You're So Annoying! (edalene)

by **Edalene** on January 2nd, 2011, 12:06 pm

Eda tramped along miserably next to the two Drykas warriors, keeping her head down and not making eye contact with any of the gawkers on the street. The only time she raised her head was to glare menacingly at the stupid little man who got her into this mess. It was clearly all that stupid, annoying man's fault! Well, perhaps a little her fault as well, but he was the one who insulted her first. He should know never to insult the proud Drykas. He would learn his lesson after this incident... if they got out alive. Eda sighed dramatically, flopping her arms around her. She resisted the urge to cry. If things weren't embarrassing enough already, she could've burst out sobbing in front of the two Drykas warriors. Or, how about no! She sighed as she entered the War Pavillion ahead of the foreigner, wondering who would be shooting at her, and if she would know any of them.

Her heart sank in her chest just a little as she recognised the man who the two warriors brought her too. He was Mal'n, and she knew him from her student days. From the way he smirked at her, it look as if he knew her too. Her heart sunk a little in her chest, reaching down to her knees as she remembered what an acclaimed bowman he was. Lucky stupid foreigner, he didn't have any of this dread, being stupid and ignorant, and stupid. She followed his instructions, moving to then end of the range. When the man didn't move, evidently not understand Pavi, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him along with her, moaning as she saw the archers holding longbows. Eda evidently did not see the way they held the bows, a little uncertainly. It would have given her a lot more easiness.

Her heart skipped at beat as the students began firing at Mal'n's orders. They weren't the best shooters, but the point is that they were shooting. Shooting across the field that she would soon have to run across. Petch. Petchpetchpetch. the reality, and danger, of the situation began to sink in. She could die out here! Or, if she didn't die, she could be seriously injured! Why, or why did she have to get angry at some insulting foreigner today, of all days? Why why why! She jumped a little, almost into the range when Mal'n yelled at the pair of them in Common. Hesitating, she turned to the stange man. "Look, seeing as you're the one who insulted me, I think you should go first. I'll follow, I promise I will, but can you please just step out first? If we don't go soon, Mal'n will get angrier than he already is." Turning back to look at Mal'n, she did a double-take when he smiled and winked, admittedly quite charmingly, at her. Wait, was he flirting with her in a situation where he could be the one to kill her? Surely there were better ways to get the attention of a girl.

by **Conrad** on January 2nd, 2011, 1:12 pm

Conrad let out a relieved sigh as the drykas said that he wasn't the target. Though he didn't like the sound of being hit, he would have bet his parrot's food that there where a few sadists with the shooters who would like to see him with an arrow sticking out of his ass, or worse.
"I guess I do have to thank myself for it." Conrad mumbled to himself following the warriors a bit ashamed as he was led away before the eyes of the crowd.
Conrad blanched even more as the other warrior threatened to cut his hands of as he saw even as much as a hint that he was going to morph.
"No sir," Conrad stuttered out, "I won't use it."
He preemptively clutched the parrots beak shut, not trusting it to keep it beak shut at moments like these. "It let out a muffled sound of irritation and flapped his wings a few times hitting him in the side of the head a few times.
He nervously looked around at the row of archers standing in a line. He cursed himself for not knowing anything of the drykas language.
When the man gestured them to go on the range Conrad just held out his hand.
"Now little buddy go and stay here until I am back ok?" He petted the parrot on the head and he flew of his shoulder perching himself on a random barrel.
As Conrad was going towards the archery range he suddenly stopped as he heard the girl he butted heads with.
"Look, seeing as you're the one who insulted me, I think you should go first. I'll follow, I promise I will, but can you please just step out first? If we don't go soon, Mal'n will get angrier than he already is."
Conrad got a rather cheeky smile on his face, determined to take her back for getting him into this situation, temporally ignoring the fact that he also played a role into it.
"Nope." He unsuspectingly gave her a hard push, landing her on the range.
Conrad gave a little snicker and walked on to the targets turning around when he heard the the sound of a dozen or more bowstrings fire their load.
"Oh petch." He quickly dived behind one of the targets, winching when he heard the sound of arrows burying themselves into the target.
"Oh at times like these I really hate that sagallius guy!"
"What're you waiting for?" One of the drykas yelled at them in common "Bring the arrows back! Our archers need ammo to learn!"
Conrad quickly darted over the field collecting as much arrows as he could before hiding behind another target when the next wave was fired. He repeated that pattern until he had his hands full and quickly ran towards the people firing them and dumped them with them.Before running back towards the relative safety of the targets, picking up arrows along the way.

