten themselves into. Lamika’s flirting. Losing a member of the group. Wyverus telling him that he should just accept that this was their life now pushed him over the edge.

“You want to act all mysterious, fine. But I’m responsible for keeping everyone safe, and you aren’t helping.” He grabbed Wyverus by the collar, “No one lays a hand on my sister. Ever.”

Wyverus

Jenko pulled Wyverus up by the collar, glaring into him. Wyverus would tell Jenko it was an accident, but he wasn't going to appear pathetic. "In a necromancer's world", Wyverus said, more coldly than ever before "we learn to categorize people as the all the same, regardless of species. My world is a very lonely one, yet I found solace around you and your family. Yet my darkness tells me to abandon you, leave you to the oncoming danger. Yet, you do not appreciate how much it tears me apart from the inside. This is no urge, nor is it a struggle to contain my inner demons. Being kind is not a trait of death, it distorts my very soul to the point of snapping. My life I am risking for you, and your cause. And yet, to take a break from my torture, I hurt Lamika and Haven for my own emotional toil. But this did not help me,It made me hurt even worse". Wyverus stared deeply into Jenko's eyes, then broke away from his grip. He packed his tent into a black leather back and walked into the woods.

"Where are you going?" Jenko called.

"Blackmire" Wyverus replied, turning to face Jenko. "Old man Fristen owes my master a favour, he shall repay her with accommadation for me, and if you and the rest follow, my guests. His inn is next to a farm,we can stock up on supplies there too, Blackmire is a small village and are not vast monarch supporters". Wyverus turned bak to the woods and continued to his objective.

Jenko
Jenko stood shaken. What had he been thinking? Wyverus was his best friend, but he had let his temper flare so much that he hadn’t even seen how much the other man was suffering. Here he was going on about his responsibility just when he was almost ready to hit the man who had been the most help to him.
“Well, you really messed up there,” said Firego, who had wisely stayed out of the conversation until now. Jenko was about to snap at him, but that would just be validating the statement. “He had a valid question. What are we going to do now?”
Jenko stopped to think. If they went on now, there was no going back, but he should have known it would come to this the moment he left the farm. They had left in the first place because something needed to be done. If no one was willing to try to fix things, nothing would change.
Their little group had issues, but they were the ones willing to take things in hand. It wasn’t fair for him to be the one standing in the way of things. From now on, there would be no looking back. It was time to take charge and get things moving. The first step was to apologize to Wyverus, and to do that he needed to get everyone up and after him.
“You go wake up Lamika. If she’s not getting up right away, you have permission to tickle her.”
“She hates it when I do that,” Firego grinned.
Jenko smiled back at his little brother. “I know, but we need to get moving.”
And with that he went to round up the others. They needed to start this quest for real.

Lamika

Lamika woke up screaming, only to see Firego's smiling face above her. She hated being tickled, it made her feel so childish. She slapped Firego without hesitating, but immediately afterwards she felt sorry and gave him a friendly punch as way of an apology. Firego quickly explained the argument between Jenko and Wyverus, and Lamika stared with an open mouth. As soon as his story was finished she blurted out,
"We have to follow Wyverus! We aren't going to let our group break up. Our quest has only just started. We haven't even had time to discuss it. the others could know something about the book; for all I know you know where to find it. We need to get to this place Wyverus is talking about and we need to talk about what we're going to do before more of Ranare's men find us and kill more of us. Come on,"
She hurried out of the tent dragging Firego behind her. Once outside she dropped his hand and ran into the woods where Wyverus had already started walking.
"What's going on? You aren't abandoning us?"

Wyverus

"What's going on? You aren't abandoning us?" Lamika asked Wyverus as he walked through the dense forest. Wyverus tried to ignore her and keep his face looking forwards but she moved in front of him and blocked his path. He looked into her eyes.

He breathed in keep your emotions inside he told himself. "Why do you care? There's plenty more in the group, I don't make a difference." he said, devoid of emotion. Wyverus didn't have time for this, his soul was under so much torture, yet nobody cared. Or so it seemed. "Get out of my way, Blackmire is my next stop, follow me or not, but don't get in my way".

