[Bronze Woods] Worms (Sam)

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam's eyes were good enough to see the ruin of the cottage door, his nose sharp enough to smell the reek of death. He didn't need Horse to know that something was wrong, but he did his best to quiet the beast with a few words in Pavi to quell the snorts of surprise and dismay. He drew his scimitar, feeling the sudden rush of adrenaline and other fear-inspired reactions pulling his nuts up close to his body. This was very, very bad...

His free hand checked that his hunting knife was in its sheath on his belt and then took the scimitar in both hands in order to keep his shaking hands from showing. So very bad...

"Aedai!" he hissed when he realized the dumb kid was going to investigate.

[Harlequill]

All was still as could be, giving Aedai the invitation to move closer. He came within a few paces of the door when Sam hissed his name. A dry twig snapped under the boy's foot and something could be heard moving around inside the cottage, startled by the noise. The only warning of what was coming, the sound of a gagging noise deep down in something's throat. A ball of acidic bile flew out of the darkness, directed at Aedai's chest. If the stuff connected it would begin to eat through his clothing and scald his skin with minor and very painful burns. If it did not then it would serve as an interesting hazard for the young men to keep their feet out of as they dealt with what emerged from the cabin. A heavy bone-plated head came out of the darkness as a massive bird sidestepped its way out of the door. It stood larger than either of the men, and when it was free of the building it thrust its head out to screech at them and threw its wings wide to intimidate them. Fortunately for them it was confused, and had not yet realized that they would make an easy meal. Its wingspan stretched wider than the front of the cottage, perhaps twenty-five feet in all. The smell of death intensified on the wind that rushed over them, and its eyes glittered dangerous from within the shadows of its boney, armored head. They stood face to face with a dangerous legend. The Syliran Kriital.

[Aedai]

He heard movement behind him and hushed words, then suddenly someone called his name. He snapped out of it looking towards the door to see something being thrown at him. He quickly tried to dodge to the side to avoid getting hit with whatever was being thrown at him.

Could it be him? Is it possible I am seeing what I didn't before? His conclusions were created by the fact that he could not see the object being thrown at him and merely had enough time to try and act before he was hit with the strange object. Unfortunately he was not quick enough and was hit on the shoulder. His side step turned quickly into a stumble as he looked to his shoulder to see what hit him. He could already feel something beginning to burn through his clothes and on his skin. The stench was terrible, and the burning only made it worse.

He sat up and started to rip off the piece of his shirt that was hit. He wasn't careful at all and ended up burning more of his shoulder. As soon as he was able to rip it off him being cautious not to touch it with his fingers he looked up to see something strange he had never seen before. He fumbled to get up as he called for Sam. "What is this! It isn't him at all!" He reached for his father's spear strapped to his back and held it with his shaking right arm. His left shoulder ached with pain. The smell of burning flesh reached his nose as he cursed himself and moaned again from the pain. His legs quivered beneath him as he extended the spear to be pointed at the creature in case it charged at him.

The creature was huge, and Aedai felt scared. The air carried an awful stench but it was the least of his worries. I am sorry mother, I was not careful at all..

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Aedai, we gotta go," he said, low and terrified, but trying to keep it together. "We can talk to the knights and they'll maybe send us an escort so we can take care of this thing and what's left of your father, but... Back away!"

He was certainly backing away slowly, not to abandon the other boy, but because retreat seemed the better part of valor in this case, and it was all he could do to keep Horse from bolting, now murmuring a constant stream of Pavi in an attempt to maintain even a semblance of calm from the animal.

The belch of projectile vomit made him wince, and then he was sure: a Kriital.

"Oh, shyke..."

[Harlequill]

Following the movement of the spear with its dark eyes, the Kriital beat at them with its massive wings in an effort to push them back away from it. With such an impressive wingspan it was very effective at bludgeoning and buffeting the two with a malodorous wind. With the air swirling around them the Kriital hopped to the side, with an agility surprising for its size. Avoiding the point of that spear, as it was weaving in the hands of the young Aedai, the Kriital charged at Horse. Talons nearly the length of shortswords slashed viciously at the man and the horse as the Kriital continued using its wings to defend itself. As long as it was outnumbered it would be aiming to harm them and frighten them away, rather than moving in for the kill. Of course, with talons that size, it could accidentally kill just about anything.

