[Flashback]Pleasing Navre ( Siiri )

[Kh'ryll]

14th Day of Spring, 508 AV

Ducking under a branch Kh'Ryll moved the foliage of a small bush aside with his hand and continued his tracking of a rather large junglecat specimen. He was still rather inapt at tracking and had to stop to search for pawlike prints in the dirt on numerous occasions. Myri's blessing was upon him today for he had stumbled upon this track by sheer coincidence. But this was no time to dawdle or let his mind wander, he thought. He had to be keep up a steady pace if he wanted to be able to see the creature. Kh'Ryll was a devoted Myrian and as such he had tremendous respect for the Myrian Deities, Navre being one of them, God of Cats. No thought of harming the cat crossed his mind, he just wanted to observe it for his own pleasure.

After quite some time tracking through the dense jungle he saw a clearing in the distance through thick branches and foliage. He cursed under his breath, it'd be alot harder to track the cat on grass. As he approached the clearing as quietly as he was capable of he saw an infuriating scene that made his blood boil and his bloodlust run rampant.

A couple of outsiders had dared to catch the magnificent cat with a net and were no doubth readying themselves to take its life. He counted 3 men armed with spears, 2 of them dressed alot worse than the third person. He imagined that the hunter-attired person was the leader and the other 2 merely servants. His eyes narrowed as he also spotted the two large dogs they brought with them.

' Ksh, filthy outsiders can't even hunt without their pets. ' He thought to himself as he revealed his teeth in an expression that screamed he was going to tear you limb from limb. Fortunately he had prepared himself before going out into the wilds and he was armed with both his wrist razors with each 3 foot and a half long blades that were slightly curved.

He readied himself and awaited the opportune moment to strike, going over possible tactics and scenarios in his mind. None of them seemed to have much survivability odds for himself, but it did not scare him. He had to rescue Navre's beings one way or another.

[Siiri]

"Where are they?" an annoyed Siiri hissed through clenched teeth, her ire directed at two groups of people. One was the half-fang she led, Garou and his lot, while the other was part of the group that split from the group her fang was chasing even now: three men with what looked like a pair of hunting hounds. Five to one odds seems like suicide but Siiri felt she could take them. The dogs didn't count anyway. The others might have a harder time with theirs - twelve men were a lot for four people to deal with even if they knew the jungle much better than their prey. Granted, more than half of those twelve seemed like slaves but they had weapons too. Perhaps that was what's keeping Garou and the others; the dozen deyhan must be putting up quite a fight and they had their hands full at the moment. Still, that didn't mean Siiri had to like it. She wanted to at least have ranged support when she finally caught up with her prey. At least her quarry was easy to follow; the group never bothered with covering their tracks, leaving hacked branches and leaves in their wake that keeping on their trail was something even a novice tracker would call child's play.

"Bunch of kotakbil," the Myrian warrior muttered under her breath as she examined the broken shoot of a young tree, trampled by booted feet. The group she was chasing seemed to be in a rush, leaving such an obvious trail like this. It meant one of several things. Incompetence was a possibility but it was remote; those who dared enter the jungle often had some skill in surviving in the wilds and traversing such a dense terrain and still obscure the marks of their passage. They could be running away from her, but they were human and foolish. They wouldn't be intimidated by being chased by a lone Myrian, they always think that their superior numbers would win out against guile and skill. That possibility was out as well.

They're poachers then.

It was the most logical reason Siiri could think of. The sound of distant barking only confirmed it: they had found a beast to capture, or even kill, their hunting dogs even now chasing their target. The Myrian cursed. These groups were ever a threat to the beasts of the jungle, those not big enough or dangerous enough to defend themselves against such groups anyway. Myri's people hardly monitored the Northern Pass - after all, the numerous skulls impaled on spikes at the border were enough of a deterrent to the foolish not to enter, and most of those who did dare venture in often fell victim to the wildlife. But then there were groups such as this one: large enough to intimidate predators from attacking and well armed enough to repel attacks if there were any beast fool-hardy enough to do so. In which case, it was the task of the numerous Myrian patrols roaming the area to deal with them.

