Somewhere in Arden
Morgan ran this, until the point where Cael vanished. He had to go, so Rae took over following instructions he left. Thanks to both of them!
Niklas wanders back toward Kazimir after what wounds he received are tended to. Out here, with the warpack, there's something different about him. He seems more serious, more focused, than he does back in Weirmonken. "Sir," he says to Kazimir drawing up in front of him in a, more or less, military at ease.
Kazimir is currently seated, cleaning the blade that lays across his lap. He glances up then, nodding a slow greeting to the other. "Niklas." It's part greeting, part question.
"Anything you need done?" Niklas asks business-like, hands clasped behind his back.
"Nothing, no. Rest, while you can." Kazimir replies with a half-smile. "I suspect this is going to get worse before it gets better." There's a pause, before he asks "You're going to be Bonded soon, aren't you?"
Niklas nods with a slight smile. "Soon, yes sir."
"Good, good." Kazimir smiles more fully. "Have to get you home in one piece then, won't we?"
Niklas laughs, "I'm tough, sir. Just so long as I can smell and walk I'm good."
After a heavy battle with the leading edge of the army approaching Amber, the Weir have fallen back towad the Eternal City to lick their wounds. Many of them are in wolf form, some injuries more servere than others. Kazimir is seated near the centre currently, speaking to Niklas. "Good to hear. I...we haven't really had much of an oppertunity to get to know one another, I know."
Niklas nods slightly. "We haven't talked, no," he says. "But that doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention. I may not be assigned to Rae... but I'm still protective of her." He grins. "And I'm not as stupid as a lot of people like to think I am. I do my research."
"Well, I didn't think for a moment you weren't protective of your little sister." Kazimir replies with an answering grin. "Still...I figure you might have questions for me, and it occurs to me that we're not going anywhere for a while."
Niklas hmms, sliding two fingers under his arm to scratch and itch on his chest. "You're a good guy, Kaz. At least that's what everyone says. I haven't any doubts that you'll take good care of my little sister." He takes his turn to grin, letting the military tension fade away. "'Sides, I know where you live."
The Weir, even in their exhausted state, have too much instinct, much less experience, to miss an odd sight in a battle-torn area such as a caravan. As evening falls, this particular wagon, drapped in bright colors and with lights that glow with blue flame, creaks through the forest. It could not sneak up upon the dead. It drags along, dark horses straining to carry its weight through mud and against roots.
"True enough." Kazimir laughs softly, about to say more before his attention is drawn to the approaching caravan. "Come." He murmurs, his tone worried, standing slowly. "This looks like it may bode ill."
Niklas detaches the Katar at his right hip to hold it firmly as Kazimir's demeanor changes. He nods once and turns to follow after the Alpha. "Just give the word and whatever it is'll be cut to ribbons."
The wagon finally halts, as if caught upon a large forest root that halts the wooden wheel. There is cursing, and the lone man up front, visible now, pushing himself from his seat onto the ground. He takes one of the lamps from its hinge on the wagon, crouching down. If he is aware of a camp of Weir, he seems to not be threatened. He could also be completely blind. He does lean low to the ground, to look at the obstruction.
"It /could/ just be extremely bad timing." Kazimir allows, moving forward until he's within ear-range. "Hello there!" He calls out, raising a hand in greeting should the man turn this way.
Niklas bends his arm behind his back to hide the weapon he holds. He stands to Kazimir's right and slightly behind. He makes not attempt at greeting. Instead he stands there, slightly tensed, watching the wagon rather than the man who drove it.
"Hello!" The man in black does not look up, poking at the root with a finger. "Has this thing always been here?"
"I do not know, but I suspect not." Kazimir replies. "Living things grow, after all. Tell me stranger, where are you coming from?"
Rae slinks out of whatever shadow she had found herself in. She's cleaning some blood off of her face, casually, and looks curiously towards the caravan.
Niklas remains silently attentive at his post near Kazamir. Were there more light, and the man actually looked up, it may seem odd to see a nearly seven foot tall weir dressed in thick black armor standing there like that.
A clap of thunder, off in the distance. Despite the distance, the sprinkle of rain can start to be felt, and heard, in and around the forest. The man answers, "From shadow. Following the road." Dressed in a cossak, dark hair covers his features for the moment. He places a hand to the tree, and says, "Amber is under assault. I figured. . . I would see art in action."
"You follow alongside the Road, or travel it?" Kazimir asks, before nodding slowly. "It's true, there is an art to warfare. But it is a dangerous art to witness in action. You mean to travel to the very gates of Amber, then?"
Niklas shakes his head slightly and says, softly, to Kazamir. "He doesn't carry with him the scent of someone traveling the shadows, Kazimir. Something isn't right," he says suspiciously.
