Solo Exploring the Far Reaches of the Unforgiving

[Turrin]

Time Stamp: 15th of Spring, 515AV
Location: The Unforgiving
Who: Turrin

Turrin was standing next to Flight Leader Naime when the Valintar made his announcement to the city about expanding the hunting grounds of the Inarta. It was a hour passed dawn and crowd hunters of all castes left the square. When everyone left, he looked over at his commander and said with a smirk, “Finally, the Valintar is wising up. It just took him a year.”

Naime glanced over at her subordinate and said harshly, “Keep your opinions about politics to yourself, Turrin. I agree with you, but we need to wise when we talk to about it. I know with this order. The War Hawks will be busy making the new hunting grounds safer for the lower castes. I hope you excited for a busy summer and fall, Turrin.”

The thought of hunting down dangerous prey brought a smile to the Myrian's face. Turrin always loved a challenge when it came to hunting or battle. The half-breed look at his superior and said with nod, "I enjoy my job now especially if it out of the city. Gaurd duty was the worse. Also how else am I going to test my mettle in the Unforgiving if I don't embrace the challenges of it?”

Naime stared blankly at him and said bluntly, “Honestly Turrin. I don't need a explanations for your crazy reasons for seeking out death. Maybe it is in your father's blood, but I really careless about your mettle.”

Turrin gave his commander a hurt look and teased, “Oh you know it turns you on, commander! Your just to much of hard arse to admit it!”

Naime glared at Turrin for a few ticks to mull over a response and said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, “Kiss my arse, Turrin.”

Turrin laughed out and said with a wink, “You would like that way to much, Commander!”

Naime seemed to surrender to him and said with sigh, “Maybe..., but I want to be on the neck of peninsula by evening tomorrow, so have Aponivi prepared to fly before tomorrow.”

The myrian knew that he was being ordered, so he gave his commander a respectful nod of his head and said clear, “I will do as you command, Flight Leader.”

Naime didn't say a word when she left Turrin standing in the middle of the Courtyard of the Sky. Turrin could feel the Syna was started to warm the air around Wind Reach, but being up in the sky, the endal needed to dress warmly if he was going to make it southern neck of peninsula. He knew his Flight leader was inching to go explore that region for years, but she never got the go a head till now. Turrin decided to walk back to Naime aeries and get Aponivi ready. Since he left Drusilla to find himself, he often spent his nights sleeping in her spare room. She had enough space to hold Aponivi and Valcora, so it wasn't like it was a inconvenience to her. However, Turrin still had to do his job, so Drusilla had a place to live while he was away. He just hoped the symenestra didn't hate him by now since he was gone for so long. When he scrounges up the courage to talk to her again, he will move back to his own home in stead of squatting in his commander's home.

Turrin decided that he needed to push the white haired woman out his mind for now and focus on the mission at hand. The endal walk down the Inner warrens till he made it to Naime's aeries. Opening the door, Turrin walked to location where the two Wind Eagles were staying. The endal noticed a pair of Deks were already saddling a Valcora. The another pair of Deks walked over and asked Turrin, “Would you like us to saddle, Aponivi.”

Turrin looked at the Deks and narrowed his eyes. He hasn't trusted any of them since the food riots, but he figured that Naime told them to saddle his wind eagle too. The myrian didn't want them to feel her wraith if he refused, so the endal just said with a nod, “Yes, you can do it for me, but try not to pull any feathers. Aponivi gets kind of ornery when he is uncomfortable, so be careful and be quick about it.”

[Turrin]

The Deks took about fifteen chimes to load all the saddle and saddle bags onto Aponivi. Turrin made sure to get all his outdoor survival gear ready, so once the Deks were finished, he could just load up his gear in the bags and wait for his commander. As the Deks were finishing up, the myrian saw Naime walk into room and went directly to Valcora. Turrin wondered if she was communicating with the massive raptor, but he would never know because he couldn't read minds. When the Deks finished saddling the wind eagle, Turrin loaded his backpack full of survival gear, his quiver filled fifteen hunting areas, and the rest of his weapons in to the saddle bags. When he was finished loading his gear, the endal put on his katinu over his bare chest. When he was ready, the endal leaned up against the side of Aponivi and waited for his commander to finish preparing too.

