Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Aeryn sat on a flat rock, pulled her knees to her chest and then wrapped her arms around them. "Well, I would like to think I still do, but I am not sure. I was seperated from my family when I was 11. I live--well, lived, actually--with an old woman named Marle, who lives in these woods. Her home has been my home for the past 13 years, though she is of no relation to me. Only an old family friend."

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Glancing over as Jaegar returned to the group, his whispered as the wind blew "Taken down?"

Jaegar paused and looked at the back of Dalin's head , then continued walking, "Sir...i didn't wait to see if the arrow killed the man...I don't usually miss."

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Dalin stopped in his tracks, his hands on the saddle horn and mane of his horse "You didn't stop...to make sure?" he said, a growl deep in his throat. He turned, his face shrouded in shadow and his eyes unseen. "I would hope he is dead Jaegar" his voice was but a whisper, but it's tone, though hushed, controlling and cruel. "There are no mistakes on this job...they all die....period. Now, I hope to find out he is dead when we reach they inn" he mounted, sitting firmly astride his sleek mount Phantom. Turning to they others which had spoken, he said "The wench dies tonight....and if we can't find her, there will be suffering among those who know. We do whatever has to be done." digging his heals into his horse, the set off at a cantering pace, heading toward the light of the town fore-longs away. I should have killed that baby years ago... he thought as he heard the beat of the others falling in behind him. 1....2...3...4...and me. One has staid back. Jaegar...

******

Susanne found herself bombarded by questions, the voices of many piercing her mind. Each was like a hard blow, her headache making them as such. Each added voice, or noise, the clanking of dishes, the idle chatter of unconcerned folk, the tone and words of her rescuers. She wanted to cry for silence but knew it was impossible for all to be quiet. The swinging doors of the tavern opening behind her, brought a sudden fear back to her heart. Then, all the memories of the last three days flooded in filling her mind with only fear and urgency. The dread of what was behind her, the nameless fear that had been chasing her. It all came back with the determined step that crossed the floor, that came near. Images flashed before her eyes and she suddenly came to her feet, a tear running down her cheek. Then, too weak to support herself she collapsed, falling toward the young man, Micah, who was standing in front of her.

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Jaegar scowled and stopped walking. When he heard Dalin's voice, he knew what was expected. After watching the others for a moment, he shrugged, I guess it's my own fault... he thought.

He stepped a few steps into the trees to his left, and grabbed the reigns of his grey horse Rafael. "Come boy...we have a prey to check on." The horse perked up, and snorted. "I know you always love a chase."

He smiled at his horse, and turned him around, then jumped on him, and gently set him trotting through the trees.

--
5 minutes later, he arrived at the edge of the forest, in the exact spot where he had fired the arrow. He looked out at the opening, and growled. There was no sign of the body. He took a long look around the rest of the clearing, and then led his horse out. Near the spot where the blacksmith had stood, he knelt and examined the ground.

There were many marks, but the ones he sought were easy enough to find. The heavy tread of the blacksmith was unmistakable, and the marks where he jumped aside into the house left little doubt that he had escaped. He stood and entered the shop, his leather boots making hardly a sound. Just inside the door, he found his arrow, laying on the floor. He picked it up and put it in his quiver.

After making a thorough search of the shop, he exited by the door he entered, and looked toward the road. His eyes followed a line of tracks that were the freshest, newer than the boy's horse.

He climbed onto Rafael's back, and spoke to his horse's ear, "Now we must run, but silent as ghosts, we have a prey to catch..."

The horse nodded it's head, and took off, like the wind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jarien and Adi were walking along the road toward the town, and the inn, holding hands, and chatting. They were enjoying the night, the cool air, and the silence. "The stars are always so clear this time of year..." Sighed Adi.

Jarien nodded, "Aye..." He squeezed her hand, "This year, I'm sure that we will make enough on the crops to..."

He broke off as there was the sound of hooves thundering behind them. It broke the silence harshly, and they both jumped. The horse flew past them, forcing them to jump aside, and they had only a glimpse of the two riders, or rather it looked like a rider, and a figure, laying against the horses mane.

After it had passed, Jarien stood, and pulled Adi to her feet next to him, asking "are you alright?". She nodded and he hugged her. Then he remembered the mule, he looked down. He still had the mule's reigns in his other hand, but the mule had broken one in fright, and was standing inside the tree-line, staring at him.

