Flashback They'll Fetch a Good Price [Khida/Closed]

[Syren]

22nd Day of Winter, 511AV Endless faces passed him in a sort of blur. He was violently shoved and jostled by passers by as he stood there frantically looking for Meliyah. "Mel! Melie? Where are you?" There was no reply to his yell, but then, he didn't really expect one. A few Eythurians sniggered at him as he racked a hand through his dark hair and looked left and right. Freaky creatures these were, with their six arms and the females with their heavy coating of makeup. This wasn't the best city for a Benshira who wanted to keep his pride to visit. But Syren had been rejected from his own family for falling for someone outside his race, so he didn't have much pride left to begin with. He could never return there again. So Meliyah was his whole world now, and right now she was missing. The panic was beginning to grip him tighter as the minutes dragged on. Where could she have gotten off to this time? She was always scaring him, weather it be with her reckless bravery in the face of danger, or her stupid habit of getting distracted by shiny things or running off after anything that moved. It was the latter one that Syren was dealing with now. "Hey Yshul, if you still listen to me at all, a little help wouldn't go amiss right now..." Sy muttered this to himself trying to remain calm and think. She was probably just looking at some moving wind up toys, or some shinny bits and bobs around the market place he could see up ahead. She was probably just spending all his money on something useless somewhere over there. Sy moved out of the main throng of the crowd to catch his breath and work out what to do. There were paths leading to the other parts of the city, some looked better than others in terms of dingy atmosphere, Syren hoped she hadn't ended up anywhere near the slave trade. But it might be worth looking there, just I case the idiot had . Surely not though. Yshul couldn't hate him enough to see his parents gone from his life, and then not months after, see his Kelvic lost to him and sold to some damn slaver. "Please please be safe" he thought to himself, setting off for an obviously shady area hoping he did not find her in trouble. * * * Meliyah had run off in search of the source of something that had caught the sun and shimmered in the next street over. She was in human form, and wearing a nice looking white off-shoulder shirt, and trousers. When the shimmering thing turned out to be nothing but a copper coin. And now where was she? She had moved a long way away from her human. From Sy. Without thinking she had put crowds of people between them and slipped into a strange ally way. She attempted to turn herself about but she couldn't remember from where she came. She began to feel worry now. She felt like Sy would be angry with her when he found her. And this part of town didn't look too nice. She tiptoed forward, trying to find the main throng of people again and lead herself back to where she had last seen Syren. But it seemed frivolous. She was just getting more and more lost. It was a shock to have someone grab her arm and pull her further into the alleyway, and she yelled out a scream, which soon died on her lips as the six armed man that had caught her covered her moth with one hand and held her firmly with the rest of them. Immediately she bit him sending him screaming with pain as her sharper than the average human teeth ripped into his flesh, causing his hand to start bleeding. Unfortunately, although this may have worked on another human, this hadn't worked on the Eypharian. He still held hher with at least two hands and said in the common tongue "Feisty. Looks like your a kelvic girl right. He brought out a dagger and held it to her neck. One of his companions appeared out of the gloom and said "She'll fetch a good price on the market, surely.". Anger exploded in her mind and she saw red. She yelled cusses at the two men. She threatened them loudly. The noise she was making might attract some attention, and the two slave traders shouted at her, threatening to kill her. What was she going to do. If only she could transform and slip out of their grasp. She had a dagger in the shoulder bag she had with her, but it had fallen on the floor and she couldn't reach it.

[Khida]