Taur

Taur moved difficultly as he gathered up the fabric of his tent and forced it into a tight roll. He had not had time to properly splint his leg, so he was relying solely on a bandage pulled tightly around the joint.
He looked up from his work as Lamika burst from her tent and ran off into the woods.
"What's going on? You aren't abandoning us?" she shouted as she disappeared into the trees. Taur sighed.
Why must it fall upon such innocent beings to commit to such a daunting task? The question rattled around in Taur's mind as he finished packing away his tent.
He took one final look at their camp. Godrick and Haven were just now following Jenko into the woods, but Taur found Fiergo walking towards him instead.
"Your sister is a strong one,"Taur said,"But she lets her passions guide her actions. You must protect her,"
"She doesn't want to be protected," Fiergo replied. Taur could sense him turning defensive already. He offered a proverb in reply;
"If a bear cub wanders from its mother and is stung by a bee, its mother will scold it, and it will learn. But if it wanders from its mother and is killed by a wolf, its mother will mourn it,"
Fiergo looked contemplative. "What do you mean?" he asked.
Taur chuckled. "That I will leave for you to decipher," he replied. Fiergo's dissapointment was palpable, but he nodded in acceptance.
"Go," he commanded, catching the young man's attention, "I will ensure we leave no marks for the king's men to track us by, and meet you at Blackmire. Inform the others too,"
Taur waited for Fiergo to dissappear into the forest before setting to work scattering the ashes of their campfire and esuring no traces were left by their presence.

Jenko

It looked like his apology would have to wait. Poor Wyverus was busy fending of Lamika. At least his sister would keep the necromancer from getting to far ahead of him, and it wasn’t as if those two didn’t need to clear the air.

Everyone else seemed to be waking and rising with remarkable swiftness. Taur even volunteered to clean up the campsite, a favour Jenko was extremely grateful for.

Bending to rearrange the contents of his bag, Jenko tried to make a list in his head of the things they would need to pick up Wyverus’s safe area. They needed far more provisions than what they had, especially since they wouldn’t always be ale to go into town to restock.

Should they get horses? They were going too slowly as it was, and any moment they could be overtaken by the kings men. Horses seemed like an expense though, and they would have to be looked after. Would Taur even be able to ride? Or was he too big?

Slinging his pack over his shoulder, he marched of into the woods himself, falling into step with Firego. Whatever plans he made would have to wait until they reached their destination.

Haven

Haven had overheard Wyverus and Jenko arguing and quickly began to pack away his tent. His task complete he strapped it onto his shoulders over his pack of meagre belongings and strode after Jenko. By the time he caught up Firego and Jenko were in step with each other, brothers in perfect sync. He could see a look of anxiousness on Jenkos face.
"Shouldn't we slow down for the others?" Asked Firego as the wind rustled his hair.
"No, we can't risk losing track of Wyverus. We need what he's offering." Replied Jenko calmly.
"I wouldn't worry about that," grinned Haven tapping his nose. "I'll be able to follow him. He smells like, well, death. Musty crypts and long buried men. Makes sense i suppose."
I shouldn't be this relaxed, thought Haven. Perhaps concentrating on walking is making all this easier. That and I have a good many days before the next full moon. I wonder where Lamika is?
With all these thoughts and a good many more whizzing around inside his head, he was taken entirely by suprise when Godric voice flittered into his ear.
"Hey Lion man, not bad out there. Little savage for my taste but hey each to there own." His fuzz of ginger hair hovered in the bottom of Havens view. "Just promise not to eat me." The little head bobbed as Godric chuckled.
"I didn't, i mean that wasn't me." Said Haven. "I'm not like that. I'm not savage and i swear i would never eat you. It's the beast, the animal that lives inside me."
"Sure. Your lovely really and this beast is something else. Honestly i know you want the girl to think your nice and all but come on, you must have some control."
"I don't, listen to me. I really don't. Anyway shouldn't we hurry up? The others have all overtaken us." Haven noticed.
"Ah you go ahead. Don't like crowds. Too many big people with big feet thundering around." He sounded almost afraid of the last part. "Go on get going will you."
With that Haven nodded to the funny little man and strode off, searching the faces for Lamika. Nice, friendly Lamika.
Oh god, Haven. What is she going to think of me? That thought stopped him in his tracks, only for Lamika to practically trip over him.

Wyverus

He was going to slow, everyone was starting to catch up with him, and he didn't enjoy explaining himself. "Wyverus!" Haven said. "What's going on?"

"I don't have time for this" Wyverus muttered. Wyverus stopped and brought his fists to his waist, then took a deep breath. Shadows appeared and started to circle and then envelope the necromancer.

