Blood and Ashes [Spicy!]

[Rhindeer]

With a hearty laugh at that, Jayari slapped her own ass and winked at him from over her shoulder. "I thank you for the compliment! I've worked too hard not to have it noticed!" she shouted, before facing forward again.

"Unless, of course, you were talking about Zala! She's a fine mare, after all! Strong legs!"

And soon, Coyote Pass was in view, and Jayari urged Zala onto the rough, rocky path.

[visualspice]

Ah, Coyote Pass. This is where he would shine! Nana'tehk didn't have the over cumbersome body of a horse, and as the pass narrowed, Katoma gave a chtk! between his teeth and the avirian let out a 'caw' and spread open it's muted wings, but what happened next was definitely (in a sense) magical as the avirian took to the air, springing over head and landed, side ways, against the narrow wall, where it proceeded to run at top speed, undeterred by the fact the side walls were just as rocky (if not rockier) than the flat, snaking path Jayari and her horse were taking below. And it only took a bit more pressing and the bird's long neck was soon passing the long nose of the woman's horse. And Katoma simply waved at her as they passed, and flashed her the most boyishly playful of grins as the wild hair whipped his dark, long locks all about, and revealed the deep, red painted past upon his face with dazzling eyes twinkling beneath, like two sets of dark jewels.

And throwing up his arms, in a foolish attempt to feel free, to feel as if he were really flying, before he let out a 'COOOOOO-OOOOOOO!' noise that echoed sharply, happily, playfully through the pass. And just as they were nearing the end, Nana'tehk landed with an ungraceful plop infront of Jarayi before taking off once again into a run.

Turning back to the Duhjari woman, he called to her, "You'd better keep up! I think the Adelan army is gaining on us!" Whcih was untrue, but he wanted to poke fun!

[Rhindeer]

What in the...?

Jayari could only watch in awe and surprise as the bird thing and the man soared over them and...

Ran sideways along the wall??

And then they were in front of them, landing back on the road, and Jayari had to shake herself to snap  her out of her daze, because she'd never seen anything like that and--oi! What a show off! She'd be jealous if she weren't so damned impressed! Though ow, how her words did burn going down...

"Heeey! I think that's cheating!" she called after him, though there was a teasing note to her voice as she said it (because damn, points for creativity, though points deducted for the clumsy landing), as she leaned into Zala and urged her onward. But surefooted Zala was going as fast as she could safely go over the rocky terrain, so she didn't press her for greater speed.

[visualspice]

Eventually the trail split open to the cliffs, where the thunder of the falls could be heard. And in such close proximity to the narrow trail, the man with the painted mask looked around. But even as he strained his ears, the army's presence, if it was still behind them, could not be heard, and his avarian danced lightly with nerves as Katoma continued to listen and look. But after another antsy minute he pressed his mount towards the trail.
"I hope we have not lost them," he whispered.

Turning to the woman, he announced, "I'm going to scale the upper trail. See if I can't gauge where the army is." And he preyed they hadn't dropped pursuit... The woman's village was nearby and if anything, he hadn't intended to bring blood shed on his own people when trying to out fox the Adelans.

[Rhindeer]

"Not alone, you're not," Jayari said, feeling the tension thicken in the air as the silence extended, her heart beating a little quicker. Not hearing the enemy was the worst thing. Not knowing where they were.

And in this case...

Oh gods. What if she'd made the wrong choice? What if she should have rode ahead to warn her people, instead of try to divert the squadron?

Her stomach tightened with sudden anxiety.

"Let's go," she said, and turned Zala onto the trail.

[visualspice]

The curling taloned toes made the steeper climb a bit easier for the bird like mount as it struggled to pull itself and rider up the path. But sure enough, as they crested the peak, the Adelan army appeared to have halted mid trail. It figured the army would halt at the skinniest part in the trail as Katoma gave a heated sigh.
"They hesitate..." He swore. "To think they are so close..."