Suddenly, Turrin heard the door open and a young man with long red hair entered the room. He was outfitted with a full quiver of arrows and a long bow. The endal shook his head at the height of the bow because he always thought the size of the bow was cumbersome in the wilderness unless the archery was in terrain void of trees, but he figured since the man was Inarta that he knew how to overcome it's disadvantages in the field. The young man walked over to his Commander and started to talk to young man who must be no older than seventeen. Turrin looked at the other gear on him and the young man had a long hunting dagger on his side. The myrian frowned because he never understood why Inarta just relied on their bows to defend themselves. The archer has to be a pretty good with his bow to defend himself in close range combat. When he saw the young man come over, the myrian turned his head to the boy and said with a nod, “Are you the game scout?”

When the young man got closer, Turrin noticed that the boy was to pretty for his own good. He heard that Naime enjoyed the company of younger men, so he wondered if the boy was one of her many lovers. It is obvious that he was not a endal, so he would have no choice in the matter to pleasure his commander. However, he doubted that the boy would object to her advances anyways. The handsome young man said with a nod, “Yes my name Chiet Elrin. When I finished my bendi, I became a game scout. I am skilled in archery and tra...”

Turrin could tell that he eager to prove himself because the myrian thought that he was to tell him his life story. The endal just needed to know if the boy could track and not be a burden to him and his commander. The large endal stuck up his hand and interrupted the boy, “Listen Chiet...I don't need your life story because I really don't care. Just do your job and don't be a burden to us than I will be happy.” Aponivi already knew what the endal was about to say and turned his head and opened his mouth slightly, “However if you are just here to warm Naime's bedroll. Just stay in camp and wait for her to return. Otherwise, I promise on my dead mother's skull that I will personally feed you to Aponivi if I find you are less than worthless. Got it, Kid!”

Inwardly, the myrian was laughing because the blush on the boys cheeks confirmed the endal suspicions than the boy turned white as snow when he threaten to feed him to Aponivi. The young man said nothing in defense and decided to quickly retreat back to his mistress like a scared fawn. Turrin laughed out loud to himself, patted the wind eagle on side of the head, and mentally communicated with the wind eagle, Well, I have to say that was fun! Why am I not surprised if Naime needed some extra warm in her bed tonight. Isn't he the third “game scout” in two seasons?

Aponivi eyes weren't watching Turrin, but he was observation Naime and Elrin talking to each other and commented back, Naime is a widow, so Elrin might be fulfilling something in her heart that she lost when her husband died.

The myrian mounted the giant bird and mentally responded to the wind eagle, You are such a romantic Aponivi, but I don't think it is her heart that he is fulfilling.

[Turrin]

It took ten chimes for his companions to get situated on their wind eagle because the chiet was trying to figure out how to hook up the straps to him. Turrin never used straps because they mostly got in the way if you needed to dismount Aponivi quickly. The endal knew if he was doing more complicated maneuvers. He might need to strap him down to the saddle; however, they were flying long distances, so the straps were unnecessary unless you are a coward like Elrin. Turrin knew if the bow didn't take chances than he would never impress a wind eagle. Finally, Naime got her lover situated and her giant wind eagle started to walk towards the edge of the aeries. Turrin looked at the boy with a look of disdain in his eyes and said to his flight leader, “What will be our formation, Commander?”

Naime looked at Turrin for a moment and said, “I want you to follow me when we are going around the mountain than we can side by side the rest of the flight to the Neck.”

Turrin knew Naime was the superior rider of the two, and also she noticed that he isn't the best flier in Wind Reach, so a line formation around the mountain would be easiest for the two endal. Besides if Naime encountered bad turbulence than the myrian would have time to adjust. Aponivi started to move behind Valcora when he got enough room to do so. When Valcora jumped off the edge of the aeries, Turrin laughed out loud when he heard the chiet start to scream. When Aponivi got to the edge, the wind eagle jumped off the edge of the cliff. Turrin could feel himself lift slightly off his saddle, so he clenched his legs to the sides of the saddle. The endal noticed Aponivi didn't open his wings as soon as he jumped, so they started to fall for about ten ticks before the wind eagle slowly opened his wings, and the giant raptor started to ascend into the sky. Eventually, the white headed eagle got to his desired height and leveled out above the clouds. When he saw Valcora circling in the sky, Turrin contacted Aponivi mentally, When we catch up to the them, Aponivi, I want you to contact Valcora tell her that we are ready to head out.