Gripping her greatsword, Slayer, ever tighter, all thoughts of stealth fled Siiri's mind as she ran headlong after the group, intending to catch up with them in the soonest possible time. Caiyha may not demand that her beasts not be hunted - Myrians hunted all the time, after all - but any hunting to be done are restricted to the Myrians in these lands. Any human who dared do so were as fair game as the beasts they hunted. It became a race for Siiri then; she wanted to catch up with the group before they caught up with their own prey. Bursting through the foliage and into a clearing, Siiri caught sight of the group just as the man who looked like their leader was about to plunge his spear in the side of a beast held down by a net.

"Do not!" she called out, intending to halt the descent of the spearhead.

[Kh'ryll]

Seeing the leader of the hunting group make his way to the captured cat to deliver a stab in its side Kh'Ryll had no more time to go over plans, he had to take action. But the oddest thing happened, the second he put his foreward foot on the grass of the clearing another Myrian jumped out from the other side. She yelled out "Do not." in a firm and authorative voice.

'Excellent' he thought.
' An ally and a distraction aswell, this just might work. '

He started running in the hopes that the men and their dogs were sufficiently distracted enough to close the gap between them. His first priority was both to aide the Myrian woman and rescue the captured cat.

Perhaps it was foolish naivety but he thought that perhaps the carnivorous cat would aide them if he managed to rescue it before cleansing the Jungle of the unwanted intruders, so he ran straight for the cat.

He didn't look at the Myrian woman, too occupied in his mind and body. He hoped he was in her line of sight and that she would recognize his Myrian outfit and realize he was an ally.

' Too many guesses, I'm still too weak. ' He thought as he ran, he knew he lacked in many Myrian ways. But what he lacked in skill, he'd make up for it in prowess he swore to himself.

[Siiri]

The cry had been meant as a distraction, to stop the man from plunging his spear deep into the side of the captured animal, or to cause him to miss his target enough that it would avoid fatally wounding the creature.

It did not work.

Siiri could only watch in frustration as the hunter, with a steady hand, stabbed down forcefully, eliciting an anguished roar from the netted beast. The man leered at the Myrian with a maddening grin all the while as if gloating that she could not prevent him from doing what he just did. That the beast turned out to be some sort of large feline from the sound of its cry only angered Siiri even more. Such beasts were honored symbols of Navre, God of Cats. Her eyes blazed, promising death as she charged at the group, heedless of the fact that she was outnumbered.

What spear can stop my sword?

But there was another Myrian running towards them from the opposite direction as well. Were there other patrols nearby? Siiri could only wonder. It didn't matter, for while she welcomed the help, she had already sworn to deal a slow and painful death to the tall hunter.

She closed the distance fast, looking as if she would reach the group a few seconds before the other Myrian would with her longer strides. But the hunter's accomplices, upon the man's orders, pointed each of the chained dogs they had been holding back to each of the Myrians.

And then let them loose.

Over a hundred pounds each of rabid canine hurtled towards the two Myrians. The dogs may be smaller but they were trained and bred to cow and even attack much larger prey. The two Myrians could be in for a fight if they did not know how to deal with such beasts, and there were still the spears - and whatever weapons they were hiding on their persons - of the humans to worry about.

[Kh'ryll]

Kh'Ryll roared in a fit of rage and halted himself when he saw that Navre's creature had been stabbed by the well-equipped hunter.

" You will pay in blood! " He raged at the men before one of its hunting dogs was released and came straight for Kh'Ryll. Not that experienced in fighting animals head-on he was momentarily stunned but as he regained his composure he stood in a fighting position. Breathing heavily and straining the muscles in his body, awaiting impact, he stood his ground.

Positioning himself sideways so that the large dog would have less area to attack. He proceeded to ready his two arms in such a manner that one set of blades was protecting his leftleg who stood closest to the dog. While the other set of blades was positioned crossed over his side and over his other, downwards stretched, arm.

Effectively guarding his exposed lower and upper body. Although he couldn't cover every area of his body, he had prepared himself mentally to be struck by the canine's fangs and to retalliate swiftly by either a kick or claw.

' Fang versus claw! ' He thought as the canine was running at high speed towards him.