Khida wore human shape today, a light brown robe draped over her shoulders and tied at the waist with a length of plain cord. Winter was a good time to be human in -- not so warm, not so bright. Too much sun in this season wasn't likely to make her skin pink, silly and fragile as that stuff could be. She had coins in her hand, too, for the market -- two gold-rimmed mizas, held beneath closed fingers, where no one could jostle her for them -- or cut a strap and run off with them. She'd seen people do that, when the crowds were thick. The crowd here was thicker than she liked, and she wasn't even quite to the market yet. The slender young woman ducked under one gesticulating Eypharian's arms and around the hurried bulk of another, then spotted a transitory void in the throng and made straight for it. She had a moment there to catch her bearings -- it was so much easier to navigate when she had wings! But then she wouldn't have the clothes, and it was hard to carry even two mizas as a falcon. They just weren't the right shape. Khida sighted on where she needed to go, stepped forward -- then froze, as a shriek rose out from the alley on her left and was cut short. She turned towards that narrow, twisting space, gloomy compared to the broad aisles of the open-air market. The sound was... not something she quite recognized. The warn-away cries of raptors, the death cries of hares, those were among the cries she knew well. This didn't sound like any of those. Curious, she took a step towards the alley -- then hesitated. Then walked on. It didn't occur to Khida that other people in the street might have heard the sound. That the studied ignorance of the Eypharians around her, none of them Jackals, might have been wise to heed. She didn't consider what might be at the other end of the alley. What she did do was walk with soft-footed caution, without haste, setting each sandal quietly on the eroded paving stones. She crept forward to the alley corner and peered warily around, seeing nothing but another corner down the line; and did the same thing again, straining her ears to pick up other sounds as she sidled up to the next corner. Sounds there were -- less loud and carrying, more recognizable as speech in their cadence, though the words themselves were unintelligible to Khida. Something to do with people, then. She eased her way around this other corner, finding on the other side an Eypharian male altogether closer than she liked one to be without warning. Khida jumped back from the corner at that, one heel slipping on the flagstones as her feet touched down again. Her left arm flailed; her right slapped against the wall, providing enough traction that she didn't fall all the way down. But she did lose any chance she might have had at sneaking furtively away. oocFigure Khida appears a little younger than Syren for this thread. When they meet again later, she'll appear a little older than he.

[Syren]

Suddenly there was the noise back the way Meliyah had come. A scuffle of feat, like someone had tripped. Meliyah's eyes picked up on a human disappearing back round the corner. Unfortunately the slaver's had heard it too. One of them kept his steely grip on Meliyah, and the other drew a sword of some description and began walking towards the sound. He peaked round the corner and Meliyah saw his greedy eyes light up like he'd stumbled upon gold. This was bad for whoever this person was, but it provided an adequate distraction for Meliyah. The man holding her was watching the other man and had lost some of his focus on the kelvic. She wiggled and squirmed and bit her way out of the Eypharian grip and dived for her dagger. She grabbed it and backed away from the men. "How cute" The man said, drawing his sword. Meliyah growled deep in her throat, and lifted her top lip, bearing her sharp canine teeth. It deterred him for a second, but the man wasn't afraid of her. This wouldn't end too well. She couldn't see the other Eypharian, but she knew he was around the corner, hopefully whoever had come wasn't in strife. But she had to focus on her self now. *** Syren had head a squeal in the distance. It sounded sickeningly like Meli. But then again, anything would have sounded like her when he was this frantic to find her. Syren, aware of the sword at his belt ran for the sound. It was far away and he couldn't exactly pinpoint it. It also didn't happen again. Syren slowed to a fast walk now that he had nothing to follow again. it must be near by. He began walking down a back ally that sounded close to where the yell had come from, and stumbled as he heard voices coming from behind him. No, it was the wrong way. A different back ally maybe. This wasn't it. But at least the sounds were closer now. Syren backed up and went into the crowds again, about to try the next path for his Meliyah.

[Khida]

Khida wasn't very far away from the corner when the Eypharian stuck his nose out around it, along with a sword and two of his four arms. Reflexively, she bared her teeth and hissed at the man, scrambling backwards away from him. He immediately lunged after her; reacting without thought, she shoved herself away from the wall, hoping the extra force would get her out of his reach. It didn't quite: he snagged a handful of her robe and pulled back. "Now, don't be in such a hurry," the man said -- in adequate Common, which the girl did understand perfectly well, along with the smug amusement in his tone. He sheathed his sword, finding the slight little human no threat to himself, and pulled harder, yanking Khida back around the corner and then shoving her forward, the girl stumbling down onto the alley cobbles between himself and his partner. Two gold mizas went rattling across the pavement, jarred loose from her left hand. "Look what was hiding in the dark," he continued, with a sharp bark of laughter. "And it comes with a bonus!" Khida glanced up towards the second Eypharian and the woman he held; she didn't need to see the one still behind her. She was trapped, hemmed in by men and walls alike -- but only at ground level. If she could get up... Her robe was already disarrayed by the way the man had yanked her around by it, pulled down to bare her shoulders. Quickly, she shrugged up and tugged the cloth further down, uncaring what of her anatomy was uncovered along the way. It took the Eypharian a moment to get over his amusement, his arrogance, his surety that the situation under control. In that time, Khida shifted -- and the peregrine leapt into the air, arrowing for the open sky above the alley, shrieking angry cries which echoed off the walls. "Shyke," the man swore, reflexively grabbing for the bird with all four arms -- and simultaneously flinching away from the closeness of her beating wings, which only meant he grabbed nothing at all but empty air.

