Gods Giveth, Gods Taketh (Open)

[Deleted]

Able simply continued to refuse to fly. Why was the pegasus SUCH a rebellious little thing. Her time with Clair did nothing to help stem that nature of his. Oh well, she supposed. Perhaps it was a trial of the heavens to prove her faith and devotion to the cause.

Suddenly Able bucked tossing her from the saddle and falling into the dirt. "Waaaaaahhhhh Oof!" Or maybe it was sent by Hargus himself to cause her endless torments and frustration. "Able!" She shouted in frustration. The beast whinnied in delight before running off and taking wing. "Oh, come on!" Emily began to pace in frustration grumbling all the while beneath her breath.

"Stupid beast, such a jerk, just don't come back this time why don't you?" So she began to walk. You could see for miles in these fields, which was good, but so disorienting to her. What way had she come from? What way was she going? The lack of landmarks confused her endlessly, and so she simply stumbled along. Her left arm in a sling and her armor making her extra hot in the sun. She began to sweat and dehydrate. "Ugh..." She was starting to not feel so good.

The constant breeze did much to keep her going however, keeping her cooled, if perhaps chilled. She was going to get sick from this, she just knew it. A lone Etrurian girl on the plains of Sacae, yeah, this was going to lead her into a bad time.

[Tadhg]

Namaste let out a prolonged whinny for what seemed to be the twelfth time since leaving Bulgar. Because of the heat of early summer, much of the fresh prey had retreated to cooler parts of the plains. Unfortunately, the lingering heat all but guaranteed their scarcity. Tadhg was used to it, though Namaste, despite being short-haired, disliked the heat. At least he wasn't a thick-haired destrier; that would have complicated things even further.

Shielding his eyes from the sun's harsh rays, Tadhg scanned the plains before him briefly, his bow and quiver slung limply about his back. The flat, rolling plains and lack of landmarks were familiar enough to him, but the sudden mass of white unfurling its wings and beating them ceaselessly against the panorama was not. He was a far enough distance away such that it appeared to be a mere white speck roughly two hundred yards down, but Tadhg could easily make out the fact that it had wings and was steadily rising off the distant ground.

Namaste let out an abrupt thirteenth whinny, then started trotting frenetically, jostling Tadhg in such a way that nearly threw him from the saddle. He was an easily spooked steed.

"What the-" began the green-haired nomad, his gruff voice quavering against the motion. "What is it, boy? What do you see?"

The short-haired horse began to gather in speed. As he did so, Tadhg noticed another speck gradually increasing in size on the horizon, this one appearing to be... a young girl? She was dressed far too excessively for this heat, and Tadhg could tell even from this distance that she was not from around here. Perhaps Bernese, perhaps Ilian? He couldn't be sure since he had never ventured outside of his native Sacae. Now roughly forty yards away, Tadhg could glimpse locks of golden hair and her left arm bound in a sling. She couldn't have been more than sixteen.

Overhead, Tadhg had never seen anything like it. It appeared to be a horse with wings... a pegasus, if he had recalled the tales correctly. Never once had he crossed paths with one, though he was somewhat aware of their existence. Same went for wyverns.

Namaste halted on his own accord some fifteen paces away from the girl, who looked discomforted by the weather.

"Steed doesn't like you much, does it?" asked Tadhg curtly. "You look lost. Everything okay?"

[Deleted]

Was it a blessing? Was it a curse? Was Elimine looking after her own or was she about to be forsaken for her sins? Only time would tell as man on horseback came upon her. His comments about Able disliking her hit home a bit. "No, I am afraid he does not." She admitted back. Shortly thereafter the steed began to fly away into the distance. "No, no no no!" Emily futile, in her efforts, gave chase but the beast was quickly gone.

"He-he'll come back, he always does..." Emily let off a deep, exhausted and mildly depressed sigh as she turned to address the visitor properly. "I am lost, and no, everything is not okay, I hate to admit it but things are very not okay. My arm is broken, my steed just left me, I am lost in the middle of a field, my previous companions are probably dead, my father figure is dead, and I have only been traveling for about a month!" That one question turned into a surprise bomb shell of emotion. She felt even worse as everything just came out all at once from her in front of a stranger, but she would not cry. She let out a long breath before breathing deeply and calming herself again. Returning to a properly composed stance she looked up at this new stranger and tried to decide, friend or foe. He did not attack her, so she should assume potential friend.

"But everything will be just fine. I am trying to get to Bern. Would you be able to offer any assistance with this?"