Aponivi responded with a screech and flew towards the trio. Turrin was about a chime away from the them, and the Valcora started to fly towards the volcano. The endal knew that they were at a height that they could just fly over the summit of mountain. It was much faster than flying around the mountain, but it was colder up near the summit, so the myrian tighten his katinu around his chest. The endal noticed the wind was coming from the direction of Thunder Bay because the snow was blowing in the direction away from the bay. The myrian smiled because it will be much easier to fly over with the wind at his back. As Aponivi started to flap his wings and turn towards the summit, Turrin could feel the wind pushing against his back. The pair watched Valcora vigorously flapped her wings and pick up speed as she flew towards the summit. Once she was over the summit, the wind eagle immediately start to descend to warmer temperatures. As Aponivi started to approach the summit, the endal could feel the wind and turbulence started to increase, so Turrin bent over and hugged his bird to limit the wind resistance. When they made it over the volcano, the wind at his back was quite strong, so Aponivi brought in his wings slightly and the pair started to descend behind the mountain.

[Turrin]

Turrin kept his chest pressed against Aponivi's back as they quickly descend from the summit. When they got behind the mountain, the endal could feel no wind because the side of the mountain was blocking the wind coming off of Thunder Bay. When Aponivi started to open his wings, the wind eagle and rider leveled out and fell behind Valcora. Turrin sat up and saw miles and miles of snow capped mountains in front of him. It was a beautiful sight, but the flight south would be long and boring for the endal. Turrin enjoyed flying along the coastlines because the coast mountains and shorelines were always active with wildlife. It would be more interesting if they could fly close enough to explore the valleys, but his flight leader was more interested in exploring the remote wilderness of the neck.

Turrin noticed flying at this altitude . It was easier for the wind eagles to fly because there was no obstacles for them to fly around, so they could just glide through the air using minimal energy as possible. It was a good way to fly if you are flying long distances; however, it was mind numbingly boring for the myrian who enjoyed testing his flying skills in the lower valleys. For the next eight bells, the myrian decided to preoccupy his mind with the scenery below him. Eventually, he looked towards his right and saw the blue on the horizon. Turrin wondered if it was the western coast of the peninsula. When he looked up at his flight leader, Aponivi suddenly contacted him, Valcora told me that we are going to hug the coast till we find a place to land. Naime wants to make base camp on the beach, so I hope you like fish,Turrin?

Turrin responded to the wind eagle, Sounds good, Aponivi. I will get dinner, and the chiet will set up the camp.

Turrin didn't mind the thought of fishing for supper. It was easy meal, and it will give the eagles enough time to rest and hunt for there evening meal. Seeing Valcora bringing in her right wing, Turrin watched Naime's wind eagle bank right towards the coast. Turrin bent over and leaned into the turn as Aponivi started to bank right towards the coastline. When the wind eagle made his turn, the giant raptor brought in his other wing slightly, and started to descend gradually as they got closer to the coast. When they straighten out Turrin leaned forward, so the air would just pass over him as they descended. Eventually, Naime flew into a large coastal valley in between to large snow caped mountains, and Aponivi and Turrin quickly followed their leader. Turrin looked down and noticed the coastal valley was mostly a pine forest accept for the mountain grasslands the sides of the mountains. As they flew over the valley the endal noticed a small river winding through the valley towards the coast.

Naime and her wind eagle flew along the river to the coast, and eventually they made it to a rocky yet sandy coastline along the mouth of the river. When they made to the coastline, the myrian noticed Valcora already landed, so the Aponivi circled the coast and eventually landed on the sandy beach. Once the bird landed, the endal noticed the beach still had snow in the shady parts of the beach. He figured the valley would be covered with patches of snow here and there. Turrin jumped off his wind eagle and went immediately to his saddle bags. Taking out his bag for his tent, the endal turned around and saw Naime and Elrin walking towards him. Turrin put the bag on the ground, started to stretch his legs and back, and said to Naime, “So I am getting dinner?” Picking up his tent bag, the myrian tossed it at the chiet and said with a nod, “Than I guess you are setting up camp, Chiet.”

The chiet wasn't expecting the bag to fly at him, so the large bag hit the teenager in the chest. The red head boy stumbled back by the blow and the myrian just smirked to himself with small satisfaction. When the teenager picked up the bag, the young man glared at him. Naime stared at Turrin and said simply, “Yes, you get dinner while Elrin sets up camp. Do you have your compass Turrin? I need to find my bearings before we set out in the morning”

Turrin nodded and went into his saddlebags, pulled the compass case out of his backpack, and handed it to his flight leader. The myrian took out his quiver, short bow, and ten fishing arrows and said to Naime, “It might be a little bit before I come back, so if you need a wood splitting ax, it is in Aponivi's saddlebags.” Turrin grabbed his equipment and started to walk towards the mouth of the river.