[Aedai]

He felt his body being pushed away from the massive creature. "Father never told about this! What is this?" He tried shouting over the wind that the wings had created. He covered his eyes with his left arm still feeling the ache of pain from the burn. When he opened his eyes he noticed it was going for horse. Aedai screamed not knowing what to do, whether to charge at the monster or to run.

Sam had suggesteed to run but in Aedai's mind he had just disrespected what was left of his father and his old home. He tried getting close enough to try to give it a jab from the side, he treid jabbing twice with the point of the spear and then backed away quickly so as to not get hit. He wanted to be careful about backing up so that he didn't trip, the most he might have done was stumble then get back up. He didn't want Sam and Horse to pay for what he had brought upon them. He didn't want to get burned again either.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Back away, just back away! I... I think it's a Kriital..."

His scimitar slashed quickly to protect Horse as best he could, but the animal was rearing and flaring out with his hooves, a fairly effective defense of his own. Perhaps with bows and plenty of distance, they might have worn it out and weakened it to the point where they could finish the job with spear and sword, but at this point, Sam didn't have high hopes of tackling the beast.

"Horse," he ordered in Pavi, "slow retreat."

Horse was only too happy to oblige, neighing and rearing as he did.

"Aedai, it's claimed territory... We have to go... back away!"

That said, he slashed carefully with his scimitar when those talons came too close, trying to prove that they were too much trouble to be seen as food.

[Kelpie]

The Kriital screeched in agony when the spear punctured the beast's side. It was furious, and it showed by how vicious it whipped it's talons out to grab Aedai's spear and snap it in half in a vice like grip. To taunt it was unwise, to attempt to injure it even more so. Instinct dictated self-preservation, and when it was being provoked it will readily attack. Wings beat harder, faster, as the swinging scimitar caught the Kriital's attention. The combination of Horse's fear and the display of power and intimidation caused the creature to pause in it's assault in confusion. But not a chime later and it flew higher, as if to retreat, but the men would be wise not to assume it had left for good.

[Aedai]

He didn't back away as quickly as he thought, his broken spear was the price he paid for attacking twice. As soon as the talons ripped through his broken spear he noticed the Kriital beginning to retreat. Aedai now held a piece of the spear in each hand holding it by the shaft. His right hand held the piece with the iron head. As he saw the Kriital beginning to retreat he threw his spear at it only to have it fall back down a few feet away. He screamed, "Father!" Before he fell to his knees tears streaming from his eyes. The pain on his shoulder could not compare to the pain of his failure at burying his fathers.'s corpse and havving his father's weapon broken in two.

He had a bit of a mental breakdown as soon as he had heard the wood snap. His legs almost crumpled beneath him as he cried calling himself a failure. He had never felt such a craze emotional pain as this and it almost seemed pathetic. It might have been to Sam but Aedai couldn't control his sobbing emotions. He cleaned the tears with his free hand and stood to go and pick up the other broken end that he had thrown while looking up at the sky. He cursed himself and then the Kriital loudly as he stood there not knowing what to do.

With both broken pieces in hand, Aedai turned his head towards Sam and said almost in a whisper. "What should I do?" He looked slowly back u as to not keep his attention away from the sky. Almost fearing the Kriitals return at the pain of his shoulder shifting about from the burn.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Sam kept his eyes on the kriital in flight, not believing for a minute that they were out of danger. He knew Horse was too spooked to respond to hand signals, so he kept repeating his orders to retreat defensively in Pavi. It was a tribute to Horse's long, laborious training and Sam's horsemanship that the windrunner hadn't made like lightning and bolted by now.

He swung the scimitar around in his hands from one defensive posture to another, hoping the flash of sunlight on the metal would give the monster pause as he stepped carefully, feet sensitive as fingertips for sure footing as he made his way back to Aedai.

Later, he would surely commiserate with the kid, having gone through a terrible loss of his own, but right now his brain and body were working on high alert, flooded with adrenaline to keep the fear away.

"C'mon," he ordered quietly, in a tone of command that would have made his old grandfather, the Ankal, proud. They didn't have time for Aedai's grief right now, not if they wanted to survive. "It'll come back, Aedai. C'MON."

He shifted his scimitar into his right hand and hooked his left around the lad's arm to pull him along toward the heavier cover of the forest canopy where Horse was already retreating.