Servant turned Criminal

[Pariah]

"...These other two pets..."  Pet, the last time anything called me a pet was when I had a name.  The memories of it burn deep, a black fire made all the more dangerous because of the hatred it breeds, songs of revenge written in blood.

He'd stopped, looking at the man named Vine, but not looking at him at all.  Sparks fell from his fingertips as the tears formed at the corners of his eyes.  In the distance thunder rumbled, seeming to break him from his revelry.  His face, almost serene a moment ago, twisted with rage and hatred and despair as he began his chant.  Gutteral sounds, not meant to ever issue from the mouth of a mortal being, sprang forth from his tounge, and the sparks turned into flames, falling unto the undergrowth.  Finally, with a scream, his arms shot forward, propelling a wall of fire at the branches of the tree the newcomer was perched on.

[Ria Hawk]

Sage snarled as a thorn jammed into his shoulder.  He didn't stop charging Vine, though.  He couldn't get up the tree, though, before a heavy branch knocked him down again.  Johnathan recovered enough to produce some more of his long needles, and apparently Vine was making enough noise that he got lucky when he threw them.  One caught Vine in the arm.  He cackled.  "What's this, Mist, what's this?  Did you forget who I am?  A few more drops of poison in my blood aren't going to make a difference, no, not a difference!"  He pulled the needle out and threw it back down, narrowly missing the newcomer.

Then things got complicated.  Sage was just regaining his footing for another try at scrambling up the tree when a wall of fire ripped through the vines and the trees.  He dropped flat just in time to keep from igniting himself.  Vine wasn't so lucky, and he screamed as the fire hit him.  He caught on fire, and fell out of the tree, still screaming.  The vines and branches that had been attacking writhed, then shriveled and collapsed, smoldering.  The fire burned out quickly, the sheer violence of the blaze extinguishing it.  Sage got to his feet, and staggered over to where Vine had fallen.  A high pitched keening noise was issuing from him, but after being stabbed a couple of times with Sage's sword, it stopped. 

Johnathan struggled to sit up, still breathing raggedly.  Blood trickled out of his mouth.  Sage dropped down next to him.  "Are you all right, Master?"  Johnathan just nodded.  Sage winced as he pulled the thorn out of his shoulder and looked at it.  "Egh, he would throw that."  He reached into one of the bags that they had brought and fished some small labeled bottles out.  He peered at them, muttering under his breath.  "Foxglove...  Bloodroot...  Purple rose."  He uncapped the third bottle, shaking a little, and swallowed about a third of the contents.  "Did anyone else get hit with those thorns?  They're poisonous."  If either of the others looked at his shoulder, they'd notice that his shirt had a large tear in it from the thorn.  The wound was bleeding, but just above it was an old scar.  It actually looked like he'd been branded, once.

[Pariah]

"No, no thorns, though I could use some burn salve."  Looking at his hands, blistered and raw, he shuddered; the rage of the past two months had left him empty, and with it's disapperance, there was nothing left in him.  "And you, swordsman, why did you find us?"

[Ria Hawk]

Sage rummaged a bit, pulling out a small packet.  "Here.  Aloe.  It's all I have."  He tossed it to the nameless man.  He carefully recapped the antidote he'd opened, and put it back in the bag.  He'd gotten it soon enough that no damage was done, fortunately, but he'd still have to sit for a few minutes, until the shakes went away.  He turned to Johnathan.  "You know what it means, if Vine was looking for us." 

Johnathan nodded.  "He set the Furies on us.  There will be more, but hopefully not for a while."  His voice sounded raspy, and he was still spitting blood, a little.

[Chaosmark]

The noble sniffed lightly, mildly annoyed at the downplaying of his heroic maneuver. Ungrateful louts, those two he had just rescued from a choking, painful death. Not even a word of thanks, nor a smidge of gratefulness. Commoners. He sniffed again at the mental invective, then gave a start.

He was being addressed by the savage. The savage could speak? That was something that his tutors had overlooked; they had never mentioned that the tribal savages could speak Kydonian. He sheathed his rapier and turned to the savage.

"My reasons will be explained shortly, once you answer questions of my own. Why were those tribal savages back in that campsite here in Kydonian territory? And why are you still alive, and on apparently friendly terms with these, who quite obviously slaughtered the savages in that clearing?"

[Pariah]

The mage stopped, this man had insulted him and his tribe.  The irony of the fact that he still held his tribe in high regard, though they were trying to kill him was lost on him, but its effects weren't.

Spitting, he looked at the newcomer, "What care you about a savage such as myself, swine?  May it be that even brothers fight with eachother, and slaughter isn't always confined to opposites?  But of course, such an examplar of civilization as yourself wouldn't be concerned with such "petty" disputes.  Your name and your business."

