Cylus 12th, 717
The darkness was smothering at best. At worst you could very well feel yourself drowning in the shadows. If you managed to get lost without a light you weren't finding your way back home until the 30 trials of darkness were finally over. That was if you even survived in the cold darkness more than a break blind. Night narrowed her eyes trying to cut through the shivering shadows and dim damnation. She wasn't able to do much damage. No matter how good her blade skills got until she was able to get her claws around a flaming sword seeing in the dark was not an option. She sighed bitterly rubbing her eyes once or twice. She'd just woken up as well, adding to her annoyance over the current situation. It was impossible to tell when night or day was upon the world. It was always dark. Darkness here, darkness there, dark, dark, dark, DARK! "The one time of year that I have to question the judgement of Tried," she muttered to herself trying to keep her voice low. No telling what the Etzori would make of such a line. But no matter. Her attention was mostly focused on the existence of one Etzos citizen who she was certain would not judge her. Through her various slipped mentioned of Ethelynda, Alexander had never done more than bat an eye. He never commented on her devotion to the immortal and apparently he didn't plan to. She had discovered not too long ago that he was hiding the exact same devotion! Of course his was more like a distance respect compared to Night who saw the being of honor and nobility as a leader. But it still made her more comfortable around the man than most other citizens of Etzos.
"Damn you Burncock, making me sit out in the icy cold," she whimpered, her attention turning towards the matter at hand. The other day Alexander had mentioned a thief prowling about. It wasn't anything too horrible, Night had dealt with plenty of thieves. The problem really came from the fact he fled out into the darkness. "I already caught one thief this season. How many do I have to get rid of before I can stop worrying about getting robbed," she growled to herself in a whispered comment. Her face was clearly set in a scowl.
"Hello Eld, I see you're here early," Alexander said finally showing up. He moved confidently with an easy going smile painted across his features. That cool personality would make any other woman swoon, his looks certainly weren't anything less than pleasing either. Night just felt a slight stab of annoyance when he finally decided to grace the half breed with his presence. To torture her so, he deserved to be messed with a little.
"Early? Late? What time even is it? I don't know anymore! All I know is that thieves keep bothering me and I have to deal with the total nonsense of idiots while I frantically try and survive the darkness and the bitter cold of the season while all I want to do is go home and sleep until this is over!" She snapped with a slight shake of her head. Of course her tone wasn't as vicious as her words, if anything it was playful and her eyes danced with amusement. "Who's this?" She asked seeing someone behind the man.
"This is Mark, he's a good hunter in the area. He's gonna help us track down this thief since stumbling around in the dark for hours really isn't my style," Alex said.
"Why 'ello there! It'sa pleasure!" The man said putting on a friendly face. Of course an underlying layer of caution rested in his eyes, fearful of the avriel with a sword standing before him. At least he was polite about it.
"A pleasure," Night chirped putting a warm smile on despite the small stab of spite on her chest. She already knew today was going to be a long one, to add to the fact she couldn't even tell what the trial was. Midday? Midnight perhaps? Was it the 22nd or still the 12th? "So, tell me a bit about this hunt?"
"Right," Alexander said butting. It was uncertain if he noticed the tension born from the subconscious actions of the hunter or if he predicted it, but either way he intervened and that was enough to give Night a breath of release to gather her thoughts and prepare for the flurry of insults and hate that was about to spew from Mark's unsuspecting mouth. Over time she'd come to realize that it wasn't something people even did consciously, their actions were completely unchecked and as such they didn't notice what they were saying. The smallest quip about damn birds though not entirely directed at her tended to still have a venomous sting. She'd been putting up with such comments her entire left, for the sake of the immortals she'd been dealing with comments directed at her! And yet the stinging bite of the words never became any less fresh, it never became easier to deal with as time marched forward, in some cases it became even worse. Specifically instances where Alexander through the influence of his coworkers or his own childhood based programming whispered words of scorn and hate directed at the avriel.
Night did not think of herself as an avriel, and yet the small words hit their mark right on her mental well being.