[Turrin]

As Turrin walked down the sandy beach, he wondered if he was being to hard on the kid. The myrian understood the hardships of the lower castes, but ever since the riots, he had a hard time relaxing around the castes lower than Avora. Turrin just wanted the chiet to know where he stood with him, and it would take a longer than hunting trip for him to warm up to any chiet or dek again. When he made it to the mouth of the river, the endal noticed that it was swollen with spring melt. Turrin walked up the shore of the river till he found a rotted fish laying on the bank. The endal bent down and noticed it was rough fish like a carp. He knew if he was going to shot one or two. He needed to calmer water to see the fish and get a clear shot. Standing up, Turrin looked around and noticed the current of the river was moving quickly through with the large rapids. The endal decided continued up river for a bell and look for calmer waters. Eventually he came to a water fall. It wasn't vary tall water fall, but the rapids below the falls were treacherous, and the pool under it was to murky to bow fish.

Turrin saw the rocky cliff next to the water fall was covered in melting ice, so it was to treacherous to climb. The endal looked around him and noticed the terrain was hilly and void of underbrush, so it will be easier to navigate through the hilly forest. The endal walked closer to the river and noticed a path made up of a thin layer of pine needles. As he walked to the path, he noticed a track in the soft mud at the bottom of the trail by the bank. He knelt down and examined the track and noticed it was two long ovals right next to each other. The thinner side of the oval was pointing at the river, so Turrin wondered if this creature came down to this spot to drink. Deciding that he didn't want to scare the creature off with his scent, the endal didn't take the path made by the beast.

Walking farther down the bank, Turrin noticed another similar trail going into the valley when he went to examine it. He noticed multiple dried up boot tracks in the mud. The endal knew that he needed to fish for supper, but he needed to investigate to see if their was any threat to his camp. Pulling the quiver from his back, he secured it to his right hip and secured his talon sword to his left hip. The hunter pulled a broad tipped arrow from his quiver, place it on the bowstring, and started walking down the path. Turrin encountered outsiders all the time in the Unforgiving and noticed that they tended to be unpredictable unlike the Inarta. A lot of them were mostly from Avanthal, Sultros, or Lhavit since they are the closest cities. The endal encountered a Avanthal sailor hunting in the mountain last winter, but he was doing nothing wrong, so he let him go. However, the people who were brave enough to hide out in the mountains were mostly criminals that do not respect Inarta culture or territory.

Walking up the trail, Turrin immediately noticed something that bothered him greatly. He noticed the butt end of cigar laying on the ground. Luckily the ground must have been wet, so the pine needles didn't catch on fire. The endal swore in myrian, “May Caiyha curse the soft blooded humans who soiled her?”

Turrin picked up the cigar end and placed it in his quiver. He will have to show his flight leader it and let her make the decision to investigate further. As endal continued down the path, his golden eyes darted from side to side looking for any threats in the forest. He continued for half a bell, and eventually he could smell smoke in the distance. The endal decided that it would be best to move off the trail for his own safety. The myrian moved towards the smell of smoke. As he got closer, he could see smoke raising in the distance. The endal started to move from large pine to large pine as he made it through forest. Eventually, he saw the edges of camp in the distance. When he crept closer to camp, he hide behind a fallen log that was surrounded by a thick woody underbrush. The air around the camp smelled like rotting animal flesh. From this vantage point, the myrian could see into the middle of the camp.

Turrin spent the majority of his life in Falyndar, and Dira was a unwanted companion that could jump out of tree from any moment, but the myrian was also a worshoper of Caiyha, so he held the nature goddess high esteem. However, there was people in the world who care nothing for the Caiyha and her creature who dwell in her world. They just take as much as they want with no regards for harmony with the world. As he looked into the camp, he saw a large pile of deer antlers, another pile of mountain goat antlers, and large rope filled with rotting birds void of feathers. The camp was a slaughter yard, so the endal knew that he was dealing with poachers. When he saw a man with a large black beard come out of his tent, the man went over to a dead hawk with feathers on it and started to pluck the feathers from the bird of prey. Suddenly, he heard another voice call out in common from the middle of the camp, “Hey! I thought that I saw wind eagles flying towards the shoreline. Do you think we should investigate? We can always try to convince the endal that we are just hunters!”

