The Throwback Mountains

[Kadakism]

Rowan felt the hair on the back of her neck tingle when Freya told her that they were being followed. Of course they were. This was... exciting? Yes, she thought she was.

She gripped her dagger tight, but it seemed that the bandits had noticed the change in the girls' demeanors. They knew they didn't have much chance for surprise anymore, so they sprung out, blocking both directions down the road so that Rowan and Freya didn't have a lot of options for escape.

"Hey ladies," one of them said, his smirk obvious even with his mouth hidden behind a scarf. "Traveling alone ain't too safe for pretty things like you. Need an escort?"

[ladyhawkca]

Freya was almost relieved when the bandits finally came out of hiding. The suspense and not knowing had been killing her.

"Fortunately, we are fine," Freya remarked coolly and calmly, much calmer than she thought possible as she addressed the one bandit who was speaking.

"We also do not need your help, nor do we need an escort, thank you very much," Freya replied coldly as she stepped forward in front of Rowan with her walking stick which she angled slightly in front of her.

[Max!!]

And there they were, the prey was out in the open. Axindr grinned, and ascended a bit before diving down, embers emerging from his mouth. He exhaled a stream of fire. igniting the bushes on either side of the road. Then he tossed a couple oil urns behind the bandits, igniting them just as quickly, leaving the only clear escape route heading back into the town. Axindr himself blocked that off himself.

"Well hello there, gentlemen," he folded his arms and grinned wickedly. "It's time for you to fork over your belongings and pay for your crimes."

[Kadakism]

Rowan's heart was pounding when the men approached. It leapt into her throat when they drew their weapons on them. And it practically burst when Axindr dropped from the sky and made a wall of fire blocking the road further away from the bandits.

A pair of the bandits panicked and bolted into the woods, disappearing quickly into the foliage. Others hesitated, unsure of what they should do. The rest however, went on the attack.

One swung his knife, more like a short sword, at Rowan. She had never fought anyone with a sword before and so her first instinct was to block with her arm, the way she used to when she would get hit with a switch for acting out.

This was a mistake. It didn't hurt so much as it was just... hot. Like burning hot as her sleeve slowly turned red. She seethed and let go of her dagger. She couldn't hear her own scream over the pounding of her own heartbeat in her ears.

Rowan fell backwards and kicked hard at the bandit looming over her. She wasn't able to register the strangeness of it as his leg buckled underneath him, adding the count of screaming people on the ground to two.

[ladyhawkca]

"Fire" and a round of loud noises as urns bounced and hit the ground was all that went through Freya's mind when Axindr suddenly crashed in to break up the highwaymen's assault on them.

"Hey, stay away from her!" Freya shouted angrily when one of the men went to attack Rowan and knocked her to the ground. Reacting swiftly as soon as Rowan kicked him, Freya brought her stick down and started whacking the bandit until he was unconscious.

[Max!!]

Axindr growled and went right to work taking out the bandits. He was a good deal stronger and faster than they were. And it would soon become obvious just how outclassed they were in comparison to him. His arms had shifted. sporting long glowing claws, and black scales. He'd make quick work of them.

Then he looked off in the direction of where the others had run off. "Oh, there's no escape," he growled as he knocked out the robber closest to him. He shuddered then transformed the rest of the way. Axindr steadily moved away from the group as he grew larger. Likely much to the dismay of the bandits who tried to fight them. Like they could win. He let out a roar, and bolted off into the woods to retrieve the escapees. Like a cat chasing mice.

[Kadakism]

Rowan was fading fast. She didn't think she was dying, but the pain and blood loss were overcoming the adrenaline that had let her kick so hard.

The edges of her vision blurred, and she found herself struggling to stay awake. She wanted to though, as she saw Axinder's gradual transformation. She wanted to see it, but it wasn't in the cards.

Rowan blacked out, clutching the wound on her arm and murmuring to the flames that spread along the road.

[ladyhawkca]

"Axindr!" Freya yelled frantically when she noticed that not only had Rowan collapsed but that she had passed out and was now bleeding profusely from the wound on her forearm.

"We need to finish this now," she told him as she scrambled over to where Rowan was and began trying to staunch the wound as best as she could with anything clean looking she could find.

"She's still bleeding quite badly," Freya said as she pressed a piece of her own cloak finally against the wound as she tried to soothe Rowan with magic by placing her other hand on her upper arm, near the girl's chest.

[Max!!]

Axindr returned rather quickly, and in his humanoid form with a some weapons and other things he found on them. Things were more or less handled, but Axindr remained on guard just in case. When he did see Rowan's condition though he rushed over to her side to examine the wound.

"Fuck... I don't think it's as bad as it looks but, she needs treatment. He reached into one of his packs and pulled out some cloth to help wrap the wound better. From there he proceeded to disarm and tie the surviving highwaymen to a tree on the side of the road. He also looted their gear while he was at it and stashed it further into the woods.

"Okay," he hoisted Rowan into his arms then looked to Freya. "Get on my back, I'm going to run."

[ladyhawkca]

Normally, Freya might have protested or suggested an alternative. However, seeing Rowan in the state that she was made the witch obey and quickly as she threw her walking stick to the side and hopped on to Axindr's back.

"I'm ready whenever you are," Freya said as she wrapped her arms and legs tightly around Axindr's neck and midsection.