"Well, anyway," Mark said as the awkward tension he'd caused finally caught up to him as well. "You two are going to be my hunting dogs for the night along with good ol' Bertha here!" He said gesturing to the massive fat beast of a hound that sat at his feet. Old was also quite the understatement. The half breed however could care far less about some mutt. Her mind focused in on the word dog and didn't want to let go. She shivered slightly and grit her teeth trying to force away the painful memories associated with the word. Beatings, degrading, all around misery, the word itself held no fault but the man who used it on her wielding it like any sword or whip. Even if the wounds themselves had long since passed the mental scaring clung to her like a bad disease one simply could not shake. She never wanted to think about that word. And now here it was being dangled right in front of her as if, for the time being, to be one's dog was a good thing.
Alexander quickly tried to ease the situation, distracting Mark from paying the half breed any attention when the trigger set in and the shot gun response fired. "Perhaps we should go on ahead for a couple beats. Night, you can catch up when you have all your gear ready," Alexander said with a nervous laugh. He traded the half breed one last worried look before he began dragging their new 'companion' into the darkness.
She could feel her heart rate spiking violently, the organ itself pounding against her chest in a ferocious attempt to escape. "Right. I'll be fine, just give me a moment," she muttered more to herself than to Alexander considering the delay of her response had allowed him to get far out of earshot. She could see the pair taking pause up head, illuminated only by the faint torch light of the city streets and their own lanterns which they clutched tightly. She was bathed in shadows, wreathed in the bitter cold of the vicious Cylus weather. She had yet to turn on her own light giving lantern. She lowered her head and forced her lungs to take in deep breaths no matter how much the cold burned. Funny how cold could make someone feel like they were on fire. Every part of her body felt like it had been thrown right into the blaze. "You're okay, you're perfectly fine and okay. Everything is going to be okay. He's gone and you'll never have to see either of them again. You'll avoid that area and they'll never leave it, for all you know they could both already be dead. You'll never have to face them again. Calm, calm," she muttered to herself in a breathy whisper as the talons of her feet gripped and let go of the earth like it might be a foe, or better yet the corpse of the Master.
Finally she regained control of her breathing and limbs, even if her heart refused to still for even a moment. In her panicked state considering the sharp shoot of pain she was sure it had skipped a beat or two. She tugged on the right corner of her bottom lip with her teeth, trying to ease the strong sense of fear that came from just one word.
"I am no longer his bitch."
Into the darkness and fire light she threw herself trying to escape the wretched ground she stood on, ground that now bared her claw marks. "Wait up!" She called. She couldn't move too fast for fear of her feet catching on the ground and spiraling out of control. Running was not a strong point for the half avriel, her feet taken into consideration. Alexander paused for a moment as the half breed took to the air slightly and beat her wings a couple times. Damn the immortal that thought feet like these were a good idea.
"So do we have any leads?" Night asked wondering if this really was just going to end up being a wild goose chase or not.
"We know the general area of where the thief if operating. He's been targeting a lot of people outer wall, taking advantage of their lack of defense and all. He's quite well know and actually a good bit popular. They call him the Reverse Robin hood. Stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. Obviously a lot of people don't fancy such a man," Alexander said with a small roll of his eyes. As if this was any different from a normal thief. Certainly the ruling powers would get theirs one way or another. "Apparently he finally pissed someone powerful off and now there's a pretty high price on his head. Hence why we now have Mark and Bertha who should be able to track him down. The problem is of course going to be catching him. If we let him run off into the darkness then he'll be gone for sure."
Night paused for a moment. "And he has to be brought back alive right? That's a tricky one. Do you think if you shot someone with a flaming arrow they would burn alive before you could catch them?"
"Yes Night," Alexander had the most unamused look on his face that one could imagine. Had he honestly taken that seriously?
"Just checking!" The half breed huffed indignantly. As if they actually expected her to do something so foolish! She had brought her bow and the wretched quality arrows as a precaution. That didn't stop Alexander as well as the new hunter from eyeing it cautiously. Great. "So then, what are we going to do oh great and powerful Alexander the wise," she asked her eyes narrowing. Alexander paused for a moment, opening his mouth and then quickly closing it.