"Wyverus, wait!" Lamika and Haven shouted. It was too late, Wyverus had vanished into thin air.

The shadows began to slow down and disappear leaving Wyverus feeling a little dizzy, but that was a well known side affect of shadow teleportation. He looked around, ah, Blackmire, I haven't been here for a while. He gazed around and noticed the new tavern that had just opened. He laughed. Why not? I deserve this much.

Jenko

Jenko huffed in frustration as the necromancer dissapeared. He would have to wait yet again to talk to his friend.

"Keep moving foreward," he said to the perplexed group. "He pretty much invited us already. If we follow the path ahead enventually we'll reach blackmire ourselves."

WIth that, the group settled into it's usual pattern. WIth evryone breaking of into their own little worlds, occasionally striking up a conversation. Jenko himself decided it was long past time he learned soemthing of the people he considred himself responsible for.

"How are you feeling?" He asked Haven. "The change seemed to take you hard last night. Are you doing okay?"

Lamika

Are we really that bad? Just my little attempt at finding out what was wrong caused him to disappear? Lamika's thoughts were strangely dark and upset. She tried to shake away her disappointment, but it still hurt to think that Wyverus wouldn't even talk to her. He was almost as bad as moody solitary Godric.
Slowing her pace she ran into Haven, who seemed glad to see her. Yet before long he was beginning a conversation with Jenko, one that Lamika felt no desire to be a part of. She slowed down even more, quietly watching Godric pass her with an inquisitive glance. Finally taur appeared, limping slightly and carrying a huge bag. Lamika glanced at his worn out face and fell into step beside him.
"It's hard to believe we only just left yesterday. So much has happened." she sighed and waited for taur to answer, but he seemed distracted, either that or he was simply too wise to say anything that wasn't necessary. Lamika sighed again and realized small talk would never work with him. Still, she enjoyed the silence and decided to walk along slowly with him until he said something. Besides, with any luck Haven would soon be done talking to Jenko and she would be able to talk to him instead.

Haven

Lamika appeared to Havens left and he couldn't help but feel a little better. Before he could say a word to Janko spoke out from beside him.
"How are you feeling?" He asked. "The change seemed to take you hard last night. Are you doing okay?"
"Not too bad. I think i was just fatigued after it all. The beast does like running."
"The beast. Why do you call it that? Is it a werelion thing?" He seemed genuinely interested.
"It's not a werelion thing. It's something my father used to say. While the beast may live within you, it should never become all that you are. I guess I said it once and it just stuck." Replied Haven. "Anyway what going on with Wyverus? One minute your arguing, next he is offering shelter, then he disappears. I know i haven't been around long but is he always like this?"
"Not really. He keeps himself to himself. I think the darkness of it all has sombred him somewhat." Replied Jenko, the look on his face almost contemplative. "If you don't mind my asking why do you want Taur to teach you to fight? Surely a sword will never be as good as the beast."
"It won't but it will be a lot safer. A sword doesn't fight you for control of your body and ownership of your mind. A sword doesn't strike and kill with no idea of friend or foe. Most importantly, a sword you can put away when ever you like." The words came out edged with more emotion than Haven had intended them, enough to cause Jenko to politely end the conversation and stride off. Haven looked around for Taur and headed over to him, only to discover Lamika had been hidden behind his lumbering frame.
"Hows your leg?" He asked Taur. Me worrying about him, he thought. He must think i'm crazy
"Not perfect but i will travel onward. Perhaps when we reach this Blackmire, if you would be so kind as to help me with a proper splint. I fear none of the others quite have the strength to set my leg on the straight and not so narrow." He replied with what Haven suspected might even have been a smile. He liked Taur. Taur was kind and wise, almost sagely in his wisdom.
"Taur i have a request to make of you."
"Speak your mind young lionman."
"Would you teach me to weild a sword? I fear for the safety of the others when the beast roams free."
"I will think on this while i walk. Perhaps by Blackmire you will have your answer." With that he lumbered ahead, seemingly lost in thought. Haven turned back to Lamika.
"I'm sorry," he said simply, embarassment clear on his.
"For what?"
"For knocking you out of the tree. For growling at you. For collapsing at your feet like some kind of freakish pet." He stared down at his feet as he said it before lookng up at her. Her smile was all the forgiveness he needed.