The man plucking the hawk looked over his shoulders, shook his head, and said bluntly, “Oh hai no! We are as good as dead if they find us. I will finish plucking this hawk than we pack up our trophies and head to the base camp in the morning. I don't want to know what the boss will do to us if we come back with nothing. Make sure you load the crossbow just in case that we see a wind eagle..”

[Turrin]

When Turrin heard that the poachers had a crossbow and willing to use it against a wind eagle. The endal knew it that he had to deal with these men before the wind eagles go hunting in the valley. The half-breed knew there was two poachers in camp, but he didn't know if there was anyone else in their party. If there was anyone else, they could be hunting or sleeping somewhere in camp or in the vicinity of there camp. The endal knew that he was taking a big chance if he attacked them one on two, so he decided that it might be best to get his flight leader. Staying low behind the log, Turrin waited for about ten chimes as he removed feathers from the hawk. If he didn't have Inarta blood running through his veins, he would have thought nothing of the grisly sight of desecrating the bird. However, Turrin's anger grew with each feather pulled from the noble bird till all he saw was rage. When the poacher was finally finished, the human went behind the tents and started to talk to his other companion, so the endal looked over his shoulder and saw a large bushy pine tree. When he knew the poacher wasn't coming back, he quickly made his way to the pine tree.

Turrin repeated moving from tree to tree till he ducked behind a bushy pine tree by the river. It took a half a bell to make it back to the river, and he was greeted by the thick smell of tobacco smoke hanging in the air. The endal could smell the thick smell of tobacco smell in the air. When he peeked behind the tree, he saw a large human puffing on a cigar as he was urinating into the river. The man had a fishing pole at his feet and basket full of snow. The endal could tell there was fish in the basket because there was a tail fin sticking out of the snow. The endal had a feeling this man was apart of the poacher camp, and he knew if he was in camp when Naime and him attack the camp. It would be much more difficult to dispose of them later, so he needed to act now. Turrin said a prayer to Myri in myrian, “My Goddess-Queen please bless my victory over Caiyha's enemies. May they fear her as much as they will fear you after today...”

When the myrian said his prayer to Myri, Turrin crawled to a short bush and placed his broad tipped arrow on his bowstring. The endal looked through the bush and noticed the man had a sword scabbard on his left hip. The myrian knew that he surprise was on his side, so he stood up, lifted his short bow with his left arm, aimed at the spine between the middle of the shoulder blades. Pulling back the bowstring to his cheek, the endal readjusted his aim back to his spine and release bowstring. Hearing the large human cry out in pain and splash into the water, the endal didn't hesitant and grabbed another arrow. Ducking behind the bush again, the endal didn't hesitant to see if his arrow hit because the scream signaled to him that it hit the mark. Turrin kept low, moved behind the bushy pine tree to the other side, and placed the arrow on the bowstring. Looking at his target, the man was still struggling to get out of the cold river water, but the arrow was still lodged deep in his back in the right shoulder blade by the spine. He missed his target by a few inches, but at least it struck the man in the shoulder blade.

Turrin stepped out from the pine tree, lifted his short bow, and took aim at the man. Lifting his left arm, the metal tip lined up with the center of the human's chest. Pulling back the bowstring, Turrin readjusted his aim, waited till the man stood up, and exposing the center of his chest. Seeing the man's dark eyes widen and struggle to pull his sword from his sheath, the endal released the bowstring, watched the arrow soar to his target, and plunged into the chest of the hunter. The man dropped his sword in the cold water and fell backwards into the current. Turrin grabbed another broad tipped arrow from his quiver and placed it on the bowstring to fire again, but the man's body didn't move as it floated down the current towards the waterfall. As he lowered his weapon, the endal thought about grabbing the basket of fish laying on the bank, but he decided not to because he didn't want to leave his foot prints in the soft river sand. The half-breed didn't feel any remorse for the man that he just killed as he watched his corpse tumble over the water fall. The endal decided not follow right by the shoreline back to camp. He stayed in the trees away from the sandy beach as he ran back to his camp.

[Turrin]

When Turrin came back to camp, he noticed that the chiet was busy setting up both the tents as his flight leader was sitting on a rock, looking at a map, with his compass out. The myrian walked into camp and walked directly to his flight leader and said in a serious tone, “Flight leader, we have a serious problem about a hour up the river.”