[Syren]

Meliyah saw the woman thrown onto the cobblestone grownd next to where she stood, with her feeble weapon in hand. She looked at her with wide eyes feeling like she had to do something to save the both of them from the horrible fate that waited them if they went along with the slavers. But the woman had herself covered. She took off her clothes and jumped into the air, makeing a change of form mid jump. This change was one familiar to the canine kelvic. Well, her transformation allowed Meliyah time to change herself. Unfortunatly her clothes were much more pesky to get off. Not having time, Meliyah tore at them with her blade and soon, had transformed into a medium sized, black, white and caramel coat. Her attire was in shreds around her. But Meliyah wasn't an airborm animal. And although she was smaller and quicker now, she was still trapped. She tried to run, but the two of them were much more ready this time, and with a yelp, Meliyah registered that her running attempt had been foiled when the man slashed at her with his sword. The blade sliced her back, right leg, and she tripped and fell. The slaver smirked and hemmed in on her. Meliyah snapped and bit at him, but she was finished, and the bird must be gone by now. where are you Sy?

[Khida]

Khida was not happy. True, she had the freedom of flight, and could leave those strange men far behind, never to be troubled by them again. But they had effectively taken the things which belonged to her -- and letting that stand unchallenged went against the falcon's grain. Still calling those sharp, scolding cries -- chi-chi-chi -- the peregrine did a wingover and dove back down into the alley. Not closing her wings completely, she didn't achieve quite the velocity she could have, but the rake of her talons across one Eypharian's skull was nothing to shrug off. Bleeding profusely from the scalp wound, he swore and staggered back, clapping one hand against the slashes while another took a swipe in the raptor's direction with his sword. An eminently futile swipe, as Khida kept right on going, not turning but only beating upwards for more altitude; she didn't want to be down there with all those hands flailing about. It didn't seem like a good idea. She came back around again, the better to continue harassing her mark.

[Syren]

the sight took the injured pup a couple of minutes to take in. The two Eypharian men were both being harassed by the eagle who was calwing and raking its talons across their heads. This was her chance to get away, but she was injured, and bleeding. Distracted by the bird, They waved their swords around frantically, sometimes getting close to where the bird flew. But it could only attack one of them at a time. This was a problem for the kelvic eagle. When she was on one of their heads, the other began creeping up on it, brandishing the sword. He aimed a slash ot the bird on his comrades head. Meliyah dragged herself upwards and to the edge of the alleyway, dizzy and bleeding. She limped as fast as she could over to the egde of the alleyway and tried to get away. This was when Syren burst into the right backstreet. Stunned surprise held him to the spot. Right up until he saw Meliyah. Then anger flooded him. Not caring about the bird, or the men, he ran to the side of his dog. He took in her bleeding hind leg and felt a lump in his throat. Her clothers from her human form lay ripped around her and he used them to put pressure on the wound. It was not a deep cut, thank god. That done he turned his attention to the Eypharian males, being attacked brutally by a very angry kelvic. Meli looked at the Eagle and then up at Syren. like me she seemed to say. There were two Miza on the ground. Syren realized thit must be a kelvic like Meli. If so, even if not, he couldn't leave this now. With anger pusing his movements, Syren pulled out his tulwar, and slashed at the Eypharian closest to him, who was in the middle of trying to cut at the bird. The man was stunned to suddenly have a blade sticking into his throat "You hurt my kelvic" he snarled, not seeing any reason not to kill the man at the time. But he still hesitated.

