[Flashback] Bite me (Vynia)

[Siiri]

The other Myrian's trail was easy enough for Siiri to follow, for, intent on getting away from the yukmen horde, the woman did not bother hiding her passage through the thick foliage, just crashing through it like a charging boar. The Snapping Jaws warrioress caught up with her in a matter of minutes, her long strides quickly covering the distance between them. The woman seemed lost, as if she did not think where she should head to in her flight.

"West!" Siiri gasped when she finally found herself running abreast her companion. As she changed direction to suit her words, Siiri reached out a hand to yank the woman with her. "Head for water!"

She knew there would be a stream of some sort nearby, one that flowed down from the mountains up north to collect into the Kandukta Basin. She intended to use it as a means for them to mask their tracks from the pursuing yukmen.

And, since they're made by the earth, maybe water would soften them up too, she thought. If those rocks on their bodies would get loose from the dampness, that is...

She could only hope.

The shrill cries of the yukmen echoed all around them, the abominable creatures sounding as if they were communicating with each other to better coordinate their pursuit of the two Myrians. Siiri pumped her legs harder. She kept telling herself this was a tactical retreat.

To fight in a battlefield of our choosing, naturally, she said to herself.

But the truth was, she did not know how much she and her companion could do when they reach the stream with the two of them tiring rapidly.

[Vynia]

When Vynia braved a chance to look up, Siiri had caught up to her just long enough to clutch Vynia’s arm with an iron grip and drag her along. They dove through the bramble and dodged around trees, headed west. As Siiri yelled something about water, something in Vynia clicked, as well. That’s right! They’re composed of rocks, and sticks, and earth! Maybe the water will dilute their limbs and body! She wasn’t sure if it would work, though it seemed perfectly plausible. Pounding the earth with every rapid step, pushing herself forward, she began to grow weary. The tingly, numbing sensation spread from her calves and thighs radiated all around. Her abdominal area pulsed with heavy breathing. Her arms and shoulders felt weighed down from her head. She was tired, and there was no denying it. She only hoped that she and her new ally could come up with something to evade the yukman horde quickly, lest they fall from fatigue.

[Siiri]

It took a few minutes but they finally ran across the stream Siiri had been hoping to find. Unfortunately, it was a shallow one, the deepest part of it barely reaching their knees. Its flow was hardly discernible as well, and almost looked still to their untrained eyes. Siiri cursed under her breath. It was winter, so of course what water had been melted from the icecaps of the mountainous region of Kalea the previous seasons would have frozen once more with the onset of the cold. Siiri spent a few moments staring at what she had hoped would be a favorable battleground, before glancing back to the way they had come from. They did not have much time; the yukmen would be upon them any moment now.

"Think, Siiri! Think!" she muttered, pacing back and forth on the ground where the stream's waters barely lapped. At last, apparently making up her mind, Siiri waded into the stream, motioning for Vynia to follow her. Before she stepped foot on the opposite bank, she instructed her companion to, "Step where I step."

Siiri did not know if the yukmen had any tracking skills but if they did, her efforts would at least confuse them enough to wonder why only one set of footprints emerged from the water when two Myrians had entered it. She moved towards a stout tree with low-hanging branches, grabbing onto one to push herself up.

"Hide among the leaves," Siiri instructed Vynia. "These things are usually led by an alpha, likely the biggest and the strongest among them. We kill that and maybe the rest will be convinced that we're too powerful against them and they'll retreat."

Maybe, she thought as she grabbed onto a higher branch, her arm muscles working hard to pull her body weight upwards. She hoped to be high enough on the tree for its leaves to conceal her and her companion before their pursuers arrived. The brief pause would give them the chance to catch their breath, and their simple attempt at camouflage would, she prayed, give them enough time to spot the yukman horde's alpha.