by **Mixcoatl** on January 9th, 2011, 6:56 am

Sadly for the dynamic duo, the students were not the most disciplined firers. The orderly first wave was followed by silence, broken only by the quiet twang's of the bowstrings as they reverberated and the shhhhk's of arrowheads and shafts scraping along the insides and the edges of quivers. There was no second volley. Rather, there was a continuous wave of fire, as more and more novices managed to pull back the hefty string of their proud weapon and direct its deadly projectile downrange. As such, the pair never really had a break to rush in during. They just had to conquer their fears, and trust the Gods above them to protect them.

Edalene's mad dash across the field brought her to one of the many targets at the end of the range, more specifically, the one that Mal'n had driven an arrow into. When her hand closed around it to remove it from the depths of the target, she found, to her horror, that it was much more firmly planted in the target than she had first thought. Her hands pulled and pulled, but it did not come, not unless she dedicated more time to it. If she didn't return the arrow, she would be punished for failing to complete her task. If she dedicated the effort to removing it from the depths of the target, she would be there for a while, and no one could ever tell just how true the accuracy of the novices would hold. As if to punctuate this thought, an arrow whizzed past her, clinking harmlessly on the ground. Every second she spent thinking was another second she stood in the line of fire.

Conrad was notably less fortunate than the woman. Being fairly larger in both height and width, he was a larger target. Be it the Gods or pure luck, the arrows seemed to soar around him, at least, for the first chime or so. It was when he was making his return to the end of the range that his luck finally ran out. There was a particularly loud twang, and not two second later, he felt a burning, all-consuming pain on the outer part of his left thigh. A glimpse down would find that an arrow had grazed along the tanned flesh of his muscled thigh, tearing it open, spilling his blood onto the ground. The arrow that had caused this wound twirled once or twice in the air, landing a few feet in front of Conrad. As intense as the pain was, he couldn't stop moving, not while he was in the firing line like he was now.

There was no rest for the wicked.

by **Edalene** on January 11th, 2011, 3:35 am

Eda shrieked as the man pushed her onto the range, just as a new hail of arrows began. How dare he push her onto the range! He was the one who got them into this stupid mess anyway! He should go first! She dodged an arrow that whizzed right past her face, then realised with a certain sense of dread - there would be no halt to the storm. She would have to just run, and pray to the Gods that they did not get hit. Or, rather, that she didn't get hit. She didn't really care what happened to the other man.

She took a deep breath, and began to run. Her knees were shaking the entire way, really and truly hoping they didn't give out. Kind of sad for an aspiring warrior of the Diamond Clan, this was the closest Eda had ever been to suffering serious physical hurt. She had never been in a situation where she could actually die, or worse, be incapacitated. She had a vivid image of a arrow thudding into her elbow, weakening the arm until the point where she could not hold her beloved sword again. She closed her eyes to get rid of the horrible scenarios that were flashing through her mind.

Edalene, for some obscure reason known only to her, kept her eyes shut tight as she ran across the field. It was much less nerve wracking than watching the arrows fly towards her. It was as she heard a whistling sound rush towards her that she realised how truly stupid that move was. She ducked quickly, and kept her eyes wide open for the rest of the dash. She didn't even blink. She wouldn't be that lucky twice.