"We'll figure that out when we find the crook," Alexander quickly said off the top of his head. This was the worst way to go about catching a criminal. She'd done a lot of stupid things in her life time, such is the nature of a mercenary half avriel, but not even she was stupid enough to approach someone armed and dangerous without a single plan in mind. In spite of how little credit she got for thinking ahead, immortals knew her coworkers always criticized her for a lack of foresight, most of the time she actually had a plan in mind or at least one escape route. They weren't always good ideas or the best ways of dodging injury but they were better than charging in blind. True enough running into the fray blind was the only thing one could do in Cylus, but there was always a way to out think the enemy if you simply knew the tactics to do such. Unfortunately despite having listened to her father on the topic for years she had no clue how to actually go about organizing a party of fighters to achieve the tactical advantage.
Mark has stayed quiet the entire time simply following the four footed beast in front of him. The creature gave a couple frantic barks and shot off into the darkness. "We've got a trail!" The hunter gasped catching the pair's attention away from their own thoughts on how best to catch a thief.
"Ethelynda give me the strength to catch this thief," the warrior muttered to herself as Alexander shot off blindly taking off into the stretching darkness with Mark. Night rolled her eyes holding out her only light source in front of her. She didn't run, she never ran, especially not in Cylus. Praises be that it was a lantern she was holding, the fire protected form the beating of her wings behind its glass case. "And if I may have one more request my lady, please allow me to keep my allies from getting themselves killed," she finished with a bitter sigh as she took to a low flying soar. It was easier to keep up in the air, easier to keep her eyes ahead of them for any traps, easier to make sure neither one was about to get jumped and stabbed.
Bertha eventually stalled and started sniffing the ground around a tree in circles. "He must be up there somewhere..." Mark said looking up into the branches. However the darkness of Cylus didn't offer much visibility. Night sighed knowing where this was going.
She glided closer to the tree, swirling around it a time or two. The light clutched dearly in her hand cast beautiful shadows as the scent of snow curled around her. As bitterly cold as it was it was relaxing in a sense. She took a moment of pause when she noticed a lump of black curled up in the bare leafless tree. "Found you," she whispered. Two large feet with each toe ended in a talon reached out for the tree branches. She landed gracefully without too much trouble, her eyes narrowed dangerously as she stared down the creature in the tree. It was obvious it was the thief by the way the ball of black burst outwards and threw itself from the tree. Mark and the dog both set off barking as the thief rolled across the ground and easily jumped to his feet. "Damn acrobat! Catch him!" The warrior crowed pulling the bow from off of her back. She had no skill in regards to ranged combat, but perhaps luck would be on her side? She notched an arrow and let it fly, only for the flimsy piece of carved wood to veer off to the side. "Damn it Jerry!" She snapped angrily. She wasn't sure why but she decided that she would give the bow a name since she gave all of her weapons names. Jerry the short bow. Part of her was certain that Jerry was actually a girl, but she had named the bow long before she'd started to figure out the personality of the bow... She was really starting to border on clinical insanity.
"Come on Night," Alexander called chasing after the man and his dog which were slowly getting farther away as they chased the thief. The bobbing of their own lanterns was the only thing that gave them away as sheets of midnight obscured the majority of her vision.
She warrior huffed. "As if you have to tell me that," she growled with a shake of her head. This was quickly starting to sour her mood. She beat her wings again as her feet let go of her tree branch. The wind wreathed around her, bitterly cold and carrying the scent of ice. The winds cried out in a howl. Her own sigh almost sounded foreign. When did this become her life? Could she not have forsaken leaving her home in the dark and cold of Cylus and still survived just as well? But that wasn't her nature, now was it? With a powerful thrust of her wings she took of into the darkness like an arrow shot true. The wind danced across her feathers, the sensation strange and yet familiar and comforting.