[Vynia]

Vynia frantically swung around as Siiri paced, scanning the surroundings for the yukmen, glaive out and at the ready. She followed Siiri into the stream, taking special care to follow her orders. As she trailed behind Siiri, one foot at a time, she fit her foot into each individual print. Hopefully Siiri’s tactics would aid them in deceiving the yukmen. The more experienced Myrian woman made her way up the tree, shifting and pulling her weight up through the branches. So the yumen had a pack leader of sorts. Hopefully Siiri’s assumption that without that leader, they would retreat was correct. At this point, Vynia’s ideas were exhausted. She followed the command of the other woman for lack of better ambition. She chuckled inwardly at their situation – from fighting against each other to fighting with each other. Once they were safe and clear of the yukman horde, she would have to shake this woman’s hand and thank her. Siiri reminded her of Feritas – strong and commanding and dominant, with all the fierceness of the Myrian race. A true idol, though Vynia wasn’t keen on admitting it openly. After clipping her glaive back on the holster on her back, she threw herself up into the tree, balancing straight through the elbows to shift her weight. Up she climbed, slipping here and there on the loose bark. Situating herself just below Siiri, she moved the branches to keep herself well-hidden and prepared to act at the Myrian commander’s signal. Vynia asked, ”Won’t we need to separate the alpha? Maybe its subordinates protect it. Surely if they see us targeting the alpha, they’ll swarm to defend it, wouldn’t you think?” With the hushed question came a mental scene – the two Myrian women dropping down out of the tree to assault the biggest yukman, and getting overrun again by the rest of the horde. She swallowed hard, peeking through branches. The yukman wouldn’t be far behind them.

[Siiri]

Siiri blinked several times at the other Myrian's question. Not that she did not understand the woman's words; they made perfect sense to her. Sense - of the common variety - something she seemed to have been missing when she decided to just up and climb the tree, hoping to ambush the yukman alpha. What in Myri's name had she been thinking? Of course the other yukmen would defend it! Of course they would get swamped by the creatures once they dropped back to the ground to execute their attack! The Snapping Jaws warrioress felt like hitting her forehead with the pommel of her greatsword.

"You're...right," she admitted instead, trying her best to hide her embarrassment to her bronze skin could only do so much to obscure the rising color on her cheeks. Some tactician she turned out to be! Her mother would no doubt add this to her repertoire of barbs if she found out. And if Siiri survived the coming yukman swarm. "I'm just making all this up as I go along. Other ideas would be welcome!"

As they spoke, the vanguard of the pursuing horde made their appearance. The abominations broke through the clearing like a bunch of rabid lunatics, tearing through the foliage with abandon in their desperate desire to catch up with the Myrians. The sight of the stream had them slowing their pace however, and they approached it tentatively. A couple even puzzled over the set of footprints left by Siiri's earlier pacing. They soon ignored it, the lot of them finally venturing into the stream. Not a few started kicking and stomping at the water, their actions spraying showers of the clear liquid all around them. A good amount actually splashed over the tracks the two Myrians made coming out of the water.

"Stupid fools," Siiri commented, her voice barely above a whisper. Had she been with her fang, she would be laughing uproariously at the idiotic show the yukmen were putting. But with the threat of being detected by the creatures ever present, she only pressed herself tighter against the tree's trunk, hoping that doing so would make her seem more a part its outline. She wished the alpha would make its appearance now, while there were only a handful of the yukmen around.

"Do you have any suggestion for a strategy?" she whispered to Vynia. "My best right now is for me to jump the alpha, tear its head off, then take down as many of the others as I can. And then we run like mad again.

"You?"

[Vynia]

Vynia scrounged up any bit of ideas she may have while spying from the treetops with Siiri. She rattled her brain, desperate for a plan. Quietly, they watched from the safety of the branches, hidden from view. She scanned the ground, muffling a chuckle as Siiri dubbed the horde “stupid fools.” As she schemed, she looked around for anything nearby that could be used as a ploy. ”At this point, I don’t know where we would run to. I’m tired, you may be tired. But I’m not running from this. Hmm… What if… What if we grabbed some things, and threw them off in two opposite directions? Sticks? Anything out of these trees? That could lead them to break off into two separate groups to go look for what they think is us, thus splitting the group. The alpha will have to go with one group or another, as I doubt they would leave the alpha unprotected and susceptible to ambush. From there, we could track the group with the alpha. I could try and lure the horde away long enough for you to distract and take down the alpha.” Vynia shook her head. ”That’s all I’ve got for now.” She was open to any idea. She really wasn’t in any place to argue, either. Hopefully one plan or another would prove successful.

[Siiri]

Siiri considered the other Myrian's words. Vynia's plan was simple, but certainly much more refined than hers. And it had the added benefit of them surviving their numerically superior foes. Siiri's idea would have had them swarmed the moment they revealed themselves to the yukmen. Not much of a strategy, now that she thought about it. Perhaps her desire for combat overruled her sensibilities, but did she not just run away from the yukmen when it became obvious they would get overwhelmed?

