She nodded once and pushed herself to her feet. "Yes. So, now that that's done with, I have a question. I have some, uh, business I need to deal with with those thieves and we never really established what would happen if I left. And I don't have a sword so I can't really just fight my way out of here. So, can I...do that...? Or have we not established that I'm not going to kill her...?" She gestured to Amy.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
She glanced over at the young werewolf, one-eyed gaze stern as ever. "Don't go giving me second thoughts, now," she grunted.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"No one takes Anne and gets away with it. Those bastards are going to give me back my sword."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James's eyes flickered down to where her sword would be, and then he looked back at Ari and Amy. He couldn't risk taking them back there, and he didn't want to think of all the different ways it could go wrong. Among the four of them, Tasha had been treated with the least amount of hostility by the thieves.
She had a better chance of going to them alone if she chose to take the civilized route and ask them for her sword back. She could always spin the story and say he'd kidnapped her and she was the victim, which technically, was true. Of course, he didn't think she actually would take the path of least resistance, and knowing how upset Rita and her gang probably were in light of their escape, talking it out might not be the best route anyway.
In any case, he couldn't go with her. So he nodded.
"Well... best of luck to you then. I hope you get it back. If you hurry, it should still be there. They tend to pawn things off pretty quickly unless they want to keep it for their own use."
Sell it. Sell Anne. Well, not if she had anything to do with it. "Great. Toodles, folks, don't die out there. You're worth too much d*** money." She winked and whistled to her dog before sprinting off into the woods without waiting for a response.
Ari waved. "BYYYEE!" he called, jumping and waving his hand. "GOOD LUCK!!"
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Two days passed, and as the moon reached its zenith on the third night, Ari, who was on watch, smiled and leaned back against the log. His feet were warm and toasty near the fire and Ursuku laid across his stomach. The feline's loud piers reverbated throughout his body and the giant man smiled in contentment. What a lovely night!
Snap.
Something in the nearby woodland cracked and he jumped, stumbling to his feet and sending his cougar tumbling to the ground. The silhouette of a large quadruped lingered just out of the firelight and the glint of metal done in the sparse moonlight. He stumbled back in surprise and reached for his great sword, only to trip over the log and fall on his rump as the monster came forward. This was it. He'd failed as a watchman and it was going to eat them all and James would be so disappointed in him...
The thing snarled and he scrambled back to his feet as he bellowed the alarm to wake up his allies.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Amy shifted into her wolf form the moment she heard Ari's cry, but she drowsily got to her feet, almost tripping over them as her head still rested on the ground in a tired persistence. Her eyes were still mostly closed.
James, however, was on his feet within seconds and looking off into the woods where Ari was staring. His head throbbed with a headache, but the adrenaline that had started to pump through him gave him an alertness despite the small amount of sleep he'd gotten. He took a few steps forward past the fire to get a closer look.
The dark bay took a few steps forward into the firelight to illuminate a one-eyed, smirking face who now had a broadsword dangling at her hip.
"Miss me?" Tasha asked with a teasing lilt in her voice.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
She rolled her eyes and grabbed a bag that was tied behind her saddle. "Firstly, if I were going to kill you, I wouldn't have trotted on in on horseback. Secondly, I wouldn't have brought y'all this." She threw the bag next to the fire. "Shortsword, broadsword, a couple daggers, and brass knuckles for the big guy. Courtesy of Rita."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
Amy let out an audible sigh of relief and shifted back into her human form, though she still stayed behind Ari.
James raised his eyebrows at the bag on the ground and looked over to Tasha with a mild look of disapproval. "I see you picked up more than just Anne," he commented dryly. "But why bring all of this to us? What're you playing at?"
She sighed. "Come on. I brought you presents. Gods, you're salty, you know that?" Tasha swung off her horse. "I just wanted an excuse to steal more from thieves. Ironic, isn't that?"
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
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