She brought herself as close to the earth as she dared, hovering just above the head of her new ally. Another thrust of her wings brought her above the thief. "Sorry buddy, but I can't let you just go running," she said forcing herself downwards into collision with the thief. Both forms hit the ground, the thief far more dazed than the half avriel who had landed atop him. However her clarity didn't last for long as a foot smashed into her head. Mark hadn't been able to stop in time and ended up tripping into the mess as well. The hunter sprawled out next to the half breed as the thief tried to shake his mind clear and claw his way out from under the half breed. "Oh no you don't!" She growled her fist curling around his shoulder. The thief screeched as her claws sunk into his flesh, but it wasn't enough to keep him down. His fist smashed into the head of the half breed, sending her thoughts spiraling and clattering against the ground. Night was shocked when she heard a sound similar to a dog getting kicked. Where had it come from. A second later she realized the whimper had come from her own throat. Mark upon hearing the sound quickly reacted. The half breed dazed and injured allowed the man to slip from her grasp only for the hunter to in turn tackled him.
"No you don't!" Mark cried as his dog bounded over with a bark and started to bite into the leg of the man.
"Ow!" The man cried in an accent that was thick and unfamiliar. A smirk wreathed across her features as Alexander appeared with a rope. The hunt was over, they'd managed to bag their prize.
"Well that was a nasty one. Need a hand," Mark asked? He held out a hand to Night with a brilliant and almost childish smile. The thinly layered veil of friendliness had disappeared, but so too had the fear and hatred underneath. She allowed the smile on her own features to grow wider as she help up her own hand. His was strong and warm as it wrapped around hers and easily pulled the light weight half avriel to her feet.
"Thanks," she said with a laugh. Mark nodded simply while Alexander continued to tie up the thief. There was a small glare across his features. "Oh yeah, what am I? Chopped Aukari balls?" He asked putting his hands on his hips. The thief tried to make a bolt for it as Alexander took his hands off the rope only to end up having his hair balled in a first and yanked. Alexander wasn't the best with weapons, but he was strong and his unarmed abilities were beastly. Night rolled her eyes with a sigh.
"Alright boys, let's head back and turn this man in. I'd really love to be able to have something hot to eat after this," she said with a light sniffled. A tickle in the back of her nose exploded as she sneezed. Both men looked at her for a moment in shock before bursting out into laughter. "What?" She asked her tone angry and accusatory. She already knew what they were about to tell her. She'd been through this song and dance before. A blush crept across her face, a color that was more brilliant and red than the head of an aukari.
"Oh! Oh my! Nightshade Eld, you sneeze like a freaking kitten," Alexander laughed trying to get his breathing under control. His eyes welled up with tears. Mark wasn't even able to breath. "So much for terrifying warrior! How can anything that sneezes like that be mean tempered?"
"If all avriel sneezed like that I'd never be able to take them seriously," Mark said finally able to speak again.
"Shut up and get moving!" She snapped in return as the blood in her cheeks spread to her neck and ears. Her entire body felt hot with embarrassment. She yanked on the ropes the thief was tied up in and started to run away.
"Wait up!" Alexander called. "I'm the only one with a light now since you two wreaked your lanterns," he called out.
"No way am I waiting for you jerks!" She returned as her speed picked up. She curled her toes inward to keep her from tripping on them, only for the nails to dig into the bottom of her feet. It wasn't any worse than trying to run across sharp rocks. Her feet had built up enough callouses to deal with that. But it was still uncomfortable so she uncurled her toes and just tried her best to make some attempt not to fall. She was luckily enough able to do it.
Alexander and Mark raced after her with Mark's dog barking along behind him as the group returned to the city. It was easy enough to pass off the thief to the guards and get their pay.
Night inspected one of the shiny golden nels. "Pleasure working with you boys but after getting insulted I believe it's time that I head home," she said turning to both and snatching the lantern from Alexander for the walk home.
"Oh come on Night. Don't tell me you're still upset. At least come have a drink with us," Alexander said. He was looking slightly dejected thinking the half breed was actually still upset.
Night laughed at the look, thinking him to seem almost like a sad puppy after being scolded. "Sorry boys, but I don't drink."
Two large black wings beat the air, a spray of lose midnight black feathers shot into the thick midnight, the air was cold but sweet with the smell of icy winter and cold. The entire world was silent as it waited for the beautiful sunlight and life to return with Ashan. Just like that the raven hawk was gone.