Retreated, she corrected herself, to stubborn to admit that she fled from the field of battle. It was a tactical retreat to lure these mindless monsters into a battlefield of my choosing.

Bah! Maybe I'm just tired...

That was far from the truth and she knew it. Her heart was still beating fast from the flight, and before that the exhilaration of running her blade through yukman flesh, and she thought she could feel Slayer thirsting for more of the creatures' blood. Siiri was certain she would not slip away from this group until her or her companion had brought down the alpha. She would kill every one of them if she could manage it but it was lofty a goal for one or two Myrians to achieve by themselves. Their arms would tire long before the yukmen horde ran out of bodies to throw at them. Besides, dying at the hands of what she considered to be inferior beings would not only be pointless, it would also be embarrassing. Siiri felt her soul would not be able to face Myri if she allowed herself to be killed by a yukman.

I'll just have to settle for the alpha's head!

The creature she wanted to take out finally made its appearance. It was a large specimen of its kind, a couple of inch taller than the tallest Myrian Siiri knew. To either side of it and lagging a step or two behind were another pair of yukmen - not quite as impressive as the alpha himself but were almost as large and definitely better built that the five thrashing about in the stream. Each one wielded a makeshift club, trunks of small trees they had likely uprooted. The quality of the weapons, as well as the bloodstains on them, made it obvious that it had been used more than once on other creatures, and probably on other yukmen as well, to keep them in line. These were the leaders, after all, and among such primitive beings, nothing proved dominance more than a show of violence at the expense of a few of its kind.

Siiri let out a soft curse at the sight of them. "This will be harder than I thought," she whispered to Vynia. "But we'll try your plan."

As quietly as she could, the warrioress extended a leg towards a clump of hanging vines, rotating her foot around them so that it entangled among the rope-like things. These she brought to as close to the other Myrian as possible.

"Swing to a few trees further out before you climb down. Lure those idiots from the water away from here and I'll take care of any that remain. Don't run too far though; I know you're tired. As soon as they lose sight of you, double back here - I may need someone to mark my grave in case things don't turn out too well."

Siiri gave her companion a wry grin before pulling a different set of vines for herself and tying them around her waist.

[Vynia]

Vynia watched as the other Myrian warrioress battled with her thoughts. What in the name of Myri had they gotten themselves into? She knew the answer – something that was proving harder and harder to get themselves out of. The woman consented to trying out Vynia’s plan, something she hadn’t expected her to agree with. Nervously, she took the vines from the foot of the Myrian woman and grasped them tight in her hands. She pulled them taut to test their durability before wrapping them around herself. With her free hand she reached out to grasp the woman’s arm, a gesture of ally-ship. ”There’ll be no grave markings for the two of us. But just in case, I’m Vynia, of the Blooded Fangs.” Whether or not the woman should reply, Vynia would swing out to the nearest tree and land softly on one of its limbs. She unraveled the vines from her waist, and carefully slid her way across and down the trunk to another limb. From here, she grasped another set of vines and swung out to another neighboring tree. Crack! Vynia froze as the yukmen below her spun around, searching for the origin of the sound. She held her breath, hoping they wouldn’t notice her in the tree above them. Quietly, she inched around to the edge of a copse of branches to hide. The creatures eventually grunted and paced around, investigating the area. She took the chance to make her way down the tree, and used a set of vines to swing out as far as she could, and leapt. She landed a ways away from the creatures and drew her glaive with a flourish. A sharp, piercing whistle left the spot between where her two fingers met her lips. The yukmen started, and screeched at her. Pivoting on her heel, she ran, hoping to draw at least a majority of them away from the alpha.

[Siiri]

The gesture was readily accepted, a bond and alliance quickly formed.

"Siiri of the Snapping Jaws," the warrioress replied simply. She held Vynia's arm a moment longer. "Keep safe."

And the other woman was off, Siiri watching anxiously from her hiding place as Vynia swung away. She was worried that the yukmen would detect them as soon they made their move, but the primitive creatures were still busy kicking up dirt and water in the stream, the racket they were making easily concealing whatever noise Vynia may have made.

That all changed when the woman called attention to herself, however.