She collected arrows that had fallen short, bending down, scooping them up quickly. She ran to the end of the range, having collected many that were in front of the targets. She took a deep breath, still sprinting to avoid the fire of the novices, and glanced towards the targets. They were another matter. She ran towards the one that was closest to her, the one which Mal'n had shot into. Mal'n was probably watching this entire thing, amused to the tenth degree. She grasped the shaft of the arrow and tugged.

And tugged. And tugged. Visibly having a panic attack, she jiggled it up and down, trying to get it out, but it would not budge. She heard an arrow whistle and ducked down, the arrow falling to the ground beside her. She was getting jumpy. Still tugging, she contemplated her options. Ignore it, and be punished, or stay and collect it, and risk being shot by the unpredictable amateurs. It was with a fierce determination that she decided to stay and tug out this arrow. If an arrow hit her in the mean time, so be it. Being shot with an arrow out here was not certain. Being punished if she failed to retrieve it was.

She stilled her body, emptied her mind of clamouring thought, and grasped the arrow with both hands. She twisted it slowly, moving the arrow head in a circle, side to side, loosening its grip in the target. Taking a deep breath, she tugged once, hard. It did not break free, but she felt movement in the target. She pulled again, pulling on it with all her weight, groaning out with the effort. A pop and Eda stumbled back, the arrow free and clenched in her hand! Success! It was with a grin that she looked around for the other man, determined to gloat. The fact that arrows were still flying and she was standing still did not cross her mind, still too confident from her victory.

It was with a sinking feeling that she spotted the other man, limping and clutching his thigh. Blood was seeping out of it. He had been hit. Eda hesitated, thinking. As much as she did not like the man, for it was his fault she was here, he was at a disadvantage on the range being injured. He would not be able to move as quickly, leaving him open to more arrows. With a sigh, she ran over to him, determined to help him collect arrows, and if necessary, shield his body from further injury.

by **Conrad** on January 15th, 2011, 9:22 pm

Conrad gasped in pain as he felt a burning pain in his left leg and nearly collapsed from the shock of being hurt. He gritted his teeth for the pain and continued towards the end of the firing range,though he did collect the arrow that hit him first, his hurt leg causing him to limp.
"At times like this I REALLY hate that sagalius guy!" Conrad groaned out trough gritted teeth as he continued to struggle on.
He glanced up to the woman who came running towards him though she the look on her face told him that she didn't like it one bit.
Conrad gave her a grateful smile anyway.
"Thanks a lot for helping me, I really don't appreciate having more holes then is necessary in my body." He gulped as another arrow flew right past him.
"Maybe we should get moving again, I think a few archers are thinking that we are slacking off."
He tried to get back to running speed, but the wound in his thigh burned with every step he took.

by **Mixcoatl** on January 24th, 2011, 10:17 pm

Waves of pain seared through Conrad's body as he hobbled through the range, trying to return to the speed at which he had previously been moving, an attempt which actually drew laughter from a few of the men and women opposite him. The attempt had him hobbling along, moving his leg in a wide, swinging, gimpy arc. Every movement sent more and more waves of red hot pokers through the veins that webbed throughout the entirety of his body, but he was right. He had to keep moving. Ceasing movement in front of a battery of untrained archers was as poor a decision as starving oneself. Fortunately for Conrad, and unfortunately for Edalene, he would not be alone in his misery for all that much longer. Despite her haste, and her attentiveness, and the number of arrows she had collected, Mal'n had taken a somewhat perverse liking to her. Every action of hers was watched, waiting for a fault for him to punish her for.

He found it when she paused to remove the arrow he had buried deep within the target. She took too long for his liking. Not enough arrows were being gathered! She was slacking! Another arrow's notch found its way to the string of his bow, keen, eagle eyes watching for an opportunity to punish her without permanently injuring or disfiguring her. It delivered itself to him when she bent over, extending her thin, wiry arm to lift another arrow from the ground. Perfect. He pulled his string taut, taking only a half second to aim. This shot would be easy for him. When his fingers released the arrow, it flew true, slicing through the air effortlessly, until it found the flesh of her forearm.