[Khida]

This second time, the Eypharian expected the falcon to come swooping down. He didn't have his job for nothing; with the initial surprise of the scalp wound now behind him, he was prepared to face the bird. His feet were braced, his hands lay ready, and his weapon was raised; as she descended, his arms seemed almost to multiply before Khida's eyes, and she felt sudden concern. Where did his reach actually end? Which arm would he move? Uncertain of her target and her own ability to evade, the peregrine shied off well above the man's head, flapping hard around to get another angle on the alley. And someone else broke onto the scene. No more than a boy compared to the Eypharians, he seemed to disregard them entirely as he ran forward to crouch beside the dog. Even Khida could see that wasn't wise -- they had many arms, greater size, a willingness to use their weapons. One of them stepped forward, his sword arm beginning a slash towards the boy, and Khida acted on impulse to take advantage of his distraction. Silent this time, she dove for his head -- and again failed to reach her target, veering hastily to one side as steel flashed through the air, startled into a surprised squawk. She wasn't sure what exactly had just happened, but the Kelvic falcon decided that discretion was the better part of survival and took herself up again, well out of reach of flailing arms and slashing swords. Her feathers seemed to all be intact, or at least she turned the way she was supposed to, lifted without any sensations reminiscent of flying with a molt-induced gap. She looked down at the scene below -- and was perplexed. The boy stood there. The dog lay there. Did they have no sense of survival? The boy held one of their predators at sword's point... but if he did nothing, his advantage would quickly pass, and the predator would pick him off. Khida landed on one of the rooftops overlooking the alley, there to shift back to human. She hissed at the sun-warmed tiles, not exactly pleasant against her skin though she thought not hot enough to be dangerous either. "Are you stupid?" she called down at the boy, pulling loose a tile and throwing it down at the other Eypharian, the one nearer to her. It fell with a crash on the pavement, not striking the man -- not even close enough for horseshoes -- but giving him something else to think about nonetheless. "Don't just stand there! Run!"

[Syren]

As he was on the floor, the multi-armed men reacted to him. One of them had comeforward and slashed at him while he crouched there. How stupid WAS he? It was lucky that bird had swooped down to save him from his own idiocy, or he might have a few problems. His anger fueled him and put pressed his own tulwar into the man's neck. He was not a killer, and he couldn't have done it. Even to this low-life slaver. His advantage passed and the other man came at him. Fear widen Syrens eyes and her batted away the man's slash. But he back was turned to the first one. This was it. He had failed. He had failed his Kelvic, and now they would both die. This was not ture though. Now the eagle was a woman, and Syren was jolted into sudden awareness as to how utterly stupid his actions had been. The Kelvic on the rooftop had provided adiquet distraction as she hurled loose slates down on the men. THey would miss their mark but they got the attention of the men sure enough. With this and with the Kevic eagle's words he and his Kelvic legged it away from the alleyway. He almost wished he could have killed that damned freak. They turned corners and eventually the main street loomed ahead. There were shouts from behind but surely the bird could get away easily and follow them to safety. He should probably thank her. His idiocy could have gotten himself and his Kelvic killed back there had it not have been for her. Meliyah panted and sat by his feet, rubbing her head by the boys shin affectionately. Poor girl. "You okay, Meli?" She inclined her head but looked back, head moving around. She was looking for the bird too. She better be okay, Syren really didn't feel like another run in with the multi-armed freaks. OOCI'm so sorry for the long wait. RL just got a little busy for a while. I'm back now

[Khida]

OOCWelcome back! She wished the tile had hit the Eypharian, fleetingly, but didn't really give it much thought. Finally, the boy seemed to recognize his danger; finally, he put some sense together and ran off down the twisting street. The dog went with him, quick despite -- well, Khida thought it had taken an injury. But it evidently could still run. That just left her, tucked up on the roof, and the two Eypharians grumbling curses to one another below. One had started after the boy and his Kelvic, but found their desperation lent a speed he couldn't match; the other scowled up at her, then visibly give her up as a lost cause. She continued to wait, knees drawn up to her chest and unclothed back to the ascendant sun, until they had taken themselves elsewhere, beyond and chance of view from her lofty perspective. Which didn't, truly, take all that long, given the closeness of buildings. Once they were well away, the falcon Kelvic shifted back to bird form, gliding down to land on the uneven paving. There she shifted yet again, reclaiming her robe from its limp huddle on the ground. She spent a moment looking for the glint of the mizas she had dropped, but they were nowhere to be seen -- someone had picked them up, or maybe just inadvertently kicked them well away. Khida grumbled to herself, giving up the search and making her own way out of the alley, last but absolutely not least. Once more dressed in the robe, Khida stepped cautiously out into the street, scanning to either side. There were no pedestrians terribly close, but she could see the boy and the dog across the way. Khida tipped her head and stared at them for a moment, direct and unblinking; why were they still here? She approached the pair, but not too closely, hesitating at the edge of conversational range. "You did not run very far," she stated simply.