Lost in the Snow [o]

[Nimue]

Artemis shifted uneasily in the wagon, prompting a sympathetic pat from the girl sitting beside the large wyvern. "Easy, Temis, easy," she murmured, her voice soft. "I know, I don't like it either. The air's just too... dead up here. But this is where the rumors said that Brother went... and we can't just dismiss that." The wyvern whuffed softly, fidgeting on his clawed feet, but he stilled under her pat, lying quietly while she stroked his muzzle thoughtfully. Rosanne seemed so far away now, distant... something the girl had to strain to remember. Sighing, she gave one last pat before getting to her feet, brushing some dirt off her dress. "Behave, Temis. I don't like it any more than you do, but if you're going to be stuck in a wagon, I'd rather you do it without causing trouble than to have to risk losing you." With a single kiss dropped to his snout, she ducked back out onto the driver's seat behind the horses, using the wood as a step ladder to reach the top of the canvas-covered wagon, scanning her surroundings.

Dead air whistled around her, cold and harsh as it brushed across her cheeks and drew her chestnut hair around her body, but she didn't flinch from the cold, more than used to the feeling after having grown up in Rosanne. She didn't see very much of anything that would threaten the band of merchants she was traveling with, but then, that didn't mean very much. The taskmaster was mean and vicious, often forcing the horses onwards when they ought to rest, and it had only been his fear of the snarling wyvern behind her that had made him agree to take her on as protection at all... though he'd specified that the wyvern had to remain chained in one of the wagons to prevent him from attacking any of the men. The girl had snorted at the idea, but when confronted with the fact that she had little other choices if she wanted to get to Ferox, especially in light of the fact that she had already been turned away when she'd tried to come through the wall at Plegia... well, there weren't very many options.

The wagon lurched underneath her, and Nimue's arms flew out to try to keep her balance, purple eyes flashing in alarm while one of her boots went forward on the canvas to steady herself despite the worrying give. "Why are we stopping?" she yelled down at the driver.

"Bandits!" Came the reply, and she let out a curse, catching the axe that was tossed up at her. This wouldn't have happened if they'd just let her scout ahead on Artemis, and it would take too long to remove his chains. She'd have to fight on her own for this one.

Words. -- Tags. Open Notes. Notes go here wheee and you can get as long or as short as you want because it doesn't matter. And do you wanna know why that is? Is it because you think this scrolls? Well you'd be right. It does scroll. Pat yourself on the back my good man. You are smart. Smart little man.

[Payton]

Nimue

The figure in the corner of the caravan was taking a nap when the caravan came to a stop, and he cracked open one eye under his hood. He didn't look armed save for the sword sheath he had underneath his legs, pinned by his knees. Under the cloak some indications of armor could be seen, but not a full suit of it. He listened for a moment as a woman shrilly (or at least he thought it was pretty bloody shrill) yelled down to the driver, and then sat up at the driver's reply. With a grunt he stood up to his full towering height of 6'4, unclipped his cloak from his back and attached his sword to his hip.

He eyed the wyvern chained up in the corner and looked down at the petite lady beside him. At first, he was impressed that she could even lift that axe, let alone hold it proficiently, but then he realized he had seen far worse. He sighed and beckoned outside.

"Come. Your partner isn't able, I'll back you up." No way was he going to carry her on his back though. He withdrew his sword and jumped off the back of the caravan, adjusted it in his hand with a little swing and waited for the first sign of the bandits at a close range.

[ryth]

Looking around at the cold climate where the caravan was travelling through, Ryth started shivered harder at the amount of white he saw. The cold was never really his strong suit anyway, he could deal with heat very easily but when it got cold he was the worst off of any group. A brief thought passed through his head of having a fire tome to heat himself up but he dismissed that as a stupid waste of time even if he did have one as it would use a charge from the tome and not last too long after it was released. Being at the back of the caravan he did not know of the situation of the front of the caravan as it was led into an ambush and just hoped that they would leave the cold soon or do something that would offer heat. His reasons to be on there was to find a possible recruit and to make sure that the wyvern didn’t cause too much havoc if it attacked the caravan.