Agony. Burning agony was all Edalene could feel as her brain screamed as her, the pale, milky skin of her forearm now missing. A clean slice had been made an inch and a half below her elbow, cutting through flesh in a wound that was not in the slightest pretty. This one would need medical attention. Blood flowed freely from the cut, precious elixir of life, spilling from her arm to the ground, where it pooled in small drops, coming together to form puddles when she stopped for too long. When her eyes fell Mal'n, she found him folding his arms, his eyes bearing a glare of slight contempt. This was the punishment she received for not remaining at par. She would learn from this lesson, or he would be more severe in the form of punishment he delivered. This time, he had aimed to leave only a scar. Next time, he may aim to disable her... or worse.

Thankfully for the injured duo, the frequency of deadly projectiles hurtling towards them began to decrease. The novices were becoming tired. Soon, their punishment would be over, and soon, they would be back to their normal lives, with scars as memoirs of their punishment.

Hopefully, they would not overstep their bounds again.

by **Edalene** on January 26th, 2011, 3:49 am

Eda nodded her welcome to the man. "It's okay. You're hurt. I may be angry with you, and it may be your fault that we're here, but you don't deserve to have a million holes in your body." Nodding at him, she ushered him along, planning to traverse the range yet again, picking up the arrows that had fallen short of the targets - a depressing amount. Novices.

There was one arrow lying in front of a target several steps in front of her. Leaving the man behind her, she sprinted in front of him to get to it. She bent down quickly, crouching, dodging an arrow that zoomed past her head. And as she stretched out one arm...

Agony. Pure, burning agony. She cried out in pain, the would searing red out. Looking at her arm, she saw a torrent of blood gushing out of a wound, just below her elbow. It was a wound which would require attention as soon as she was off this damned range. She gazed at it unfeeling for a moment - then it hit her. She was hit by an arrow - an arrow that was aimed too low to be a mistake. Looking up quickly, ignoring the throbbing in her arm - the arm which now had blood streaming down her forearm - she searched for the perpetrator of the shot.

Scanning the range, she spotted Mal'n at the opposite end. His bow was still held up, and he was watching her intently, smirking as he nodded towards her arm. Edalene's hurt faded away, though the wound still pulsed, and instead anger and irritation arose. So that's how it was. He flirted with her, winked at her and then shot her?

She stood up with determination, holding her bleeding arm closer to her body, trying not to jostle it too much. She sprinted lightly back to the other injured man, scooping up two arrows as she went, wincing each time she rocked her arm. She noted with a heavy sigh of thankfulness that the speed and the amount of arrows shot were decreasing. Their punishment was almost over. Thank the Gods.

by **Conrad** on January 26th, 2011, 11:22 am

Conrad's eye twitched slightly when she casually insulted him as the one that started this mess, In his memory it was her that began to make a big deal about everything and got them into this. Conrad was urged back into the normal world when an arrow shot right besides him. Remembering what he was supposed to do he once again began collecting arrows trying to ignore the pain in his leg as it burned with every step he took.
His blood ran cold when he heard a loud scream of pain coming from his left. His horror wasn't misplaced however as he saw the girl clutching her arm, blood freely flowing from it.
Ignoring the burning pain in his thigh he ran towards her, hoping that he wasn't hit by more arrows, he didn't need another hole in his body just because he went to help her.
"Hey you alright!" he yelled at the girl when he was running towards her, the worry in his voice fairly clear. He looked at her like she had lost her mind when she just stood up and looked at the people in the fireing range.
"Hey are you mad! keep on the move you moron!" As soon as he was close enough to her he grabbed her uninjured arm and gave it a slight jerk.
"don't just stand here being a target, you'll get hit even more!"

