And so their journey begins (and almost ends) - Part 2
Warning: This RP is rather intense! Or at least I thought it was. So, if you aren't one for thriller type stories, this probably would be the best thing to read! :)
"The bat flaps up to the next branch above and maneuvers around the tree to the other side. A few breathless moments pass and the sounds of paws on snow grow closer and closer until a group of hares come into view. One black with a brown patch across his eye, one brown with a creme colored chin, the other a more slender gold colored hare. All three are armed with wooden spears, wearing gold colored tunics and red bandanas on their necks"
Kik hides behind the trunk of the tree Kacy is in and peaks around it. Her eyebrows meet in a frown as she examines the group of hares, whom don't look all the friendly. She glances up into the branches of the tree, trying to locate the bat so as to devise a plan, but she has not luck.
The bat is clinging to the tree eyes wide with fear. The hares pause here for a moment. "alright...this looks like a good enough place to have a beak." The black furred hare says. The hares begin to move towards the base of the tree. The brown hare sits down with his back against the tree and begins to drink from a water flask. "Just how far away did Tavis want us to go today? Feels like we have been walking since morning!"
Kik keeps herself behind the tree, suddenly finding herself very thankful for its thickness. She looks up into the branches, searching them for a sight of Kacy. After a moment of looking, she sees the bat and in an effort to get her attention, she shifts slightly in the snow, which causes there to be a squelching sound.
Such a pitty these are hares the otter is dealing with. Their ears shoot up and their heads snap around to the sound. Leaping to his feet the brown hare readies his spear. "Who goes there! Show yourself!" The other hares begin to move around the tree, one hare to the left, the other to the right
Kik is tempted to hit her head repeatedly against the tree, but she manages to restrain herself. She glances up at Kacy again, but she's not too worried about the bat, since she can fly. She holds her breath and stays behind the tree, waiting to move until it’s absolutely necessary.
It becomes absolutely necessary a moment later as the gold furred hare leaps around the side of the tree shouting "Ahah!" as he readies to swing his spear like a base ball club at any potential attacker. He pauses mid swing to give a confused look at the otter, "The blazes!"
Kik gives a small scream as the hare leaps around the tree and bends at the knees, covering her head with her arms. When nothing happens except the hare's apparent surprise, she peaks up at him from between her arms, muttering, "Oh, hello."
The hare stands there for a moment lowering his spear, "Um...hi..." In the next moment the militia soldier screams in panic as Kacy lands on his face while shouting, "Run Kik! Run!" the bat says as the hare flails his paws trying to get her off. At that moment the black furred hare and brown hare come around the corner, "What is going on here...DAVE!"
"Kacy!" It takes Kik a moment to decide what to do, but after a second of indecision, she wheels on her heels and takes off into the surrounding forest, snow flying up behind her. She doesn't dare look back for fear of running into something in the dense woodlands.
"Jim! Help Dave!" The brown furred hare says as he dashes off after the otter since...she's running. Running convays guilt right? The hare moves through the woods like a beast that is used to it. He keeps his spear point forward so as to not catch it on anything.
Kik continues to run, adrenalin rushing though her veins. Her heart is pounding out of her chest and blood drums through her ears. Maybe she should go back to help Kacy? Then again the bat knew what she was doing when she attacked the hare's face, right? Her breath is starting to come in short gasps as she weaves in and out of the trees.
The hare behind her is starting to faulter, "Stop! Stop in the name of (gasp, pant) name of hte Militia!" Eventually the hare begins to tire out and comes to a hault. He leans over, one hand clutching at his chest, other paw using the spear to support himself. To make matters worse the black hare apears shortly behind him. He begins to laugh, "Wot's the matter mate? That little otter give you the slip? Told you not to eat too much lettus at dinner, wot?"
Kik sprints on, really not sure who or what the Militia is. After a few more moments, her pace lags and she starts gasping for breath, coming to a complete stop. She leans against a tree, trying to regain her breath, which gives her some time to think. She doesn't relish the thought of heading back there, since, as she learned last time, the hare's were less then hard of hearing. But she had to save Kacy! She sighs and clenches her fists with determination, starting to circle back, though this time she tries staying out of ear shot, which may be a bit of a challenge.
