Heirot

Drakoe remembered his own past. A chill went down his spine when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sound not too far away. He looked up at Zeikiel and Dan saw that they didn't seem to notice it.

He stood up quietly, but it was too late. They had already let them get to close. Drakoe saw a man in a tree about twenty steps behind Zeikiel. "Look out," he warned but he had already released the arrow from it's quiver.

A moment later the man fell from the branch with Drakoe left standing in his place. Drakoe stood in shock at the number of men now encircling his three "companions."

Recongizing the danger, and knowing his own limitations, Zeikiel stood up quickly. Suddenly the safety of Kat popped into his mind. Something he shouldn't care about... but his mind reacted quicker.

"Drakoe! Take Kat out of here and keep her safe. We'll split up until I can find you again!" he called out and took up arms next to Dan.

"But Master how will you--?!" Kat called out but Zeikiel pointed his fingers out her throat and her magicked collared changed colors, from green to purple to a bluish hue.

"Stay with Drakoe, I'll find you that way." He told her like it was an order. Something told him that if he didn't keep her safe somehow, he'd never forgive himself. If he had the time to think about his actions, he would think them ridiculous. Why should he care for the human slave girl? But... looking at her, knowing how helpless she is.... he was unwelcomely reminded of how his own family had been helpless against the attack.

His infant sister...

Zeikiel shook his head, grabbed his ax and without a word to Dan, he split up with her from Drakoe and Kat and they darted into the forest. Half of the mercenaries followed after them, the other's stayed on to capture Kat. There was, afterall, a reward for her return.

OOC: gonna split up til Variah can return. Kat and Drakoe will be in a different thread from now on until then.

Before Drakoe could argue Zeikiel and Dan had disappeared into the forest. He saw Kat surrounded by blood thirsty, No... not blood thirsty... money thirsty, mercenaries. He counted the men as they walked closer to her. 9!! He quickly swept through them. Three immediately hit the ground, There blood spilling from there guts. Drakoe pulled Kat close to him. "Don't move" he told her. "They won't touch you... I swear." He moved between them slashing and cutting them before they even had a chance to blink, but there was a bigger problem.

He heard the footsteps of at least a hundred more men on the way. 'They really wanted this slave girl and Zeikiel.'

"Come on," he said grabbing Kat by the hand and running deeper into the forest.

OOC: Kat and Drakoe have moved to 'Get Away [mature]' in Ashgrown forest

Running behind Zeikiel, Dan glanced at the mercenaries, then at him. She hadn't expected him to be the sort to run from anything... Oh, well, it made her job easier. He was certainly fast enough to keep himself out of trouble, so she could pick off these fools at her leisure. "Don't die, all right? I may still want that bounty myself," she called out to him, and in a matter of seconds had scaled a tree and begun to loose a deadly hail of arrows.

Zeikiel smirked. 'Don't die...', he thought smugly, 'Not until my journey is over.' Ax in hand, Zeikiel swung out deadly strikes to those foolish enough to run to close by him. Heads sprayed blood into the air, and the mercenaries were dropping like flies around the two. Zeikiel stopped running to look back behind him. He saw Dan's arrows through the tree's striking down whatever foe's were left, and there was a bloody trail left behind on his path.

Had Kat been around this wouldn't have been as easy. Blast... what has gotten into him? He was foolish to show that kind of sentiment towards the human girl-slave.

It seemed that most of the mercenaries had fallen. Dan was almost disappointed - it had hardly been as exciting as she might have expected. For a few moments more she fired off shots into every clump of leaves that moved, occasionally rewarded by a grunt of pain that told her her lethal accuracy was undiminished however long she'd been apart from her own people. Then she examined the ground, noting the trail of blood. That probably led to Zeikiel, and she assumed it wasn't his. She found it hard to imagine that a beast like him would have such normal-looking red blood. Remembering that trying to sneak up on him would probably avail her nothing, she dropped to the ground and followed the path of blood.

Soon enough it became a path of headless corpses and she was impressed despite herself. "Hm. Maybe I'm the one who should worry about not dying. In any event, if someone wants you dead badly enough to send a small army after you, I'd wager they want it badly enough to send a larger one. There'll be more where they came from."

Zeikiel nodded, taking Dan's advice and he lead them deeper in the forest without a word. "There is never a dull day for me..." he mused, partialy forgetting his company, but maybe he didn't care anymore?

Dan smiled wryly. "That's really a pity. There's something to be said for dullness every now and then... it doesn't seem to have quite as high a mortality rate."

Zeikiel stared at the elf. He wasn't sure what she meant by that, to him, having to fight and kill someone everyday became irritating. "We should keep moving," he said after a moment of looking around. He lead Dan eastward, towards the thickest part of the forest. They'd have to hide out for awhile, until their pursuers finally ceased. Zeikiel knew there'd be more after the ones they had already killed, more always came to find their dead and try to avenge them...

Dan made a vague noise of agreement. She hadn't been in this part of the forest for awhile now. Zeikiel seemed to know his way around pretty well. She wondered how long he'd been here without anyone knowing but thought better of asking. Instead she asked what was probably a stupider question. "Why did you let Kat go with Drakoe?"

The question stopped Zeikiel in mid-step. It was dangerous to to tell why; that he felt a moment of weakness, a remembrance of old pain he had thought long buried.

"She was a burden, and the boy a nuisance." He lied and resumed his pace.

Completely disregarding the handful of contradictions in Zeikiel's behavior she could easily have pointed out, Dan grinned. "Well, I'm flattered you didn't see fit to dispose of me the same way, then. I've been told I'm fairly irritating on my own." Though she continued walking, she kept an eye on him to gauge his reaction. If she was going to find out anything about him it would probably be through the things he didn't say.

"Who says I wont?" he said, allowing a smirk to slip upon his lips. He made a joke without even realizing it, and as soon as it had come, the smirk disappeared from his lips and he pressed onward in silence. He had been with them for too long...

"Well, I don't think you will. All the people who don't like me are merely blind to my individual charm. Or jealous. Possibly both," she replied, then noticed that he seemed to be walking a bit faster and his silence was more... silent. Maybe it'd be best not to say anything else, given his poor social skills - no, that was his understatement - his tendency to hit things with an axe. Besides, if he walked any faster, she was probably going to have to start running due to the drastic height difference.