Naime ran a hand through her curly red hair and asked with a frown on her face, “What is the matter, Turrin?”

“I encountered a camp full of foriegner poachers. They had no respect for Caiyha since they had piles of antlers, ram horns, and the worst they were poaching birds just for their feathers.”

Turrin could tell his muscles tighten when he told her about the birds. Inarta had a affinity with birds, so it was crime even to hunt birds in their territory. It was taboo for a Inarta even to accidentally hurt a bird because of the wind eagles. Naime look folded up her map, put his compass back in the case, and handed it to him, and asked with no emotion, “Anything else...?”

Putting the compass back into his backpack, Turrin nodded slowly and said simply, “They know we are in the valley, and they threatened to target our wind eagles with their crossbow. They are dangerous, Naime with no respect for Caiyha. I am sure that they only care for profit because they have a boss and base camp too. I already sent already killed a poacher by the river. He was smoking a cigar and pissing in the river. He deserved his fate...”

Flight Leader Naime listened to Turrin and said with a nod, “The poachers in the camp to the north need to be dealt with immediately, and we should locate this base camp too. If they are poaching our territory, the Valintar should be warned and we should be able to organize a wing of War Hawks to deal with this threat.”

Looking at Chiet Elrin, Naime gave the young man a order, “Elrin,I want you to take down camp and get the wind eagles saddled when they are finished hunting. We will be moving to a new location when Turrin and I get back.”

Turrin stayed silent as the chiet seemed dumbfounded by the sudden change of plans. The chiet must have forgot his place in society because he asked with a frown on his face, “Are you serious? I just put these tents up, and you want me to take them down!”

The half-breed knew Naime was about to explode on her lover, but she hesitated because she must of had feelings for him, so half-breed decided to be the bad guy to help his friend. Turrin walked over to the chiet, got into the face of the young man, and said sternly, “You forget your place, Chiet! My Flight leader gave you a order, so you better do it now!”

The Chiet looked at Naime a moment, looked back at Turrin, and stood his ground. Elrin instantly earned the myrian respect as he pushed the myrian and growled in common, “Petch you! I had to deal with your shyke all day. No more, Endal!”

Elrin used both hands as he pushed Turrin backwards. Getting his balance back, Turrin turned his left foot slightly, lifted his right leg, and thrust the ball of foot into the exposed stomach of the chiet. The Chiet stumbled back onto the ground, holding his stomach, and trying to catch his breath. Turrin stood back and got back into a fighting stance. The endal wanted to give the chiet chance to retaliate or back down, but the endal didn't want to waste to much time. When Elrin recovered from the endal's kick, the young man charged him and threw a hay-maker towards Turrin's jaw. Turrin rose his left arm to block Elrin's punch, and the threw a punch of his own to the stomach of his opponent.

Turrin was able to deflect his punch, but he missed his punch because Elrin side stepped out of the way. Elrin jumped backwards and started to move backward toward the beach, so the myrian followed into the sandy beach and got into his fighting stance with his left foot forward, left arm blocking the front of his face, and right fist on his hip. When Elrin stopped moving the young man threw a awkward thrust kick at Turrin's stomach, so the endal stepped to the side, swung left arm in front of his face, down and across the center of his body, and deflected the kick from his stomach.

Turrin tilted his foot to the side, stepped forward, and struck with a punch to exposed side of his opponent. This time the punch landed and knocked the young man backwards, so the myrian took advantage of the opportunity, stepped forward, and threw a punch with his left into the nose of his staggered opponent, but Elrin moved his head at the last second, so the endal missed the chiet. However, Turrin brought back his left hand to his side and struck out with another punch with his right hand to the nose of his opponent. This time, the Chiet couldn't react fast enough to block or evade, so the punch landed and knocked him to the ground.

Turrin still in his fighting stance looked down at the Chiet and asked with no emotion, “Are you going to listen to your commander, or do I have to continue till you decide to listen to her?”

The Chiet was squeezing his nose shut to stop the bleeding, and he said with a nod of his head to Naime, “Sorry for questioning you, Endal Naime. I will follow your orders.”

Turrin stood up and offered a hand to the young man and said with a tone of respect, “Good fight, Elrin.” The Chiet just stared at him suspiciously, but he eventually took Turrin's hand and allowed him to be helped by the endal.