[Max!!]

He pulled his wings in tightly, and took off running back the way they came. Axindr was moving fast enough that he could easily keep up with a horse running at top speed. What a sight they must have been as they came back to town. They were pointed to a doctor after a bit of asking.

"You stay with her, I'm gonna make sure we get our due since we did complete the job. Don't worry, I'll be back before long."

While he wasted no time in making sure Rowan was taken care of, Axindr wasted no time in securing their job as completed, collecting their reward money. After which, he proceeded to collect the loot and gear he'd relieved them of. Between Rowan and Freya, he figured they could go through it and find anything of use before selling the rest of it off and splitting it up among them.

[ladyhawkca]

Staying with Rowan, Freya, despite feeling a sense of panic and worry, did whatever she could to keep the younger girl calm.

"It'll be fine, just... hang in there, okay," Freya murmured softly as she gently removed the hair from Rowan's face.

"Ax has gone to find a doctor," she continued, not sure Rowan could even hear her in her state, but finding that articulating the words helped to reassure Freya that everything would be okay.

"What are you looking at, miscreant? Mind your own business.." Freya hissed angrily as she knelt closer to Rowan, protecting her as best she could when a male passerby started giving them strange and somewhat leery looks. 

[Kadakism]

Rowan dreamed of heat. A cradling fire, shaped like a man, holding her in its loving arms. And she dreamed of the earth, nestling her in soft, grassy soil to rest after a long journey. She dreamed of flying as swift as a horse, carried in the arms of that same loving heat. She murmured to it throughout her sleep, small gracious kindnesses in her native tongue.

Rowan wasn't sure how long she had slept when she finally woke up. But her arm felt heavy and sore, like it was wrapped too tightly in a chain.

A voice pulled her out of her sleep, and she blinked sleepily up at Freya. Sitting over her like a guardian spirit, practically glowing with care and beauty. She smiled up at her sleepily, wincing as she tried to move her arm and understood the meaning of the chain around her arm in her dream.

She could barely close her fist, with pain shooting up her arm like a bolt of lightning. "Freya- did we win? I got- I was distracted listening to the fire..."

She felt incredibly.light headed, laying her head down on the ground and trying not to think about hee injury.

[ladyhawkca]

When Rowan spoke, Freya looked down in surprise and then almost started crying in relief. The sheer stress of not knowing if she was okay coupled with the day's events had been more than Freya had thought.

Blinking back tears, the witch just nodded her head until she could find her voice. "We did win... Ax is just getting our reward, and finding you a doctor," she explained as she gently placed her hand on Rowan's so she wouldn't move it.

"Don't move, okay... you've lost a lot of blood," Freya told her.

[Kadakism]

"Just like the panther," she said with a quiet, breathless laugh as her body went limp. "But we did it. Did he see-"

She stopped herself, fluttering her eyes closed. She hadn't mentioned Bobby, or why she was even traveling the way that she was. And of course he wasn't here. Rowan was glad for the blood loss, in a way, because she couldn't exactly blush if she didn't have the blood to do so.

[ladyhawkca]

"Yes, just like the panther, and... who's he, Rowan? You meant Axindr?" Freya asked very gently as she glanced furtively around them quietly wondering where Axindr actually was. The two of them were starting to draw some unwanted attention, and that was probably not a good thing.

[Max!!]

Taking care of the job payment didn't actually take all that long. Finding a doctor took some asking, and eventually just Axindr full on shaking someone down for the information. Then when he found the doctor it took him a bit of convincing to actually get the doctor to come out to the group to see to Rowan.

Axindr did manage to succeed though, returning with their payments evenly split, and a doctor in tow.

"I'm back with help," Axindr said upon his return. The doctor meanwhile muttered something and went right to tending to Rowan's injury.

[ladyhawkca]

"Thank the gods above and below you're back," Freya stated, very visibly relieved when she saw Axindr had returned finally and with a doctor in tow.

"She's lost a lot of blood, and there's got a deep and very nasty gash on her forearm," Freya explained to the doctor/healer as she very gently let go of Rowan and moved to the side and out of the way so that the man could inspect her wounds better.

[Kadakism]

As the doctor looked over her arm, Rowan chewed idly on her lip and avoided the question that Freya had asked her. She slid her eyes over her companions, the gentle prodding from the doctor less unpleasant than she originally had expec-

She relaxed as he worked, partially from the feeling of being safe but equally so because she was just so tired. Blood loss was not joke. Her sleeve was cut away and the wound flushed with water. Rowan winced each time the needle pierced her skin, but stayed as still as she could to let herself be sewn up.

The doctor stood up, asking Axindr and Freya to help Rowan to her feet. "She'll need to rest for some days. Get some food and water. Keep that wound clean and not overexert herself." He looked between the three of them, as if asking who was going to pay for his services. Rowan, as she was helped to her feet, looked at her companions.

"Pay him from my portion of the reward. I will be fine, yes?"

[ladyhawkca]

Freya almost immediately moved forward to steady Rowan from one side, letting Axindr take the other.

"No. We will all chip in," she replied rather firmly as she shot Axindr a look. Freya was of the mind that if Axindr hadn't convinced Rowan, who was about as clueless about fighting as Freya was, and if she hadn't gone along as she had with the idea, then Rowan would not be in this predicament. It was all their faults really.