When the caravans stopped he thought that they were calling a rest and stepped out to go to the caravans to the front where they would be staying for at least an hour. He smelled blood though as he made it halfway to the front caravans and knew something had gone wrong and started running while bringing his tome out. As he reached the fray he saw the bandits surrounding two warriors while others attacked the people of the caravan. Thinking fast he sent a thunder spell to the back of one of the bandits surrounding the two warriors before starting to head to the wyvern to gain an important ally.

[Nimue]

Artemis let out a growl, staring at the man in the wagon with him. His tail, despite being restrained, twitched underneath his fetters. He could smell something in the air... trouble, and the cry of bandits had him itching to move, to take his rider and protect her. Instead, however, he let out a fierce roar when he watched the girl jump down from the top of the wagon, her shadow showing from around the canvas before she landed heavily.

Nimue, on the other hand, glanced back at the wagon where she knew Artemis was, handling the axe in her hands rather easily considering her petite size, but she nodded when the stranger spoke, rather relieved at the offer of help. "Okay. But I might need a bit more help than most... I'm not used to fighting without Temis." She could hear the rattling and scraping behind her of the wyvern chewing at his chains, the wagon rocking slightly, but there was nothing she could do. She took a deep breath for courage, letting it out again and watching her breath fan in front of her face, a mist that was familiar for her. It was just like being back in Rosanne training with her axe. Yes. Easy and simple. Her grip loosened slightly on her weapon, holding it more easily, and she shifted her stance into one more prepared for combat.

Of course, the moment that enemies got close, she wheeled and started lashing out with her axe, trying to catch any lances headed towards her ally and break them before they could connect. They were broad, sweeping motions, and she winced when she would get nicked by a blade, but she was at least holding her own with her back to the man - fairly well considering that she hadn't made one strike outwards to kill, the female tempered by her remaining hesitance to do such things out of a sense of innocence and her rather naive value that taking a life was an unforgivable crime of nature. "We need to get Artemis!" she cried. "If we can free him, he'll be able to help us!"

Words. -- Tags. Open Notes. That's two posts for two where I've decided not to smash the chains despite wanting to do so. Who wants to bet I can go three for three? *brick'd*

[Payton]

Nimue ryth

Putting his back to the smaller woman was difficult, but Payton managed. With barely two inches between the two of them, they kept a defensive line against the swords, axes and lances that came their way. He tended to jump in for one on one duels with those with swords, just as Nimue kept an eye out for him with the lances that came their way.

The difference between the two of them was while Nimue was out of her element, Payton was perfectly in his. He moved with grace and agility, his training shining through his motions. He was clearly projecting some kind of experience with fighting several foes one on one, almost as if it were his profession. He was just starting to get into the swing of things, if you'll pardon the pun, when he spotted the other major combatant's Thunder spell lodge itself between his foe's shoulderblades.

"Thanks!" He called out as he caught a glimpse of Ryth, but that pause in the fighting also let him watch Ryth head towards the wyvern. That wasn't smart. Payton had been riding with that wyvern for several hours, and even he didn't want to get close to it for fear of it biting. He caught the sound of the woman beside him desperately begging for the wyvern to be let go, and he glanced down at her.

"Do we even have that kind of time? What're you going to do, break the chains?" Well, actually, she probably could with the weight of that axehead. He glanced up at Ryth. "And what're you planning to do, electrocute it? We're in the middle of the tundra in the middle of battle, we can't just whip off our gauntlets... well... gloves and undo it, we'd need a key at the very least!"