[Siiri]

The dog closed the gap between them in seconds, lunging at her in a running leap in an attempt to take her throat. Despite its natural weapons of tooth and claw, however, the canine was no match against the five and a half foot long blade of Siiri that was Slayer. The Myrian timed her strike perfectly, pausing long enough in her charge to deliver the blow, parting the dog's head from its body with a lateral swipe of her greatsword. Headless, the dog's body fell limply to the jungle floor as Siiri continued her forward press. Her sword returned to its defensive posture in front of her almost instantly, ready to deflect any jabbing attacks from the humans' longer spears. She ignored the two other males, instead heading straight towards the man who stabbed the netted cat.

In the opposite end of the clearing, the other Myrian faced the second dog. Like the first dog, this one leaped at its target, mouth opened in a snarl, teeth bared to take a bit out of the nearest body part that would come its way.

At the center of the clearing, the lead hunter barked orders to his men to ready their spears to attack both Myrians but his lessers seemed uncertain of what they should do. After the fall of the first dog, a look of desperation was made evident in each of their faces and even their leader seemed a bit unsure. Nearby, a whining cry came from the captured feline.

[Kh'ryll]

His eye twitched as the large canine leaped off the ground with unexpected ferocity and power. He was clearly aiming to rip Kh'Ryll head off and not having anticipated such a high attack he was undefended there. He tried to dodge it by turning and jumping sideways out of the way but thanks to the unwelcome surprise he reacted too late and the fangs and teeth of the dog sank into his leftshoulder.

Letting out a roar of pain he tried to back away to free his shoulder but the gripstrength of the dog's jaw was insane. It didn't help that the dog was shaking its head rapidly, feeling his flesh tear he instintively started to stab the dog in its side with all the intent to kill the damn thing, he felt the dog's grip lessen as he kept pounding his free claw in its rightflank, delving his sharp, long claws in his flesh and muscle. Eventually the dog's grip completely vanished and he was breathing faintly, laying on his side. Kh'Ryll, enraged and with bloodlust written all over his face stabbed the canine several more times in its neck and ended it with one last stab as he rolled over and put his entire weight on the claw.

Panting heavily and holding his shredded shoulder with his free hand he slowly stood up. Blood gushed freely from inbetween his clenching fingers and he had a painstricken face as he looked, with a nearly demented stare and filled with hatred for the foul beings that caused this harm upon him.

He grinned his teeth bare as he first stumbled closer to the 3 men, he started to speed up his pace to a walk before running at them with a loud growl and insane grin on his face. He had fallen to the savage bloodfrenzy.

[Siiri]

Siiri reached the three men first, the slave ordered to face her jabbing his spear forward in a panicked attempt to keep her at bay. For all the good it did. The Myrian warrioress merely snarled at him and hacked at the offending weapon so forcefully that the metal blade sheered off the spear head as well as about a foot of its wooden shaft. But that left her open for a retaliatory strike from the hunter, who used his servant as a visual block to hide where his strike would come from.

As Siiri brought her weapon down on one side, the man's spear snaked forward in a low thrust, aiming at her thigh. Siiri tried to dodge the strike but she was a fraction of a second too slow; the sharp spear point, already stained by the blood of the downed cat, opened a wide gash on her leg. She almost fell to one knee as she cried out in agony but she fought through the pain, determined to make the man pay for all his transgressions. Slayer came forward once more to smash through the spear's shaft but the man anticipated the move, pulling back his weapon before Siiri could shiver it. Over-confident now from the success of his attack, he hurled his slave backwards bodily to face the injured Myrian woman.

Behind them, the other Myrian faced off again the other servant with the spear. The human's weapon kept him at bay for now, with tentative jabs which seemed to gain in strength as he was joined by the other slave. Still, the two of them seemed to be inching away, circling away from their leader as well as the ferocious savage before them. Several feet to their side was the wounded cat - a panther it seemed - futilely pawing away at the net tangled all around its sleek body. It was making soft and pitiful sounds, its wound obviously giving it much pain.