"Celestial Heavens, no. That would be just silly." The man straightens, then. Youthful features regard the two Weir, though his eyes glance off in the distance, as if something catches his attention. Maybe it's Rae? It's that direction he looks. "I come to observe from a distance." He almost titters.
Rae's steps stride closer to the caravan, almost urgently. Her head tilts and she regards the figure, her lips pressed tightly. It might be familiarity on her own features.
Kazimir glances from the man to Rae, and back again. "She calls to you, doesn't she?" He asks, his hand slowly moving to his side.
Niklas must know what that means because after Kazimir says it the weapon hidden behind his back is brought into full sight. Slowly, almost predatorily, he begins moving away from Kazimir in an obviously flanking manuever around the strange man.
"She's not my type." A bit more tittering, as he says, "We've just met before. That is all." The man in black says, after a moment, "I was hoping introductions might be in order."
"I remember you," comes from Rae, an almost dreamlike quality to her voice. She doesn't look drawn to the man, more she's trying to work out what he's doing in Arden. "You tried to get us to turn back. That was long ago."
"Then by all means, let us introduce ourselves." Kazimir holds up his hand in a stilling gesture to Niklas, his single eye fixed on the man. "I am Lord Kazimir Icemane, Alpha of Clan Icemane, Vicar of the Western Marches, Castallan of Schenn, Alpha of the Warpack."
Niklas stops when signaled to do so but doesn't clip his weapon back into place. "Argus Niklas Shadowdancer," is his own, much simpler, introduction.
The rain quickly falls, not quite as if a porous bucket were in the sky, but close enough. Even before the man in black speaks, it has become a torrential downpour. "Cael, servant of the unsleeping King. And your friend there does remember, yes. Yes. I tried to ward your friend and her own from danger, not bring it down upon."
Rae's eyes show thoughts that are going faster than she can voice them. "It was a bridge," she says. "Who is the unSleeping King, what is beyond the black tower? I need to know." It's almost a plea.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Cael." Kazimir replies after some silence. "I wish it were under happier circumstances." He's still wary, but is relaxing a little and his hand has moved away from his sword for now.
Niklas hasn't relaxed and stands there like a pillar in the downpour, letting the rain wash his hair down over his forehead.
"So do I, so do I." Cael sighs, and glances at the wagon. He straightens, moving to put the lamp back on the hook on the side of the coach. Then, to Rae, "The Unsleeping King is my master. I know no truer answer than that. And beyond the tower?" He glances back at her. "Death for all of us, of course."
Rae furrows her brow in thought, and seems careless of the fact that she's standing in the rain. "Why did you try and stop us? Who is the artist you seek to watch here, Cael? You are far from the place we had found you. Far from your king. The thing, holding up the tower, pushing it...was that your king?"
"Death for all of us?" Kazimir considers this for a moment. "Well, it can stay there then." One of Rae's questions seems to attract his attention, since his gaze becomes more intent as he waits for Cael to answer.
Niklas glances to his sister and lifts a brow slightly before looking back to the man who drove the wagon.
Cael says, "He is my king. He is your true king. He is all of ours. He is where we walked before, and where we will all walk when there is dust." He turns, looking surprisingly cross at the tree. He walks over and presses his hand to it. "And the artist? The generals, the soldiers, the living and the dying. And I tried to stop you because to challenge the king would be the end of all who did so. However, he is no friend of the road. That is why I am here, as well."
The gaze Rae turns on Cael is one that seems to be searching for lies, yet also one full of so many more questions. "The true king," she murmurs thoughtfully. "You say you are no friend of the Road, but how then do you travel it? There are so many questions." She shakes her head, trying to clear it. "We didn't want to challenge the King, just to find out where the Road would go..."
Cael asks, almost idly, "Tell your friends to not kill me, and perhaps we could talk more?"
Niklas's upper lip twitches at the suggestion but he still doesn't put his weapon away.
Kazimir shakes his head slightly at the talk of true kings. "There is a King in Amber, and my Regent in Weirmonken. I do not have room for any more Kings in my life."
Rae nods. "Kaz, Niklas...don't kill Cael. I want to hear what he has to say."
"Then he best start speakin'," Niklas says flatly. "He's already lied to us once. I'm not about to let my guard down."
"What did I lie about?" Curiosity in the man's tone.
"Nobody will kill him unless I give the order." Kazimir points out, though he doesn't say anymore for the moment.
"You said you travelled the shadows to get here," Niklas says. "You don't smell it."
Cael says, "That hardly makes it a lie, now doesn't it? How does one get here, if not through the shadows? As Rae said, I am far, far away." He focuses on the tree as he talks.
Niklas smirks. "There are other ways. The cards, for one."
Cael says, "And you think that is not traveling across the shadows?" He tsks. "Semantics. You may think I am wrong, but that does not mean I am a liar."