[ryth]

Running to the caravan holding the wyvern in it, Ryth found a bandit entering to collect the valuables inside, halting for a second his body felt the chilling cold even more as he aimed the tome at the guard and shot it at the guards back, causing him to stumble forwards and be whipped out of the side of the caravan from the wyvern’s tail. Wincing at the impact of its tail, Ryth started fumbling in the snow for the traders of the caravan to find the key to free the chained ally. Though this took too long as he saw a blade coming down at him in the last minute which he moved away but it sliced his shoulder slightly and cut through the trader’s head, revealing the key hidden under him. Recovering quickly, Ryth ran to the man and kicked his arm so that he would lose the grip on his sword as Ryth grabbed it, which was then thrust into the bandit’s chest. Feeling the comforting weight of a sword in his hand again he held his book in his left hand once he strapped on the sheath deciding to keep the fairly new bronze sword. After receiving the key he moved to the caravan entrance and saw the wyvern still thrashing around. “Could the owner of the wyvern please calm it down so I can free it?”

[Nimue]

Nimue huffed, putting a little bit more weight behind one of her thrusts as she fended off a lance with more energy, pouring her irritation into the attack. Artemis acted towards some members of the caravan in a hostile manner, yes, but he only did it because they treated him that way first! What were they expecting, the wyvern to roll over and let them pet his belly after they chain him up like a common animal? "If I had my way, they wouldn't have been on at all!" she bit back, purple eyes narrowing slightly. "I could break the chain if I had enough time, it'd only take one good smack in the right spot if I had Temis helping!" And then she heard the sound of her wyvern's roar, and her head shot up, eyes widening with alarm. "Artemis!

In the caravan, the wyvern had instinctively roared when an unfamiliar presense entered the wagon, lunging forward and snapping with his powerful jaws. He knew that this was no friend, that much was clear, and it was enough that he pushed the man off guard so that a second person - this one someone that Artemis was at least familiar enough to know he wasn't an enemy - could blast the first with a Thunder, the chained mount then whipping his tail around to toss the man from the wagon. Roaring a warning, he lunged again, nearly choking himself to try to get the message through that there was a sword.

Of course, the moment that Nimue saw the key in the tome-wielder's hand, her lavender eyes lit up. "Give me that!" she cried, running to try to snatch the key even if she had to jump a little to get at it. "Temis is my wyvern and I ride him and you idiots chained him up so I think that I should be the one to unchain him like I told you all to in the first place!" Yes, she was going to hold a grudge about that until she had the wyvern free, and she was going to be petty and childish about it until she got her way. She'd known something like this would happen, and if they'd just listened to her, then she would've been able to take care of it in the first place!

Words. -- Tags. Payton, ryth, and others Notes. I can't really see what Ryth's appearance looks like but since Alice is pretty short if memory serves I figure she'd have to jump even just a little since he'd probably try to keep the key from her instinctively. An emotional little wyvern rider sans wyvern but plus axe is rather intimidating, after all~

[Camille]

From a short distance away, separate from the caravan proper, came the quiet clip-clop of hooves upon the permafrost. A pure white stallion trotted through the snow, a perfect specimen of it's breed - atop it sat a rider in an immaculate white, flowing dress, lined in a few places with pale, rosy pink. Tiny heeled white leather boots poked out from beneath the hem of the dress, heel locked around the stirrups to keep them in place.

The girl herself was almost picturesque - a serene smile graced her face as she went happily riding down the endless, snowy road. Her rosy pink hair lay untied, framing her features and resting upon her shoulders. Eyes with a similar hue to her hair peeked out from between her bangs, surveying the area around her. Oddly enough, though, her dress, while beautifully made and tailored to hug her every curve, didn't look all that warm at all.

She had been following the tracks left by what seemed to be a fairly large caravan - After all, finding the road after heavy snowfall was always a little bit difficult, she'd found. Snow was rare back home, and it was never this heavy. And so, she followed behind another group. She figured she was getting close, too.

Closer than she'd thought. Up ahead, she heard the sounds of battle, which only caused her smile to broaden still. She continued forwards, her horse gently clopping through the snow at it's hooves. Still, she kept her distance, even as the small skirmish came into view. She'd sit by as an observer, for now, not wanting to get in the way if things grew more intense than a simple skirmish.