It took them a good 10 minutes to retrieve the mule from the forest. During that time, another horse went past, not quite as fast as the first. They looked at each other then back at the road.

They didn't talk much on the rest of the way into town, except to comment on the speed of the first rider, and who the person laying on the horse was. "I hope that the person wasn't hurt." Adi said.

"I was thinking about the other, the one riding... and whether he did something to the other." Jarien said.

"I don't suppose that we will see them again though, Jarien...they just as likely rode straight through as stopped in town tonight."

They soon arrived at the town gate, and were permitted inside by the gatekeeper, who knew them. "A mighty busy night it seems...aye, mighty busy" he muttered to himself as they passed.

The inn was a well built establishment setting on one of the main streets in the town. "I'll tie the mule up out back, in it's stall before we go in and ask Oliver (the Barkeep) if he needs help."

Adi smiled, and stopped by the front door, "I'll wait here." She bit her lip and started adjusting her hair, which had become a mess in their haste to get off the road.

Jarien returned in less then three minutes, "You know, it's the strangest thing..." he commented as he rounded the corner and saw her just finishing her hair. She raised an eyebrow. He continued, "One of the horses back there looks just like the one that nearly ran us down."

He opened the door for her, admitting the light from the torches and candles inside to spill out on the doorstep. She stepped through, and looked around. Jarien stepped up beside her. They looked to see how busy the inn was. There was a small crowd, but not too many, and most of them were quietly sitting.

There was a sudden commotion, straight in front of them, in the center of the room. A young lady rose from a table, shakily wobbled and fell headlong into a young man standing next to her.

Adi rushed forward, Jarien at her heels.

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

When they arrived at the edge of the town Gabriel dismounted from his horse and dropped to the ground “I’ll find the girl and report back when I do so” he said before mumbling Less likely to scare the locals and put them on alert” before walking into the town.

“Now unless one of those bozos lives in this rat hole they would take her to somewhere with food, water a roof and bed…” Looking up he saw the inn “Perfect” he said before walking in and looking around.

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

“Family friends are always good to have.” Hinvi said, while he stirred the stew, causing great smells to fill that area of the woods. “Friends in general the same.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Falcon watched as more commotion began to start. He watched as the girl arose from her lying position, then fell into the arms of a man. good catch Falcon thought to himself, then he saw as two other people came into the inn, he recognized them as the same two people who served in the inn the last time he was in town, staying in the inn. good, maybe they will deal with the girl, and stop them from making such a loud commotion. Falcon thought to himself.
Suddenly another man entered through the door, Another? How many people are going to come in today?

Vayond

Edmund didn't notice the others come in. He was too preoccupied with finding a cloth for the girl. He finally found one and got to the girl and dabbed some water on ehr froehead while Micah was holding her. That is when he noticed the others came in. "Quick! Put her in the rbed, Micah!"

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Gabriel grinned when the boy yelled, that was all he needed. She was here with her little pose of rebels. He jumped from the stool he was sitting on and quickly walked out the door and towards the others on the edge of the town.

"I found her boss, that inn down the street... There are tons of people there though... You might want to wait till after night falls" he said when he finaly arrived.

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Micah reacted quickly when the girl toppled forward, catching her in his arms. Edmund brought a moist cloth and dabbed her forehead with it. "Quick! Put her in the bed, Micah!" He said, and Micah agreed; she was in much too poor of a condition to be sitting around down here. Micah lifted her, and headed to the stairs. Shyanne led the way to her room, while Micah and Edmund followed.

Just as they reached the room, a sense of fear raided Micah's heart. If she stayed here all night, the people who had tried to kill her might show up again. He motioned for Edmund to come close, and whispered quietly. "Do me a favor. Go downstairs to the innkeeper, and purchase another room - make sure it seems as though the room is for her," he nodded to the girl he was carrying. "Oh, and try to get a room as far away from Shyanne's as possible." His hope, of course, was that if the Hunters did appear, they'd search the innkeeper's log and go immediately to the newly purchased room, which would hopefully give them a chance to escape. He knew, however, that if the Hunters did come to the inn, they had little chance of survival, even with a decoy room. But it was worth a shot.

Micah laid the girl down on Shyanne's bed, and Shyanne placed the cloth on her forehead. She groaned as her frail body came to rest on the mattress. "Shyanne, stay with her. I will go back down to the Tavern and wait for the physician to arrive."