Sensing his anxiety, the avarian shuffled lightly, and with just enough momentum to kick a few pebbles over the side oftthe cliff. Katoma froze, eyes going wide before he ducked away just as the Adelan army was looking up.

[Rhindeer]

Over the cliffs went the pebbles, and Jayari held her breath.

Only she was hoping they would notice.

And when the man ducked away, Jayari gave him a look and hopped down off of Zala. "What are you doing? We want them to come for us!" she said, before she walked to the cliff's edge, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted:

"Hey, you idiots! We're over here!" And though they couldn't understand her, several of the Adelans looked up, and when they did she spun on her heel, turned her back to them, and shook her ass at them. "Come and get it, assholes!" she said, giving her rear a slap, before with a laugh she ducked back behind the safety of the rocks.

[visualspice]

The masked man could have eaten his fist. Sure, the plan was to get their attention- but you know, when he'd arrived at a plan! But seeing how this whole operation was improved, he supposed it was now or never to get the Adelan's attention- though to see the way Jayari went about it, he couldn't help but shake his head.

"I think you're enticing something else with that call," he teased, but moved to mimic her, butt out and shaking. This time, it got more than a cry from the Adelan's as a few arrows were unleashed their way. Katoma barely dodged one that was aimed for his ass before dropping into the bushes.

"Well, you made that look easy! Thankfully I'm faster than an arrow, or that one woulda landed on my butt!" ANd he wouldn't be a happy camper about it, either!
"Come on," he said with a gesture of his head. "Time to goad the Adelan's through the pass!" And without much hesitation, Katoma took a running start before LEAPING out over the edge, and went sailing into the air, wind fluttering within his hair and tossing the feather's about of his mount before landing on the rough, sharp edges of the trail and calling back to the army behind him- who were now ready to make chase after the masked man again!

[Rhindeer]

Never one to be outdone, Jayari stepped back and took a running leap to follow after the masked man, landing beside him and scrabbling at the edge when some rocks slipped out from under her foot. She gasped, but caught herself, and kept close to the man because he was the one with the grand plan!

At least, Jayari wasn't actually aware he didn't really have a plan...

"We're even now, because you made that look easy," she said, her heart hammering away at her near fall as the Adelans took to the trail, calling out orders to each other. "Looks like that worked! Seems they liked your ass better."

[visualspice]

"What can I say? I do my exercise," he told her with a grin. "And duhjari are known to have the finest asses in all the land- or maybe it's just all of the riding I do on a mount that isn't a horse!"

[Rhindeer]

Jayari sputtered out a laugh at that, because that could be taken several ways, and her first thought was sexual. But then she smiled slyly and said, "Oh, your bird, you mean?"

[visualspice]

Katoma cut her a look and couldn't help but smile, but before any remarks could be made- the Adelan army advanced their arrows on them- a detail he had been forgetting to keep a close eye of- until it sunk into arm.

It would have hit his 'bird' had his arm not reacted quickly and he grit his teeth and swore as he looked over his shoulder.

"I think our plan might have been too effective. Time for plan B!"

[Rhindeer]

Jayari cursed when a few arrows glanced off the rocky wall near her, and she ducked and jerked away. Shit! They needed to get moving! They were completely exposed right here! And she was about to shout as much when she heard the man's curse and looked--to find he had an arrow jutting out of his arm.

Oh spirits.

"What the fuck's plan B?" Jayari blurted, and reached over to him quickly without so much as a "how do you do" to snap the shaft off short, so only a couple inches of shaft were sticking from his flesh instead of  a foot. It was dangerous to pull it out; they would have to push it through. But there would be bleeding, and it would have to stay in until they could deal with that. "Except that we need to go! We're gonna get shot. Well, shot more."

And as she watched, she saw in surprise that a group of around ten Adelans had dismounted, and were starting to head up the trail on foot.

They weren't so stupid after all...

[visualspice]

"Plan B?" The masked man cringed. "Your guess is as good as mine. I tend to improvise!" But recalling her snapping off the end of the arrow from his wound, he got an idea.