[Tadhg]

Tadhg furrowed his brow as the pegasus vanished slowly into a dot of white. While not fully diminished from the horizon line, the beast surely showed no signs of returning anytime soon. That was when the girl began to speak breathlessly, her face now caked in sweat. Her labored breathing suggested dehydration. Indifferent, Tadhg ushered Namaste closer, then dismounted so that he could meet this newcomer at eye-level. Suddenly, she launched into a livid array of emotions that took the green-haired nomad aback slightly. Once she finished speaking - she had a slight twinge of formality in her dialect - it was Tadhg's turn to talk.

"Huh," was all he could manage at first. He wasn't a world-renowned conversationalist by any means. "Sorry about your... ah, losses. I lost a family years ago. I sympathize." He wouldn't be willing to go chapter and verse on this matter for a long while yet, but Tadhg had an uncomfortable talisman sagging in his abdomen that the information would be pried out of him sooner or later. Curse the man's brutal honesty and high sense of Sacaean honor! He could only let his eyes narrow in increasingly fervent concern as he realized that this girl had encountered loss in a similar way he did. And she was younger than him, possibly by nearly a decade.

Hell, she was only a girl still.

However, Tadhg couldn't help but admire her optimism, even though the odds were invariably stacked against her. She was alone, new to the prairies, whereas Tadhg had never ventured outside of them. So when the girl asked him to accompany her to Bern, he looked at her as if she had suddenly grown five heads.

"Bern? Is that where you're from?" asked Tadhg quizzically. Now he had to let the honest streak pry through. "I'll be honest, I'm not quite sure where the border is. I know that it's somewhere due south of here, but I've never ventured out of Sacae in my entire life. The best game is right here in the plains."

Ugh, stroke of conscience. Being Sacaean, Tadhg's tribe had emphasized altruistic selflessness and unconditional regard and honesty, but restraint. Hence his seemingly indifferent attitude, underneath which his true conscience lay.

"Well, I've never been that way, but I haven't found any game here. Maybe we could go south together and we could both get what we want: my game and your way home," Tadhg said firmly yet invitingly. "Maybe that... thing will come back while we're at it."

[Deleted]

Oh, she had berated the poor man with her sob story and he took it oddly well. Perhaps it was best he just sort of shrugged it off the same as she had done. She had no time to dwell on tragedies, she had a mission and being sad would only hinder her in that mission. Though, his words that followed hinted at a deeper story. He too had lost a family. Not a member or someone close, a whole family. His words hinted at a greater tragedy than she liked to think about. His sympathy was appreciated and her heart went out to his own plight but it was best to move on now.

Was she from Bern? No, no she was not, she was from far away from Bern, Etruria to be exact, but he had best not know that, but she had also best not lie. If Elimine was with her than she had no reason to fear death after all. Though it did not mean she could not deflect his question, right? Uh, what could she tell him though that could do that? She found herself without words to pad the truth and opted to, well, offer up the truth even if it made her heart race to tell it.

"I am not from Bern, no. I have a job to do there, people I need to see and speak with, that sort of thing." Oh look, deflected. Now he did not need to know she was Etrurian.

He offered his assistance after all. Oh, delightful. She folded her hands together and offered up a quiet thanks. It was not to him, but to the higher powers. "Thank you. I appreciate it." That one was to him. "He ought to come back in time, though I fear he will not each time he does so. He has begun to take longer and longer."

[Tadhg]

Tadhg had not willingly consigned himself to hear the woes of a young girl hopelessly lost on the plains. It was entirely at the behest of his conscience; he was at its beck and call. Two springs ago, he had encountered a hurt baby fox on the plains some distance away from his apprenticeship in Bulgar. Rather than kill it for food, he instead took it upon himself to nurse it back to health, despite the plumpness of the pup, which would undoubtedly have made for some succulent meat. And here he was now, faced with a dehydrated teenager flushing madly pink in her opposing armor.

The nomad felt a twinge of suspicion arise within him. He could tell when somebody was trying to dance around a firmly posed question. Nevertheless, he respected that the girl's reasons were her own. Not Bernese, not his problem. Work was conducted in Bern all the time and Sacae traded with them frequently.

Regarding her departed mount, Tadhg said, "These plains are flatter than unleavened bread. He could be seen for miles. We'll find him." The last portion of that sentence had been more or less an empty promise to help conserve his own wits. Realistically, Tadhg could easily wind up with a dagger poking out of his back if he had chosen to trust this girl and allow her to ride with him on the back of Namaste. He would have absolutely no time to jump from his mount and draw his bow, especially since it would be a shoddy point-blank shot at best. The risk of hitting Namaste was a risk that Tadhg elected not to consider. Besides, he'd be bleeding out by then.