The woods seem to go on forever, only broken by the occasional rock or large snow drift and are alive with the sounds of life even in this frigid environment. Birds, animals, not much in the way of insects though. Then abruptly it all comes to a halt. The silence is almost deafening. It's as if one person flipped the switch and turned off the sound of the woods.
Coming upon the silent area, Kik frowns and goes into a crouch. She loads up her sling and continues to move, though she makes sure to stay closer to the ground. She grazes the surrounding area with her eyes, as of yet, seeing nothing unusual other than the heart chilling silence.
The otter has completed her circle. The area up ahead is the same she fled from. There is no sign of the bat or the hares. The only difference is the trio of scratch mark in the tree, the clawed foot prints leading to where they were, and the dropplets of blood leading off into the woods. There is a slight smell of bat, hare, and...something else. The smell is strong, almost repugnant but its hard to place what sort of creature it is.
Kik sniffs the air, catching the sent. She shivers, its powerful odor threating to overwhelm her. The young otter grips her sling tighter and moves over to the blood drops, which she deems as cause for worry as she watches them go off into the forest. She starts the follow the trail, trying to stay behind trees for the sake of stealth.
The smell only increases as the otter moves along the eirily quiet forrest. The trail is also surrounded by the strange clawed foot prints. What ever made these prints is a lot larger than the otter...and the hares. The trail continues to move through the trees, occasionally a few low laying branches appear broken, but there is still neither sign of bat or hare.
Kik's eyes are constantly in motion as she tries to stay aware of her surroundings. She pauses to examine the prints, gulping at the size. Her paws start to tremble as she moves along and her breath becomes shallow in an attempt to block out the smell.
The wind starts to blow through the woods and for a long while it is the only sound one can here. The snapping of a twig can be heard through the forrest. Is the otter chasing after some beast, or is she being chased. The blood trail widens out for a bit, there is a small streak across the snow and then it returns to small droplets again. Up ahead there appears to be a small clearing.
Kik pulls her cloak tighter around her as the cold starts to get to her, only being reinforced by the chilling wind. She glances frequently over her shoulder, her eyes filled with fear. She stays close to the trees, feeling not unlike a un suspecting mouse about to be swooped up by an eagle. She gasps when she comes upon the streak of blood, and she reaches down to touch it with her paw, shivering at its gooey wetness. She picks up her pace, praying shes not too late to get to Kacy.
A face suddenly appears in front of the otter as Kacy swings down to greet her from the tree branch she was hanging on, "Kik! You got away! That's great!"
Kik screeches with fright and surprise as Kacy appear in front of her. The otter looks at her with wide eyes, then embraces the bat, starting to laugh from relief "Me?! What about you?! Are you alright? Where are the hares? What's with all the blood? And the silence? And what is that horrible smell?"
Kacy grks! as she is squeezed by an otter and pulled off her perch. Quickly righting her self the bat brushes snow off her shoulders. With cheerfull smile the bat replies, "No idea!" She rubs at her chin as she ponders the blood trail, "I dashed off into the woods shortly after you did, "Not sure exactly what happened next. I thought the hare was after me and he just sort of...vanished..." The bat turns to the otter, "what about you? What happened to tweedle dee and tweedle dum?
Kik is still smiling, clearly relived that her friend wasn't cooked up for some hare's dinner, "Well, I ran for a while, but they stopped chasing me. I stopped running then I circled back around to the clearing and everything was really quiet and there was this terrible smell." She sniffs the air, commenting, "You can still smell it, actually. Anyway, there was this trail of blood, so I started following it." She ponders the bat's words, "Just vanished, you say?"