[Turrin]

Naime gave Turrin a approving nod, but she said nothing. His flight leader just look at Elrin and said sternly, “When I return, I want everything packed up and ready to go. Also, you should keep your bow by you at all times, Elrin. Understand?”

Elrin gave her a nod and started to break down camp. Naime walked to Valcora's saddlebag and retrieved her talon sword, quiver, and long bow. Turrin started to put on his camouflage leather armor and said to Naime quietly, so the chiet wouldn't here, “When Myri rewards us with a victory today what do you have planned for the base camp? If they are soft blooded poachers, they will have a ship to transfer their goods to take them to Avanthal or Lhavit.”

As Naime checked her sword for dents and nicks, his commanding officer said simply, “A ship would be the only sound theory to get back to civilization quickly. I think we will get some intelligence on our enemies strength than I will report it to the Valintar. If they are to powerful for us take on by ourselves. I will get a few flights of War Hawks help us drive them from our lands.”

When Turrin put on his leather helmet, the myrian nodded to Naime, “Yes, it would be a waste for us to die in a foolish battle against poachers. I am ready to go Commander.”

As the endal pair went up the bank of the river, Turrin noticed the body of the poacher killed floating down the river. It was a grisly sight, but the endal knew it had to be done. Naime noticed the body to and said to Turrin, “How many poachers are in this camp?”

The half-breed immediately answered, “I heard two voices. One of them wanted to lie to us and just say they were hunters, but the dominate one with the black beard shot his idea down. I worried about the crossbow commander because any idiot can shot one of those cursed contraptions.”

Naime shook her head and said quietly, “They might pack a big punch, but they are slow to reload. Let them fire it once than attack. It might be better to engage them in melee range since they are hunter's too, so we don't want to give them a chance to utilize their trade skill...”

Turrin mental made note of the Naime advice about crossbow and battle tactic. The half-breed knew that Naime would have went far in the Taloba's army with her head for war tactics. She could have easily lead a Fang into battle. Over the years, she quickly earned Turrin's respect and admiration as a warrior and trusted friend. Without hesitation, he would lay down his life to fight by her side to the death. Only a few people in Wind Reach earned this sort of respect from the myrian endal. When they made it to the waterfall, they both heard a man call out for somebody in common. It was muddled by the sound of the falling water, but Turrin could tell it was the same man's voice who was plucking the bird. Naime stuck up a hand to stop and pointed at a bush. Turrin quickly followed the silent order, ran over to the bush, and knelt down behind it. Naime already was hiding behind a large tree when they saw a man with a dark beard looking down stream. Pulling a arrow from his quiver, Turrin placed it on his bowstring and looked at Naime.

[Turrin]

With her back pressed to the trunk of the tree, female endal already had arrow pressed against bowstring. Naime looked at Turrin, pointed at his talon sword, and mouthed, I shoot. You kill with sword...

Removing his quiver and short bow, Turrin rested them against a tree. Naime was already moved into position to take her shot. The myrian knew that she will keep him busy when he was coming around to flank him from the side. When she pulled back the bowstring and released, Turrin ran to tree away from Naime. Ducking behind it, Turrin heard clunk of a crossbow firing. When he heard the bolt launch, Turrin ran to a tree closest to water fall and knelt behind it. Turrin could feel his heart sink when he didn't hear the familiar twang of Naime short bow. However, when the endal heard a familiar twang echo through the trees. The endal knew his friend was still alive. When he heard the clunk of the crossbow, Turrin ran to another tree and noticed the land was starting to slope up. Noticing the hill was quite rocky, the endal had to use his hands pull and feet to push him up the hill. When he made it to the top, the myrian ran to a backside to a large boulder.

Kneeling behind it, Turrin peeked out behind it and noticed the man was a another boulder loading his crossbow. The endal noticed it was quite slow reload rate compared to a normal now so he will have to wait till the man was reloading another bolt to attack. When he heard the twang of Naime's bow, Turrin peek around the side of the rock and saw the man moving to fire his crossbow. When he heard the clunk of the crossbow, Turrin jumped out of the hiding spot and charged his opponent's flank. The man was trying to load another bolt, but he saw Turrin, stood up, and threw his crossbow in the direction of the charging endal. Turrin side stepped the oncoming weapon thrown in his direction. However, it gave the man time to unsheathe his longsword. Suddenly, he heard another twang from Naime's bow and the arrow struck the poacher in the left side of the body. The impact stunned the poacher for a moment, so the myrian took the opportunity to attack.