The girl, however, looked to be in no condition to fight. Her skin was beginning to appear clammy from the dehydration, and he hadn't seen a dagger sheath on her. Tadhg hoped in all his good graces that the pegasus' flight wasn't an elaborate ploy to lure an unsuspecting Sacaean into harm. Oh, he could probably run away, or attempt to have Namaste buck her off, but in all honesty, he did not think she had any reason to attack him. Not that she had the energy, either.

Tadhg turned and pointed in the direction of Namaste's saddle. "Don't assume I'm doing this because I want to," he began. "My heart speaks louder than my head. You try anything suspicious and I'm leaving you here where you stand. Are we clear?"

[Deleted]

"Yes Sir, we are very clear." He sure was a rough softy. Was it putting on airs or simply just him having a whimsy of kindness? Either way he had agreed to help her out and take her to the border, so, it all was working out quite nicely. But his heart speaking louder than his head? She had never heard of a Sacaean being such a, uh, a poet she supposed was the best word.

"You don't have to worry about suspicious actions from me, ya know? Broken arm and dehydrated so..." He was also quite clearly much larger than her and much stronger too so... the odds of him not being able to stop and evil plots she could devise was slim to none. More none than slim too.

"You have my deepest gratitude Sir, and I believe I owe you my name still. It is Emily, Emily Fein." A surname of a more obscure Saint was likely to go beyond notice to a Sacaean but if not it was a sure giveaway to her origins.

Able was still visible far in the distance for Tadhg's well trained sight perhaps but for the less experienced Emily he was far beyond her scope of vision. "I hope you are right about catching him, he is a very fast one." A much smaller Pegasus than Clair's massive beast but also much faster for it.

In the distance stalking through the tall grass something moved ahead of the two, also with eyes on Able.

[Tadhg]

Tadhg turned, indifferent to the cause, though his front was failing. He had a soft spot for young people in plight. And now he had agreed to undertake a mission against his better judgment, but maybe he would be able to find some ample game closer to the Bernese border. Actually crossing it was a different story, but he'd most assuredly get to that later.

"Emily, hmmm? Interesting name, to be sure." It sounded foreign, certainly not Sacaean, but he couldn't tell if it was Bernese, Ilian, Lycian, or - perish the thought - Etrurian. Regardless, he elected to give his name, and a self-fashioned honorific simply because he could. "My name is Tadhg. And I'm one of Bulgar's best aspiring cooks."

Emily looked nonplussed at this.

"I hunt, I butcher, I make steaks, roasts, and stews. Delicacies."

His train of thought was subdued when he spied a rustling in the sagebrush out of the corner of his eye. Something had been following them, though he was unsure of what, or who. Perhaps it was merely a rabbit or a smaller creature of a similar persuasion, but again, he couldn't be sure. He had a keen sense of vision, but even that wouldn't serve him well if he couldn't see what was masquerading behind the brush. In the distance, the pegasus continued its graceful arcs, Tadhg's visual acuity able to graft every loop and curve into his processing. He felt his right hand curve back to graze the wooden shaft of his bow.

The stalking creature, however large it was, was drawing closer, and Tadhg motioned for Emily to remain close.

[Deleted]

She knew what a cook was! He did not have to talk to her like some absolutely ignorant child! Sheesh! She did her best to be respectful in all things but even that was a bit much to her. Now, she could not allow him to see such a face though so she turned her head away and offered her pouts of frustration to no one in particular until she had felt better; enough to address the man again anyway.

She shifted her attention to a more positive and socially acceptable topic. "Well, Sir, I would be rather interested in trying some of that cooking some time. Delicacies ARE NOT a common thing after all." If they were they would no longer be a delicacy.

The creature moved quickly, from the rustling it appeared to be alone. The momentary glimpses of itself it offered revealed a yellowish fur. A creature not native to these lands but well known and feared by now. A doogue. Emily had remained none the wiser herself. She was currently focused on adjusting her sling and staying mounted behind the man.

The beast had been following Able for a time, but what that beast managed in the air it simply could not match on foot. But not all hope was lost, there were three meals for it right a short distance away. A large man, a small scrappy girl, and a great, meaty, tasty, and delicious looking horse there for the taking. What it did not eat it could simply tear apart too.

[Tadhg]

Tadhg couldn't help but feel somewhat remorseful at how he had phrased those last several words. He knew that anyone who could have found themselves here had to have been astute at the very least, even if it had only been a mere accident. Of course he knew that she knew what cooking and delicacies were, but one man's duck was another man's yuck. His stoicism had not been intended as an insult, yet she had taken it that way. Unfortunate.