by **Mixcoatl** on February 14th, 2011, 10:06 pm

Little by little, the amount of arrows continued to whittle away, like flood-rains turning into little more than a drizzle. Eventually, it was but one novice firing his bow, intentionally aiming his blows near to the two truants. Fortunately for them, his skill was too poor to allow him to hit them, so long as they kept moving. Finally, he simply ceased firing, lowering the bow, pleased with the exertion and stress he had caused them. Silently, he grinned, and huddled around Mal'n, who was standing in the center of all of his novices, correcting errors in their techniques he had seen but had been unable to correct in the midst of instructions. His deep voice carried over the range to the ears of the duo, though his words were never anything important.

It was there that they were kept, standing in the middle of the field, bleeding from their wounds with no true medical equipment to speak of, for at least a full five minutes, until Mal'n broke free of the consuming circle of apprentices, striding out towards them. He did not, however, come any closer to them than around ten yards. He would take no chances with criminal scum. "Have you learned you lessons?" he asked, in Common, folding his arms over his chest, tilting his head in that curious manner. He paused for a long moment, and then finally spoke once more. "Criminals never get what they want. In society, criminals are punished for their wrongdoings. Endrykas is no different. The Sea of Grass is dangerous. Endrykas is a safe haven. Those who endanger that safety are to be tried just as you have been. The Gods were merciful to you this time, it would appear. Only They know if they shall be this merciful upon your next wrong doing. You should beg forgiveness. Perhaps they shall grant it. Begone! I shall not have you in my sight any longer than I must. Your stench is overpowering. Come, students! We have work to do, away from the stentch of blood and criminals! Others will clean up the mess they have left behind." He turned sharply on his heel, and began to dismiss himself.

But, before he vanished from sight, he turned back around, speaking to them. "Make yourselves slight around here, truants. I am only merciful upon one's first infraction." With that warning, with that death threat, he was gone, bow in hand, students in tow. They could tell, as he left, that what had just happened would never even bother his conscience. In his eyes, they were criminals, and they had been punished. Punishment was to be given out to those who broke the laws.

Even those ignorant of them. At least, now, they knew, and would tread with care, if they held any regard for the law.

by **Edalene** on February 15th, 2011, 9:24 am

Eda brought herself, gasping in pain, closer to the other man. "It's okay," she ground out, teeth gritted. "The arrows have almost halted. We can just dodge any and all arrows that come towards us." Se did not tell him the way he tugged on her arm jostled her entire body and sent shards of pain into her arm. She was starting to realise the man meant well. Besides, it was hard to stay angry at a man you had been shot at with. He looked out for her just as much as she looked out for him.

She heaved a sigh of relief as the rain of arrows slowly began to halt, until only one person was aiming their bow purposely at them. She glared at him, a surprisingly unimpressive sight, and dodged the incoming bow, tugging the man behind her - gently though, wary of his leg. Eda waited, at first patiently and apprehensively, then irritation made its way into her mind. She stood there, blood still pouring out of her arm (thankfully trickling out slower now) and the wound stinging more and more painfully, while waiting for stupid Mal'n to wrap up his little tutoring session. She pressed her arm against her white shirt, cringing as she watched the blood stain the fabric, probably irrevocably. She turned to the man, a rueful smile on her face. "Hey, at least we survived?" She realised she had forgotten to tell the man one important thing amongst all the anger and excitement. "I'm Edalene, by the way. Edalene of the Sunblaze Pavilion."

Her pain making her less fearful of Mal'n, she held his gaze defiantly as he made his way over to them, finally. "yes, Mal'n. I have learnt my lesson. And I am Drykas, I know the laws of the land, you do not need to preach to me. One slip up does not make me a lawless wretch. The wound will serve as a reminder." Nodding to him as he walked away, she waited until he was out of her sight until she turned to the man. "Are you okay? It's over, we can leave now. Do you need help walking? We should get medical attention."