"Up the pass, there was a tree- half fallen. Come on, let's get there before the Adelan's turn us into pin cushions. But we have to keep them on our trail." And at that, he flashed her a grin. "Can't knock a bunch of Adelan's over a cliff if they're not standing under the tree we aim to throw at them!"

That'd show 'em for shooting him with an arrow!

[Rhindeer]

"I like it! Let's do it!" Jayari said, and quickly climbed back up, and paused when she got there to offer a hand to the man so she could help haul him up. She'd never been shot before, but she had a feeling it was kiiiind of hard to use one's arm when you had an arrow stuck in the muscle!

"Spirits, if we pull this off, they'll write songs about us," she said, even as she watched the Adelans below. Some were nocking arrows--and the man was a sitting duck. Wasting no time, she reached and grabbed him by the wrist with both her hands and hauled him up the rest of the way.

[visualspice]

"Well, I think they already sing songs about me," Katoma informed her through a grin and pants as they made their way to the fallen tree. "Except most of mine I'm glorified as the enemy!" And he beamed at that, and the fact they made it to the fallen tree in one piece, and with Jayari's aid, they were both able to get into a good position to start applying weight and testing the precariously half fallen tree as the Adelan's continued towards them.

"I think if we can get them to try to kill us here, we can both apply our weight about ... here," he said, testing it beneath the balls of his feet as the tree bounced and lightly cracked. "Then down will fall tree, and down go the Adelans.." he said, pointing to the path the dead tree would take as it would not only wipe out the men soon gathering below them- but half hte army would ALSO get knocked into the ravine!

[Rhindeer]

"An enemy? Of the Adelans, I assume," Jayari said as she bolted after him to the tree and tested it with her own weight. "In that case, congratulations! To be sung as their enemy is a great accomplishment, indeed! Let's give them something else to sing about."

And she looked over at the masked man as she took up position, and smiled sweetly. "Shall we?"

[visualspice]

Though he was dexterous, it took him much longer than anticipated to get into any sort of position, and as the Adelans neared them, he braced himself before calling out a few taunts.

"Hey, bucket heads!" he shouted clearly, in Adelan. "What are you doing down there? You aimin' to bow to the might 'Masked Tribesman'?"

And if that didn't get their goat, he didn't know what would! And the second the men began to rush the tree, he saw their opportunity and gestured to Jarayi.
"Now!"

[Rhindeer]

Jayari couldn't understand what he was shouting, but it sure sounded inflammatory! It got the desired result, too, as the Adelans let out a roar of shouts and whoops and poured after them.

As soon as the man shouted to go, Jayari heaved her weight against the tree, grunting with the effort, her heart pounding even as relief coursed through her as the tree began to creak, crack, and give under the pressure--

And that relief and hope soon went up in flames as surely as the smoking fields.

Because that was when she felt cold, sharp metal at her neck, and heard the gruff voices behind them, snarling words she couldn't understand in a language she only recognized as Adelan.

They'd been so busy focusing on the tree and the Adelans before them that they hadn't noticed the men coming up behind them, at least not until they were at the end of their blades.

[visualspice]

It was a crash course in the most gravest disaster the two might ever face, for the second they were to enact their little plan- both were commanded to surrender.
But they had been so close. So close in fact as Katoma slowly turned around to oblige the men, he coaxed Jarayi to follow his lead, so that when they began to walk- it would finish breaking the tree and-

The crack and crash it had made paralyzed them all as the large tree thundered to the ground, barrelled down the way and crushed into a lot of the men who had been down hill of it-
and those fools waiting at the crest of the hill were knocked clean over-
and were soon falling into the ravine along with the rotting wood.


And all Katoma could do was stare back at the Adelan's with a shrug- before he was clubbed over the head and nearly bitten to death. Though somehow he clung onto his consciousness to feel after strike from his enemy, and every tight knot of rope as his limbs were bound from neck- to foot.