[Kh'ryll]

Forcefully kept away by the two slaves, one armed with a spear and the other with only a spearshaft, Kh'Ryll growled at the two slaves. " I shall feast on your flesh. " He spat out with venom in his voice as he clawed at the spear while keeping out of range of the spearshaft. He cursed himself for being kept at bay by mere slaves. He needed a longer weapon or some sort of ranged weapon to get out of this mess.

Staying out of range while moving his body in a position that forced the slaves to distance themselves further and further from their master, thoughts of ways to get passed that annoying spear clouded his mind. He could attempt to run passed the long spear once the slave's strike misses but if he's able enough he'd clobbed him with the shaft and proceed to stab him to death...no, he needed a better plan.

Then it hit him, the spearshaft that one slave was wielding was relatively easy to get a hold of if the timing was right. But to succeed he needed to grab it on the first try, else they'd be aware of his plan. Failure was not an option. He kept batting the spear away while dodging the pole, sometimes failing which caused him a hard poke in his ribs or chest.

The slaves were growing tired, lack of food and training were the probably cause, thought Kh'Ryll. ' No worry, you'll be sleeping eternally soon enough! ' went through his mind as he thought of a way to keep that spear at bay long enough to retrieve the pole.

The pain in his shoulder and the bloodloss blurred his vision in an on-and-off pattern, he wouldn't be able to keep fighting like this for much longer, he had to act now. It was then that the spear was thrusted forward by the tiring slave and lowered before retracting it.

Kh'Ryll took the opportunity to quickly step on the head of the spear and with a swift kick between the head and the middle of the shaft he broke the pole. Leaving the two slaves with just two large sticks to fight off the weakening Kh'Ryll.

' No time to cheer, must finish it! ' He thought as he picked up the head of the spear. The terrified slaves looked like they could run away any moment, Kh'Ryll was not about to let that happen. His vision, strength and speed both greatly diminished he aimed the spearhead at one of the slaves and threw it with all the might he could muster.

[Siiri]

As tall as Siiri and even more heavily muscled, the man approached in a confident gait, twirling the spear shaft in his hands. With a sudden movement, he lunged forward and jabbed high. Siiri reacted by bringing her blade up and out to deflect the weapon's deadly point. The initial attack was a feint however; the man immediately pulled his spear back and brought it lower, jabbing at the Myrian's gut.

But Siiri was no novice either, having fought against spear wielders since she was little. She disdained the weapon, considering it too basic, too simple, unlike the mighty blade she wielded. That the man got a hit in infuriated her. Sweeping Slayer back for a parry, she stepped forward at the same time, determine to eliminate the advantage her opponent had with his superior reach. The greatsword tapped the spear aside; it had been a light attack and she knew another would come and at a different direction most likely to keep her unbalanced and reactive to it.

She was determined not to give him that chance.

As the hunter stabbed with his weapon once more, Slayer intercepted it again as well, the parry already in place even before the man completed his move. But Siiri didn't push the weapon aside, instead applying a little give as the spear shaft connected to the metal blade, causing the spear's sharp point to veer away from her at an angle but still keeping the rest of its wooden length within reach. Siiri grabbed on to it with one hand, hooking her fingers along its cross guard - that short bar set a couple of feet from the spear head to prevent prey from driving itself further up the shaft and goring the weapon's wielder before the beast expired - for a better grip. Discarding Slayer, she yanked at the weapon with all her might.

The hunter was prepared however, setting his stance wide against the force of the pull. Muscles corded, both of them now held on to each end of the spear, neither able to snatch the weapon from the other, proving their strengths to be equal. Siiri stared at the man in fury; the man returned it with equal intensity, though his was one borne from confidence - overconfidence even - as evidenced by the cocky grin he wore.

It soon changed to a look of panic as Siiri reached to her left bicep and pulled out the throwing knife sheathed there and flung it to his face in a single motion. Set in place as he held on to the spear and with only a few feet separating them, there was not much space to dodge. But the man did, ducking his head to the side such that the dagger only creased his trailing ear. That was the least of his problems however, for he looked up just in time to see the Myrian leap at him to cover the distance between them, twin daggers in hand and aimed at his face and neck.

Even as the hunter gripped his weapon and tried to bring it to bear, he knew the weapon's long reach could not help him now at such close quarters.

OOCEditted post a bit so it makes more sense to the reader.