[Knirin Gardens] In Darkness (Closed)

[Meera]

She fought against his hold. Meera's thin wrist felt like a twig in his hand and she attempted to release it by yanking back. When that wouldn't work, Meera's legs pushed from behind her torso to give herself more leverage against his body, pressing her chest against his. He failed to budge, and Meera had to think it was due to her lack of momentum and weight.

His hand felt large on the small of her back. Despite his blue skin, Aren was surprisingly warm and she could feel the heat leech into her skin through the chemise. The girl had been breathing normally despite her attack which had barely connected, but connected it had, until she noticed the fog pressing nearer.

His breath was warm against her cheek. Though Meera had been looking to his side, her shoulder jabbing into his hard abdomen, her head quickly lifted to view his face at his words. A sharp inhalation of damp air, and he shifted his weight, moving her body. She relaxed against him, unsure if this was part of the lesson. A free hand, which she had used to push against the Akalak lessened its touch. The blonde began to stand on her two feet again instead of leaning against him. Her dark eyes dropped and her free hand adjusted her loose, wet braids - a giant nest on her scalp.

She made a noise then. It wasn't a grunt in frustration or one of elation; simply it was a soft noise that acknowledged a change in mood. His eyes weren't looking at her, they were looking past her. She rotated her head to try to see into the dark fog behind her. Seeing nothing, she fought the urge to growl a sound of distrust. Aren surely had lead her into the mist to her death.

She returned with vigor to fight him off.

[Ward Anol]

Ward knew the akalak could see him he was to scared to do anything so he did the only thing he could do prepare. if the akalak was going to attack he should be prepared he dived to the side, he ran too the nearest spot he thought that the akalak couldn't see him maybe if he was lucky the girl would be able to hold him off for a while while.he grabbed his dart collection and he coated 3 darts with a poison ment to blur the vision and slow reflexes in the hope that he might be able to shoot the akalak he hoped he would never meet an akalak in close quarters so hopefully if the akalak ran at him he could get the darts inside of him before he got close enough to attack him .

[Aren]

Aren's infravision pierced both mist and darkness with equal ease, allowing him to easily make out everything that the observer of their little sparring session was doing. The fact that the man wasn't sitting idly by, any longer, concerned the akalak, and the revelation that he now seemed to be preparing some kind of projectiles was not a welcome one. He didn't know who this guy was, what he wanted, or what he was intending to do, but whatever it was, it didn't seem like a good idea to simply allow it to happen. Continuously altering his position so as to prevent a clear bead, Aren was now unfortunately forced to pay more attention to this stranger than he was to Ysane. The akalak shot the drykas girl a look, along with a few hand signalsm, hoping she would pick up on his intentions and realize that she was going to need to move the hell out of the way, and fast. Right now, she was standing between Aren and his target (though admittedly because of his own miscalculation) and that was simply a place she didn't want to be. The moment she moved, he was going to pounce, heading directly for his prey. His adversary was, or at least seemed to be, human, from what Aren could tell. He shouldn't be able to get a decent bead on anybody in this pitch black mist, anyway. So, in theory, all the akalak would have to do was avoid a couple of blind shots in order to close the short distance between them. He had a way to deal with projectiles of that size, anyway. Incapacitating a human opponent, once he was in range, should prove to be a relatively simple task after that.

[Meera]

He still her struggles again and she gave a dark eye under a furrowed brow in frustration at him. How was she supposed to fight him and have her adventure if he refused to let her fight?

He returned a look of his own and released her wrist to gestured frantically.

A man behind her. Move.

She gave a curt nod, knowing exactly what to do. She darted from his side, the waterfall loud now in her left ear. She took three strides - remembering her two from her initial run at Aren to lead herself back to her pile of clothes. She cocked her arrow in her bow, her finger feeling for the brightly coloured cock shoot. She couldn't see exactly where the human went, or her partner, but she had spun in the direction she had guessed they had run to. With the nock resting nicely she snuggled her fingers close around the shaft and string and drew her arm back. The familiar stretch of the bow quirked an easy smirk to her lips and she closed one eye as though to focus her aim. On what, Meera couldn't say through the thick of the fog. Meera fired three warning shots in the direction Aren ran, each aiming slightly to the right, and slightly higher than the previous. With a satisfying thwung the arrow was loosed from the string.
She had skill in archery, but was no expert. There was a high chance one of her warning shots would pierce the shoulder of the stranger.

[Ward Anol]

Ward saw the arrow whiz past him he knew an akalak would not have a bow to shoot so he knew the human was shooting at him to warn him so he shouted at the two warriors who were fighting him and said as aloud as he could,"wait i mean neither of you two any harm i was just making the proper preperations in case of an attack by either of you i knew you spotted me akalak, i was scared i needed a way to calm myself and i am sorry if you thaught i was sent here to fight you i am not i am simply looking for adventure and possibly fortune thats why i came to this city, i had a feeling i would find what i was looking for here now please reconsider your attack i mean neither of you harm".

[Aren]

Aren remained focused on his prey, as he waited for Ysane to make her move. He was not, however, idle. Under cover of mist and darkness, he was creating a subtle coating of djed around his arms, in preparation for the moment a timely blast of wind might be required. As the drykas girl removed herself from his path, the akalak instantly began a sprint in the direction of the now hostile observer in their midst. He closed the distance quickly, but he noticed that the man seemed to object to being fired upon by Ysane, as if he wasn't entirely sure of what was happening. Unfortunately for him, the time for talking was past. Aren was not in the least slowed by his target's new found insistence that he didn't mean anybody any harm. As he neared the stranger, the blue skinned warrior was heedful to watch for those projectiles that he had noticed earlier. If they came his way, the akalak would transmute his djed into a deflecting blast of wind. If everything went according to plan, Aren would be able to successfully slip behind his human opponent with the aim of placing him in a double shoulder lock. From that position, he could effectively control this aggressive intruder, or even kill him, should the need present itself.