"Yes...do explain the vanished part lass." The black furred hare states flattly as he steps out of the side brush behind the otter. The brown furred hare steps out of the bushes behind the bat, effectivly surrounding. He levels his spear towards the bats midsection and states harshly, "Dave...what did you do with him?" Kacy eeps and backs into the otter behind her as she faces the brown hare. "I...I don't know what happened to him! Honest!"
Kik squeezes her eyes shut, willing the hares to go away, but not such luck. She places a paw protectively on Kacy's shoulder, saying in a slightly pleading voice, "Do you really think she could have taken one of you three out? We've done nothing wrong! Please, just let us go on our way."
The brown hare glares at the beasts here, "If that's true then why did you attack us!" The bat chirps in panic as the pointed end of the spear is thrust cluser to her snout, "C-cause you were going to attack us...you know, the whole milita thing against vermin and those who know them." The hare gives her a disbelieving look, "Why would we attack you? Bat's are not vermin." Kacy and the second hare tilt their heads to the side as well, "Really?" The hare continues, "I did not know that." The brown hare shrugs, "Yeah, bat's are wood landers." Jim the black furred hare scratches at an ear, "Huh? I always thought of them as flying rats to be honest, wot?"
Kik smiles with an assurance she's not feeling, "So it was really just a big misunderstanding! Neither me or Kacy are vermin so you have no reason to kill us! Speaking of which, we should probably be on our way. It'll be dark soon and I don't fancy traveling at night."
Kacy nods with the spear still pointed at her face, "Y-yeah...no harm, no foul." The brown furred hare however continues to snarle, "You're not going anywere, not until you tell us what happened to dave! You kin?" The black furred hare snaps back, "Mav...ease up. Like they said I doubt these two took him down. And the by that blood trail we don't have much time to waste on them." He gestures with his head to the woods beyond, "Come on. We need to find Dave."
An exhale of relief escapes Kik as the hare's move away and she nudges Kacy, murmuring, "That was close, eh?" She waves to the hares, calling, "I wish you luck with finding him!" She looks around, then starts to back track along the trail, saying, "We had better get going if we want to get to Camp Willow before dark!"
Kacy sighs in releif when the hare removes the spear with a grunt of discust as well. The two hares dissapear into the thicket. The bat is following Kik on foot, "Aye! I thought I was done for! I'm glad they didn't reconize me..."The bat whispers, "I kind of escaped from one of their camps once. It wasn't pleasent." The bat chuckles nervously, "H-how far to Camp Willow?"
Kik frowns sympathetically as they start to walk, saying, "They held you captive once? How'd that happen?" She glances around at the surrounding area then takes a gander at the sinking sun, gaging how far they have to walk, "I'd say well be there within the hour if we hurry."
Kacy rubs the back of her neck with her wing, "It's a long story but basiclaly I was riding with some vermin merchants and..." The bat snaps her neck around as the shrill scream fills the forrest. It is very much sounding like the scream of a hare right befor ethey die. "AHHHHHH! RUn your..." fills the air and then silence swoops in to fill the void. "H-how long did you say until we reach Camp Willow?"
Kik nods as she listens to the bat begin her story's, but then the scream fills the air. Her head comes ups and her ears go ridged. She would make some crack about how possibly they hares got tired of each other, but she is full survival mode. She shivers with fear and starts to trot, saying quickly, "Very soon, if I can help it." She grimaces, thinking how serial it is to have possibly heard a beast's last sound.
Kacy gulps and begins to take to the air, hovering low to the ground the bat continues, "Kik...you uh...won't believe this but...I can swear I can hear something getting closer to us..." Kacy says in her best calm sounding but clearly terrified voice.
Kik breaks into a run, glancing over her shoulder. Her face is drawn tight with fear as she looks over at Kacy, "Are you sure?! If anything comes upon us, fly away, alright? Get help or something!" She continues to run, re-loading her sling as she does.
Some 'thing' can be seen running through the woods to thier right. Matching pace with them step with step. at this distance and in the low light it only appears to be a fast moving brownish blur. The sound of his deep breathing can be heard though, "Oh course I'm sure!" the bat shrieks, flying up high into the air. Instead of running off the bat calls down, "Hey kik! I see woodsmoke dead ahead! You are almost there!"