Running up to his opponent, Turrin kept his talon sword pointed to the side, so he could deliver a strike to the right side. As he made it into melee range, the endal swung his sword in a horizontal arch across his body. The man stepped back and moved the long sword to intercept the incoming talon sword. When the swords clashed a ring could be heard throughout the forest. Feeling the man push him way, the endal could see the pain on the human's face. The arrow seemed to be slowing him down slightly. Pulling back his sword, Turrin started to stalk the man as he walked backwards towards the edge of the raging river. When the man stopped at the water's edge, Turrin said harsh myrian, “Did you make your peace with Dira, Dog....?”

[Turrin]

The poacher narrowed his eyes and responded in common, “You are dead if you come any closer!”

Turrin quickly moved forward, rose his sword over his shoulders, and swung in a downward arch across his body. The man jumped backward slightly stepping into the river, but his quick movements made Turrin miss his attack. When the human saw his opening and thrust his sword at Turrin's chest, so the endal stepped to the left side to dodge the thrust. When he his reflection in the blade of the long sword, the endal brought his sword around his abdomen and slashed out backhand at his exposed side. The sword bit deep into the man's linen shirt and quickly the shirt started to turn red as blood started to pour from the wound to the side of the abdomen.

The black beard man stumbled back, brought his free hand up to stop the bleeding, but it wasn't going to stop without medical attention. Holding the longsword with two hands, Turrin could tell the man was getting pale from the blood loss, so the myrian decided to jump backwards and get into a defensive stance. The endal knew that it would only be a matter of time before the man bleed to death, so he just needed to not get hurt. Pointing his sword at the head of his opponent, Turrin moved his front foot, so it pointed towards him, but his back foot was pointed away from him, so the only part of his body facing him was right side of his leg, side of his torso, and shoulder. He wanted to give the poacher as little targets as possible, so his made sure his chest was pointing away from her. Putting his hand back on left hip, he protected his off hand from a potential strike. The man spit blood on the ground and said with a chuckle, “You Inarta think you own the whole Unforgiving. It make me sick how arrogant you bastards are...”

Turrin gave the man a grin and retorted in common, “I am surprised how you soft blooded commoner made it this far north. If you stayed south of the neck of the peninsula. You would have no problem with our arrogant arses. Would you, stupid barbarian?”

The poacher growled to himself and yelled, “Shut up you inbred freak!”

Turrin saw the man charge with probably the last of his strength since he was starting to wobble as he stood there throwing insults at Turrin. The man brought the sword over his head and swung in a mighty downward arch trying to cleave the myrian's body in two. Turrin side stepped to the side dodging the attack, but he brought his sword up and over his left sword to protect his left side from another attack. When the attack never came, the endal brought sword up, around his back, and swung his talon sword across his body. Somehow the human was able to dodge his counter attack by jumping backwards. It caused the man to stumble into the river, but he recovered quickly and held his sword at his waist, so the tip of the long sword was pointed at the chest of Turrin. Suddenly, he heard a twang from off to the side of him, and it plunged into the chest of the man.

The black bearded human just stood their in utter shock as the arrow was halfway into his chest. Turrin saw his opening as the man looked at the arrow. He rushed forward and turned his sword in his hand, so when he struck out backhanded at his long sword with the flat of his blade. As Turrin's talon sword hit the longsword, the curved sword was able to knock long sword out of the way. When the myrian saw a clear opening of the center of his abdomen and neck, he rose the blade up and slashed across the neck of his opponent. The sharp sword left a horizontal red cut across the pale neck of his opponent right under his beard. When blood started to gush from the neck wound, Turrin jumped back as the man dropped his long sword to the ground and brought his hands up to his neck to stop the bleeding. The myrian stood in defensive stance until the man laid on the ground dead from the blood loss.

Naime walked over to the body and nudged it slightly to see if he was still alive and asked Turrin, “We still have one more poacher left don't we?”

Turrin knelt next to the man took a piece of his shirt, wiped the blood from his sword blade, and answered Naime, “Yes, he should be at the camp...” Looking at the body, Turrin said a prayer to Caiyha in myrian, “I will let Caiyha claim your body, Defiler. May the worms take their time devouring your body...”

Standing up and sheathing his now dry talon sword, Turrin said to Naime, “Let me retrieve my short bow than we can take off...” Making his way to the tree with his gear, Turrin retrieved his quiver and secured it to his body, picked up his short bow, and quickly made his way back to Naime.