In a matter of moments, Micah was back in the Tavern section of the Inn. He immediately saw two people, a man and a woman, who had entered shortly before the girl collapsed; they had looked very worried about the situation, more so than the Tavern's other customers, anyway. Micah approached the couple. "Are either of you the physician that was sent for?" He asked, hoping they could help.

-------

Rokard stared at the inn which Gabriel had indicated, watching it silently. The lower floor was a Tavern, yet he couldn't hear the usual roarings and singing of drunken men that normally flowed from such establishments; that meant that it was either a slow night, or something had recently happened in there that disrupted the usual clamor. Two men dragging a half-dead girl in would be quite disrupting, Rokard surmised.

His black pupils rose to survey the upper floor windows; only three were filled with light. One of the windows had the curtains drawn partway to the side, tied by intricate ribbons that weren't present on any of the other windows' curtains; The person staying there must have brought them, which meant two things: they had been staying in the room for awhile already, and they were probably the sort of person who is very concerned about appearances, so much so that they were trying to make a lousy room look better. A little vain; probably of wealthy up-bringing. He searched the other windows, but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. He wondered if their prey had purchased a room or not.

Edmund nodded "You can count on me." Then he rushed to the innkeeper, purchasing a room as far from Shyanne's as possible. After that, he discreetly made his way back up to Shyanne's room. He asked, "How is she doing?"

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Aeryn nodded. "Chyrr has been a wonderful friend, even though he cannot talk." She scratched the ferret under the chin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shyanne pushed the girl's hair off of her face and stood beside the bed.

The door opened and the man who had greeted her on the stairs entered. He asked how the girl was doing. Shyanne shrugged. "I cannot say for sure, but she does not seem to be doing well..."

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

“Wait, what did you say your old family friends name was?” Hinvi asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Falcon watched as the man who had just entered left the building, and then the others took the girl upstairs. He then saw as one of the men bought a room from the innkeeper. and now, everything goes back to normal.

Vayond
Edmund rushed to Suzanne's bedside, seeing that she was paler than ever. He turned to Shyanne. "What do we do?"

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

In one sense, Cale's words did not really surprise Raven. After all, it sounded sort of like her own home world.

On the other hand, finding out that the place she had just moved to probably had its share of assassinations and such was a bit disconcerting, and more than a little disappointing. Wasn't there anywhere peaceful any more?

She turned and smiled cheerily at Kay. "Actually, I kinda moved here in hopes it would be quieter than where I was last, and being a bodyguard isn't exactly a 'quiet' kind of job. What other kinds of work might there be?"

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Adi and Jarien rushed forward into the room, both wondering what was happening. As the girl fell, the larger man caught her gently, and was joined by both a smaller man, and a pretty young lady who carried herself rather regally. None of them seemed to notice that Jarien or Adi was there. They were too concerned for the girl, and absorbed in removing her to the upper floor of the inn.

After the little group had gone upstairs, Jarien walked over to the bar at the back of the room, "Oliver... what's going on?" he asked, while glancing up the stairs.

The Inkeeper shrugged, "I don't know Jarien... they just came in carryin her...and then she jumped up and fainted..."

Adi looked thoughtful, "You don't know who she is? Who any of them are?" She asked.

Oliver shook his head and shrugged, "No. But i see you probably came wondering if i could use help... I suppose maybe I could, for a couple of hours."

Jarien nodded, "Ok then..." he paused in mid sentence as the larger man from the company came down the stairs and stopped in front of Adi and himself. Jarien looked at him and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Are either of you the physician that was sent for?" the man asked. They looked at eachother, now both certian that something deeper was going on. It wasn't every day that someone came into the inn needing the town doctor, especially the doctor in this town.

"no." Jarien answered shortly. He sized up the man as he stood in front of them. About 5' 11" or 6' with dark hair and a beard. He was wearing chainmail, which either meant a warrior, or someone acustomed to fighting. He was also wearing a large sword, slung across his back, this man was no stranger to combat. Jarien studied his face, trying to gauge his personality. He seemed nice enough, no mailce or deseat in his eyes.

Adi glanced at Jarien, "I know a little about herbs and such..."

Jarien nodded, "If your looking for the doctor, i'm not sure he'll be much help... he tends to get drunk on most evenings, may not even be conscious." A man in the back of the room called for another bottle. Jarien sighed and grabbed one passed by Oliver. He strode away.

Adi spoke when he left, "If you want, i can look at her. I'm no expert, but my mother taught me a few things."