[Payton]

Nimue ryth Camille

"Ma'am, with all due respect, if you don't want what could potentially be a dangerous animal to be chained, then by all means, don't use a bloody caravan and ruddy well move your own arse across the tundra." Payton had a way about him that clearly screamed he was of the North. The blunt way that he put things was more than enough indication. He also had a bit of a foul mouth, but that was to be expected. One tended to pick up foul language when one's profession involved taking hammers to the face and swords to the gut. He swung his sword once to get it into a better position in his hand and glanced over at the mage nearby.

"Mage, get away from the wyvern, give the lady the key and give the lady some cover." He grunted as a command. He wasn't used to people not taking his commands either, so he assumed that the man jumped at it even if he didn't. He went around to the other side of the caravan, opposite of the workers, and nearly met the business end of an axe.

With a slight step to the side, he dodged the axehead by a hair's length and his sword mercilessly swung at the wielder, leaving the offending hand quite raw and bleeding on the snow. He kicked the howling bandit backwards and glared at the woman. "Hurry that up, we haven't got all night!" He snapped.

Clearly he was a little stressed.

[ryth]

Turning to the girl who was adamant at regaining her wyvern he threw the key lightly at her. “I never wanted to restrain it. I’m just here to get a new recruit.” He then turned to see the dark shadows of the bandits in the middle of the sea of white as he unsheathed his sword and brought out his thunder tome. Rushing back into the fray he deflected an overhand axe strike coming down on his head before he shot a thunder at the wielder of the axe and continued towards Payton to back him up. Noticing one of the soldiers with a lance run behind Payton, Ryth cast a thunder at him before running him through with his sword. This left him wide open for one of the bandits to take a swing at him, biting into his side the sword cut a small gash into Ryth as he turned to fire another thunder at the bandit before taking it out. “dangit.”

[Nimue]

Nimue practically screeched at the idea, whirling around to level her best glare at the blond man. "Artemis wasn't dangerous to you until you chained him up, you, you stupid- Argh! This is why I hate Ylisse!" she yelled, throwing up her hands. Her wyvern was big, yes, but he was perfectly well behaved and only attacked people who were a threat or who she told him to. Why was this such a difficult concept for the people of this continent to understand? They didn't keep their flying horses chained up or anything, and those things were just as dangerous as a wyvern! Okay, maybe not since they didn't breathe fire, but still, the point was there. The girl just huffed and took the key when it was tossed to her by the mage, jumping into the wagon. Artemis let out a soft snarl, though from the way he squirmed, she knew it was a "happy to see you" snarl instead of a "I'm going to rip your head off if you take one step closer to me" snarl.

"I know, baby, you want out, don't worry, I got the key," she crooned, and the wyvern visibly perked up, shuffling to present the cuffs to her. Hurrying to his side and dropping her axe on the floor, she fell to her knees and hastily started undoing the chains, not even noticing that Artemis had snaked his head out and tugged her axe closer to him. "I'm working on it, stupid!" she yelled back at the encouragement, managing to fumble off the very last chain. "Got i- whoa!" The moment he was free, Artemis had ducked his head between her legs and jolted his neck up, sending his rider sliding onto his back while he snagged her axe in his mouth, throwing it so that she could catch it before, with a loud roar, the mount burst out of the wagon.

Noticing three bandits gathering up to charge the two men, she pointed. "Temis, down!" she cried, and the wyvern immediately responded, diving down and landing on one man while he reached out, snapping with his jaws at the second with Nimue lashing out with her axe at the third, managing to dispose of him. It was of course, then that she noticed the figure on the hill, and immediately the Roseannean yelled out, not thinking anything of it. "Oi! We could use some help over here!"

Words. -- Tags. Camille, Payton, ryth, and others Notes. Stupid Ylisseans chaining up a giant wyvern that could eat them if Nimue wasn't there to pamper him. Obviously they are the source of all our problems. I mean what.