OOC: Ria, CM and I both agree that this chain of thought should be stopped rapidly, with force if necessary.  Otherwise the nearest 3 counties are going to be a mite angry as us two proceed to blow eachother up...  Stupid prideful bastards...

[Chaosmark]

OOC: Indeed. This chain of events could very rapidly turn out nasty.

The nobleman's eyes narrowed dangerously as the nameless mage insulted him. "Don't get above yourself savage, or you'll soon find out who your betters are. As for myself, I am Attad of House Mavros. My business is your filthy gang of 'brothers' trailing across our countryside for the past month, threatening our villagers and their livestock. As the appointed of House Mavros, it is my duty to prevent any more problems from your little hunting party." His voice lowered slightly, a subtle shift of tone. "By any means necessary."

[Ria Hawk]

Sage got to his feet.  "Both of you, shut up!  Now!  Unless you *want* to get the attention of the Black Furies.  Sometimes they travel alone, sometimes they don't, and if Pyre is anywhere around here, all the fire magic in the world won't save us.  If you two want to kill each other, that's your own business, but wait until Master and I get clear before you start anything."  He helped Johnathan to his feet.

"While he could have said it more politely, he has a point," Johnathan said.  "Thank you for your assistance, whichever one of you did what."  The light was a little better, and Attad could see he was much younger than he had originally thought, less than thirty.  "Your lordship, you can't protect anyone if you're dead.  And aren't you," he gestured vaguely at the namless man, "here because you're trying not to get killed?  I can't say for sure, but it seems like there's very little point in the two of you fighting right now."

[Pariah]

He stopped, and decided to continue along more civil lines.  "The 'Hunting party' you're so worried about is long since dead, and, thoug it's quite likely more will come, their existance should only concern their quarry, and not your foolsy villagers.  But Johnathan is right, and I don't death, either at the hands of my brothers, or at the hands of an outsider, so I must extend my regrets at your misfortunate choice of words."

Bowing a bit, half mockingly, he introduced himself, what little introduction was possible; "I'm me, nameless and stripped of all meaning, hunted by my tribe and my kin.  An exile you might call me.  And, if that 'filthy gang' had been here for a month, than I am troubled, because it means they were not the ones that followed me from my village."

[Ria Hawk]

"Oh, lovely, more people who want to kill us," Sage muttered.  "I hope we can go at least until tomorrow without another fight."  He still had to support Johnathan, who seemed to be having a problem with his balance.  "And I don't suppose the people after you are the sort that can be reasoned with either.  Not that I reason well."  He paused, and looked at the mage for a moment.  "You know, I can't handle this any more, I'm going to call you Solon, okay?'

[Chaosmark]

Attad tilted in head in acknowledgment of 'Solon' and Johnathon's reasonings. Besides, they were just about as good of an apology as he was going to get. "So, who is this Pyre, what are those 'Black Furies', and what the tarnished bloodline is up with you bunch getting attacked twice within the same day?" He had questions, and the answers might just save the people he was sworn to protect.

[Ria Hawk]

Sage pointed at the remains of the man who'd attacked them.  "Pyre is a lot like Vine was, except smarter, meaner, and probably crazier.  And he doesn't use plants, he uses fire.  He's probably the one in charge of the Black Furies, now."

Johnathan nodded.  "The Black Furies are assassins in the court of King Raidol, and more or less psychotic to a man.  Each of them possesses a different magical ability.  There are..." he paused for a moment, thinking.  "Five, now, I think.  Unless the king has... recruited more since we fled."  He scowled.  "They're his most viscious and prized hounds.  Vine was easily the stupidest of the lot, so if the others pick up the scent, it will be bad."  Then he considered the other question.  "As for being attacked twice, I think mostly that was coincidence.  The three of us met on accident, you see, and our individual pursuers found us at roughly the same time."

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

OOC: sorry i havent posted for awhile been really busy

IC: josey had managed to push herself abit further and grab hold of a lower branch swinging herself up into the tree. she stopped and looked around, something was going on. when she looked down she noticed what had happened but before she could react someone had stopped it all. Josey stayed in the trees for a while watching making sure it was safe before swinging down and landing gracefully on the balls of her feet with one hand on the ground. "what is going on? who is this? who was that man before?" josey looked between the men she was travelling with then bowed to johnathan "im sorry i didnt come sooner, i must seem a coward" her face fell and she looked to the floor.

[Ria Hawk]

Johnathan sounded puzzled.  "Why should I think you a coward?  Vine was incredibly dangerous, it was wise not to be involved if he didn't see you.  He was after Sage and myself; I'd actually prefer it if no one else got involved in our fight.  If we had lost, he would have tried to take you prisoner."  He didn't seem to want to say more on the subject.

[Callista Miala Moonshade]

Josey nodded "so what now?" she asked looking between the group.