[Meera]

The sound of rushing water filled her head again as the girl struggled to hear for any cries of pain or a fight. Meera could hear none, and she debated on leaving her position. Chances were in this fog she would not easily return to collect her things.

With a sigh she lowered her bow, wishing she had the means to spark the feathers afire to light her way. Her lantern was left at the room in the inn, and she cursed herself for her earlier game of sneak.
Would the morning lend its light to her search come sunrise? Would the afternoon burn the misty air to clear her path?

She cursed her luck with a satisfying swear.

"Braid cutter!" She yelled a popular insult to show her displeasure. She knew the Akalak shouldn't be trusted. He may have brought her to air, but the air was not open. It was thick and closed in and she could not see the sky. How could the Gods see her to protect her?
Meera dropped her bow to make room for the quiver to be around her back and returned Osri to her boot cuff. While she was bent over, she picked gathered her sword holster and returned that to her side. Her cloak draped itself heavily over her arm with her vest tucked lazily inside. When the last was collected, Meera snatched her bow but the curve and took five paces in the direction she had seen Aren run towards. The waterfall faded in the distance, its bass dulling in her ear.

She could hear some voices, and the voice sounded young. He was talking too fast for Meera to translate from Common, but she recognized some words.

Fight. Adventure. Attack. Harm.

Feeling the adrenaline rise up inside her she grew gutsy and took to a light jog until the voices grew louder.

She slowed and crouched, the arrows bouncing in her quiver gently stayed themselves. Her garments were lightly placed at her feet to allow preparing her bow. Meera could not afford to alert this man to her sneak - if he saw her, she would likely die. The Akalak would see her, that was never a doubt. The new man, Meera had no idea what he was aside from gender. If he too was an Akalak Meera could not rule out the possibility. Drykas were popular in Riverfall too, for all she knew at the moment this man could have been sent to retrieve the blank skinned girl and she would not allow that. Carefully, Meera extracted an arrow and set it against her bowstring.

At the slightest provocation, the slightest threatening sound, Meera would fire in the direction. She had her own skin to protect.

[Ward Anol]

Ward was scared he had never been one for combat let alone the fact that his adversarie could see him and he could barely see a thing besides the basic outline of him. Ward knew his only chance to survive this was to surrender so he dropped his weapons put them all in his pack and he stood up and said as loud as he could "i have put my weapons away i am sorry for intruding on your fight i wish neither of you any harm, i am just a mere human seeking his fortune i only came out here to think not to fight, please do not harm me im begging you."

[Aren]

The stranger hadn't tried to attack; that was good, but Aren insisted on eliminating the threat before he was willing to listen to any opponent's spiel. It was a matter of principle. As such, he did not hesitate to enact his plan, and successfully placed the "surrendered" intruder into a double shoulder lock. As the larger akalak held the relatively small human in his hold, he craned the poor fellow's head forward almost as far as it would go, the strain on it nearing the breaking limit. The point of this was to show the young man the seriousness of the situation he found himself in, and perhaps nudge him towards a truth telling mood, if he was not already so inclined. "Tell me, young adventurer... you wouldn't happen to be here all by yourself, would you?" Aren growled, the tone in his voice one of deadly caution. Easing up on his captive's neck, slightly, the akalak wished to allow the young man to, more coherently, form some very important words. "Miss Ysane! I'd suggest you stay near me," he shouted, over the noise of the river. Though Aren's eyes could not detect anyone else in the vicinity, that did not preclude the possibility that the individual he held in his grasp was not alone. And, if that was the case, this other person would certainly be a much more dangerous adversary, considering their ability to elude detection.

[Meera]

Though Meera could not see her opponent all that particularly well, Meera could definitely hear the sounds of impact, of movement, of Aren subduing this random intruder. It was unfortunate that her arrow would not pierce their opponent, but rather graze.

This stranger, be him Akalak or Drykas or otherwise, would hear the twang of a loosed arrow and if his hearing was acute enough, to hear the whizz of steel and wood as it soared forth from her sight into the fog. Fortunately for the man who had stumbled upon them, Aren had moved him from her arrow's path just enough to avoid the full brunt of pointed steel, but not enough to avoid the cutting scrap of the arrowhead against his upper forearm - nearly missing her blue skinned companion.

Meera shivered, not enjoying the clouded press. Aren's voice was clear, deeper than his usual in a growled sentence. Concern that she had struck her acquaintance grew over her face. Perhaps Aren had thought the arrow was another assailant aiming for the Akalak, and so Meera informed him it was her arrow that brushed him. She readied another from her quiver, but did not aim into the darkness. It would take merely a second to cock her arrow and fire.

"Mine," she said loudly. "Arrow." She huffed hot breath into the fog and saw movement in the air.

Aren had called her over to his side, and she wished to have been blessed by Akajia for the vision. The blonde made her way as best she could, still trying her best to keep quiet under the noise of the river.

"Is dead?" She asked, inquiring on the vitals of their enemy. "Arrow?" She suggested. "Mine?" She could barely make out the image before her, but it appeared the tall one, almost seamless in the night's fog, was behind a much shorter man, their assailant.
Instead of investigating the akalak's prey she did as she was told and pressed close slightly behind and to Aren's side, with enough space should she need to fire another arrow.