As one, the yukmen turned towards the source of the woman's whistle and, immediately spotting her, shrieked and screamed before scrambling over each other to pursue her. The alpha himself gestured wildly, urging his lieutenants to assist the five that were hot on Vynia's tail.

Perfect, Siiri thought. But I can't allow you to chase after her with the rest of your idiot friends already doing that.

Not bothering to check if she had firmly secured the vines around her waist, Siiri leaped from the branch she was on as soon as the first of the alpha's lieutenants neared her, Slayer held in a two handed grip above her head, ready to be brought crashing down into a devastating blow. Her timing was slightly off, for instead of landing on the approaching yukman, she missed it by a good foot or so. That still did not prevent her from smashing her greatsword down upon the surprised creature. The blade bit deep into its shoulder, down its chest, and almost reached its abdomen before one of the rocks embedded in its body blocked its path. Not that it mattered, for the yukman was dead before it hit the ground. It did yank Slayer from Siiri's grip as it fell, however.

Siiri allowed the weapon to slip away from her as she was forced to roll away as soon as her feet touched the ground, if only to diffuse the impact of her landing. She found herself right in front of the other yukman, the fiend shrieking into her face with its high-pitched voice.

"SHUT UP!" Siiri screamed back at it before slamming her fist against its face.

The creature reeled back, allowing her to run back to the creature's dead companion to retrieve her weapon. Her hand was about to close around Slayer's hilt when something heavy collided against her from the side.

It was the alpha.

OOC Note :

Feel free to RP out how your chase went. You can engage the yukmen if you want, or you can try to slip away from them using stealth and the terrain. I'll write the results on my next reply.

[Vynia]

Vynia ran, pumping her legs as hard as they would go. Her feet collided with the ground, flattening from heel to toe as she propelled herself forward, one foot after another. She took a sharp dive around a copse of trees and whistled again, drawing their attention after her. If she ran out straight, and made a wide turn, she could save some of her stamina by putting herself closer to Siiri’s position. Behind her, she could hear the heavy footfalls of the yukmen, but she dared not turn to look back. How many were behind her? Was Siiri going to be able to take down the alpha? A club went flying past Vynia’s face. She gasped and nearly stopped in her tracks in shock at the yukman’s projectile attack. She sped up her pace, pushing herself to her limit. Her thighs burned, her calves felt like rocks, her arms were weights. Most displeasing of all, her head was pounding with a headache at the base of her skull. So much for a pleasant hunt. Zigzagging through trees, Vynia eventually managed to squeeze her way through the roots of a massive tree trunk. Listening carefully for the pursuing yukmen, she drew a nearby leafy limb over her hiding spot and waited. Within a chime, they went barreling past her camouflaged haven, looking around dumbfounded. A couple of them shrieked loud enough to make Vynia jump, but she dared not move. They examined the ground for her tracks or any other sign that she had been nearby. Carefully, she pressed herself low and crawled over the root and backtracked the way she came. Unfortunately, she knew it would only be a matter of time before the fiends found their way back to the alpha, in which case she would have to hope Siiri was successful. Vynia spotted a tree with low footholes and limbs, and began to make her way over towards it. Along the way, she grabbed a couple of hefty rocks and slid them into her bag. Once at the tree, Vynia grasped the thick-barked limbs above her head and tightened her grip. With a swing, she brought her legs up to another branch, which she then kicked off of to pull herself up onto the branch above her head. Balancing carefully on her knees with one arm on the trunk, she reached for another limb and tested it for sturdiness. Once convinced it wouldn’t break under her weight, she pulled herself onto it. Slowly, she shimmied her way along its length until she came to another higher branch, more hidden in the leaves. Here she made her last ascent, where she hid amongst the leaves and waited. She could see the yukmen making their way out around the area in groups of two or three, searching for her. She reached up and slid one of the rocks from her back. Tightly, she curled her fingers around it and watched the yukmen inspect the area. She raised her arm, and slung the rock as hard as she could, releasing her hold. It landed out in a thick-bushed area. Shrill screams ensued as they went running in the rock. Quickly, she made her way back down the tree in a manner more hazardous than she had gone up it, slipping and sliding on the bark. She used her arms to grab limbs on the way down, but nearing the end, she slipped completely and fell with a gasp. A scrape on her right knee tore the skin all the way down to her shin, beginning to seep thick red blood. The side of her left forearm sported similar damage, but she wiped both with the palm of her hand and began jogging back towards Siiri’s position.