The nomad, in any event had been too fixated on listening for the rustling in the bush. Suddenly, the source of the incessant rustling had revealed itself all at once, and Tadhg immediately wished that it hadn't.

"Crud," he whispered. "Crud, crud, crud. I don't have any hope of hitting a beast like that. It's darting by way too quickly."

A mauthe doogue could make for prey, sure, but that was assuming you could outrun it before it devoured you alive. Adding insult to injury, the monsters of Sacae (which were not native to Elibe at all, for this beast was far too aggressive and predatory to be considered native fauna) were difficult to defeat, given that they had this sickeningly... otherworldly appeal. Tadhg couldn't describe it, and he had no time to do so. His eyes widened in genuine panic, and his body immediately entered into that tantric fight-or-flight response that so often occurred when the predator suddenly became the prey. They would have no choice but to flee, and fast; Tadhg couldn't even come close to hitting it with an arrow, and the girl was in no condition to fight. Sighing, Tadhg whacked Namaste lightly on the lower neck, prompting the horse to immediately bolt forward.

"Hold on, Emily," said Tadhg, as the single source of snapping and snarling soon became two, for another doogue had no doubt heard the outcry of its companion. "This is gonna be bumpy."

Namaste was quick, for the fully-grown destrier had the tendons of a horse nearly one and a half times his size and roughly the same lunging furlong, but the duo had to gain ground fast, lest they end up as doogue food. Far above, the pegasus began to shriek, probably having sniffed the threat below. Even if the crazed winged horse came to its senses, it still would be no match for one fully-grown doogue and a smaller, less grown doogue. Their only hope now was if the pegasus had the good graces to follow the duo across the plain.

[Deleted]

Good graces? No, the pegasus had no such thing. Noticing the doogs, now increasing in number the beast was off to fly away in a way that signaled it was NOT going to be coming back. It was devastating for Emily in a way, and an intense relief in another. More importantly for this moment however, it was a tragedy seeing as it could have helped incredibly with an escape.

As the horse and rider urged on into a breakneck pace it took everything in Emily to stay as a passenger with only one arm being good for anything, and to make matters even worse, she lost her lance. It was hardly possible to keep hold of under these strict conditions. "My lance!" Emily exclaimed as it fell to be left behind. Oh blast! This situation did not seem as though it could grow more dire than this! How could they escape doogs anyway?

As the two bounded forth the doogs were forced into action. The chase was on and it seemed the lone doog was not so truly alone. Perhaps there was a whole pack in waiting. Perhaps it really was only the doog and it young, but honestly who wanted to wait around and find out?

The every rushed step of the horse jarred her broken arm again and again. The pain shooting through her with every step. It was a miserable trip but she would hold on. The doogs did in fact have difficulty in the chase. So long as there were no surprises the two may just be able to get away, but if not the doogs were already moving in an attempt to flank the two.

[Tadhg]

Tadhg felt the muscles in lower eyelid pull, prompting his eyes to widen at the revelation that Emily had lost her lance. Yet he was powerless to do anything; by now, Namaste's canter had evolved into a full-blown gallop, and the duo was steadfastly bounding away from the developing fracas. Two doogs now, but a whole pack could just as easily lie in waiting, or worse.

"Hold on," ushered Tadhg as the distance between them and the feral doogs grew. They had difficulty sustaining the chase with their top running speed, although Namaste was already charging at his near nadir himself. The horizon before them was nothing but prairie, with no hills in sight. Yet the doogs were beginning to flank the steed side by side, and Tadhg knew that boded ill.

What had the butcher taught him when confronted with doogs in the past? It would be suicide to attempt to shoot one with a bow. Even at close range they were extremely difficult to hit - try a bow and arrow, on horseback, running at a full gallop. Even the most seasoned of archers and nomads would not dream of attempting such a feat.

Frantic now, Tadhg urged Namaste as fast as Namaste would go. Slowly, but surely, the horse pulled away from the doogs, whose smaller, more svelte torsos were simply not built for long-distance running. He could only imagine the pain the girl was feeling in her broken arm and how it was being violently jostled about with every stride of Tadhg's steed.

Eventually - the dragging notion of several minutes - both doogs became specks in the yards-long distance, clearly no longer inclined to chase their victims. Doogs were built for short, predatory pursuits, not long-sustaining wild goose chases. Tadhg slowed Namaste ever so slightly, though the curvature of the plains offered little refuge from any other predators. Still, there was plenty of incentive for the doogs to return.