"There are multiple ways to travel." Kazimir muses. "And our new friend has a point. He may not be talking straight, but he may not be lying either."
Niklas growls, low and gutteral. "Perhaps," he concedes. "But it's still suspicious that he's here... now." He glances at Kazimir, "Respectfully, sir, something about this smells wrong. It's all to convenient."
Rae presses her lips and looks to Cael. "How did you know what was happening?"
Cael says, then, "The road warps all it comes across. My master and his servants are no exception, unfortunately. But that does not mean we still do not have will, yes?" Giving Rae an amused glance.
"I think you have a point there, Niklas." Kazimir agrees with a slow nod. "But for now, he's not hostile and we may learn something from this conversation."
The red in Rae's eyes does a writhing little dance at Cael's words. "No, it doesn't mean that we lose our will, unless we have given it up." She looks to the tree Cael keeps looking at, and then back to the man.
Niklas turns his attention back to Cael, weapon still in hand.
Cael says, "Indeed." There is a pause, then, looking behind at the storm, a frown. "We'll have to talk later." Just as soon as he has said that, he is gone. There is a space where his body was, outlined by the rain falling upon the ground a few moments later. The caravan, the wagon, is left behind.
Morgan has to leave, Rae takes over
Niklas lifts his Katar to point the three blades where the man was. "See... now that's not right."
"No. But it's not automatically Roady, either." Kazimir muses. "I'm not sure what it is, to be perfectly honest. Rae, you know about this sort of thing. Any ideas?"
"Cael's marked," Rae murmurs, "But that doesn't mean he's a servant of th..." Her voice trails off as a massive, winged creature swoops down into the clearing, talons out and deadly, screeching out a challenge.
Niklas turns his attention toward the winged thing and its screech. He looks back to Rae and Kazimir as if asking permission.
"It's just one thing after another." Kazimir remarks wryly, as the bird approaches. He nods at Niklas, looking like he's going to move forward himself. "Come on, let's put it out of our misery."
Rae sighs, deeply, and pulls her sword free. "Well, that explains why he left in such a hurry," she mutters, lifting he blade and preparing to strike.
Niklas unclips his other Katar then and with a wicked grin starts toward the thing. One would almost think that Niklas /enjoys/ this stuff.
Kazimir draws his blade and moves forward with Niklas. He, too, despite his words seems to rather enjoy this.
Niklas lets Kazamir take the thing head on, shifting to flank around the left side of it.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEE! comes the call of the creature, wings and tail thrashing about, using every resource it has against the two Weir. It's talons are as sharp as any blade, its wings strong and powerful.
"I'm going to stab you in the eye." Kazimir tells the creature with a cruel smirk, running up toward it to encourage it to lower its head. If it does he'll dance out of the way, taunting and distracting it with his movements and getting blows in where he can.
Niklas continues to circle around the side of the thing and then laughs. He calls out, generally, "Who wants to see if I can get on it's back like I'm riding it?"
"Just kill the damned thing," Rae says with a laugh from where she stands. A fog starts to rise up from the ground, slowly for the moment.
The creature's response to Kazimir is another screeee. It might mean 'up yours' or 'holy shit, it's Kazimir Icemane'. One can never tell. Its head lowers, darting out in attempt to sever his arm with its beak at the shoulder.
"It'd put you in a good position for a Coup de Grace." Kazimir calls back, before rolling to the side to avoid a beak to the shoulder. His sword slashes back the way he just came, in case he can catch the creature in the face.
Niklas clips his Katars to his belt and moves at a more oblique angle to the things tail. From the looks of it, since Kazimir ahs the thing distracted, he's still going to attempt getting onto the things back. "I'll just strangle it then," he calls to the others.
Kazimir's sword strikes true, and the creature bleeds out from it's face, blood pouring out freely--headwounds are always the worst. It doesn't stay still, not making Niklas's attempt an easy thing. Talons dig into the earth, and the thing attempts flight again.
Niklas is already halfway up the back when it attempts flight. When the thing moves so violently and he stars to slide down he catches himself by wrapping his arms around the Wyvern's wing joint. Quick thinking the armor clad weir braces his feet in. He's ripped heads off with brute force before... who's to say he can't do it with a wing?
Kazimir grins widely as the blood starts to flow. And then, while the thing trys to take off, he stabs and slashes at it's head as much as it can. True to his word, one of the blows is aimed for the center of the creature's eye.
Niklas continues to hold that wing joint tight, grunting and growling as he digs his feet into the monster's side for leverage.
The cry of pain that the thing gives as its eye is taken and Niklas attempts to remove its wing is a horrible, horrible thing. And on it's feet, three more creatures swoop downwards, seeking to join the frey.
At this point Niklas had to go, so the rest of the combat happened off-camera