Kik looks over at the brown blur and gulps. The blur doesn't seem to actually be trying to hurt her, so she doesn't bother trying to out run them. At the moment, she's more so concerned about reaching the camp. She glances up at Kacy, nodding quickly and putting on an extra burst of speed as she yells, "Thanks!"
The brownish blur is running on all fours. It is a large creature to be sure. It has a brown matted coat and possible ragged trousers. Its snout is long with small beedy black eyes. It's long flowing tail is fluffy like a pine martens but the beast is far less friendly looking. It grows closer and closer, paws digging up the snow as it runs.
Kik continues to run, glancing cautiously back at the creature. It does dawn on her that they may actually want to hurt her and that, unlike what she thought before which was that they're both running from the same thing. Her breath is starting to come in short gasps, but she doesnt let herself slow down, not when she's so close!
The light begins to dissapear over the edge of the the forrest, Below her Kacy gasps in horror as she watches this animal draw closer to her friend, "Keep going Kik! You are almost there!"
Kik's lungs are screaming and a sobbing gasp escapes her lips. She keeps on running; the camp slowly gets closer, but so does the beast pursuing her. She's running on pure adrenalin at this point and her pace starts to lag, just slightly.
The bat high above shouts back, "You're doing good! Almost There! Just keep running strait ahead. That beast is...is." The bat looks about too and fro, "Hey, where did he go?" The beast has...vanished from sight. It's breathing though can still be heard and nearby. The light of the camp can be seen through the woods. So close now. So close. Then with a blinding flash the brown furred beast skids to a hault infront of kik. It looms over the otter even though it is partially hunched over. The light of the camp behind it highlights its shape yet hides its features. All that can be seen is the foam coming out of its mouth, and the fresh blood dripping from its claws.
Kik sees the light and continues to run, hope souring through her, only to be crushed in the claws of despair as the beast comes to stop in front of her. She lets a blood curdling scream rip from her throat and she quickly tries to back track, snow flying out from under her paws and tears of pure fear flowing from her eyes.
The deadly beast takes a step forward then drops to all fours, slowly advancing on the otter. The beast growls low now, only five steps away, four steps, three steps. It raises a paw, surely one swipe of those dealy claws would cut through the small otter like tissue paper. The beast turns its head though at the last moment. It seems to narrow its eyes then turns for the forrest and dashes off. A moment later a trio of otters appear over the hill line, brandishing lanters and holding spears, "What's going on out here, who is there!"
Kik tumbles over her feet and falls back as the beast advances. Another sob bursts from her as she still tries to scramble backwards, “Stay back!” She manages weakly. She closes her eyes, preparing herself for death. Then, as the beast runs off she opens her eyes in confusion. Surly a beast who’s heart was set on killing her wouldn’t just give up because of a simply plea. Her eyes alight on the other otters and her face contorts with a mixture of relief and foreboding. She manages to get to her feet, yelling in a voice riddled with sobs, “Get back to camp! Hurry! It might come back!” She rushes towards them, gesturing desperately to the camp beyond.
The bat flaps down to the otters, "You got to help us! There...there is some kind of monster in the woods!" The otters, Camp Willow guards look at the miss matched and terrified pair. THe lead guard replies, "Monsters? Whatcha talken about lass?" The otter on the left shakes his head, "Enough about that now. Let's get yall back to camp, ok?"
Kik nods vigorously, stumbling slightly as she moves towards the light of the camp. She looks at Kacy, her eyes filled with questions, “What was that thing?” She looks fearfully at the surrounding woodlands, her face still tight with fear. She starts shivering as she murmurs to herself, “It’s out there. Somewhere.”
The bat looks out to the forrest behind her. She can tell the beast is there...somewhere...just out of the light of the torches. It passes them one final glance then turns for the forrest and departs from the camp. The otter and bat seem to have survived their first encounter with the Mossflower Butcher...for now.
Hope you enjoyed!
