Advertise/Affiliate Other Forum Main Page The World Before You Play

Snow? This Time Of Year? (SDB!)

Started by Eckhart_Von_Musel, October 14, 2017, 04:18:07 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart flinched when Taiga caught up to him, not slowing down for a second. "I don't fucking know!" he snapped at her. "People hate me sometimes, okay? This shit happens to me, like, every other week!" He looked down at Belladonna, who was running beside him. "Bella, you can teleport us out of here, right?"

The cat laughed sheepishly. "Ahahaha... Do you remember when I put on that magic fireworks display the other day? I, ah, kinda expended all of my mana..."

"What!" cried Eckhart. "Bella, come on! That's totally-"

He froze. Turning around, he could hear the woman yell something in a singsong voice. "What the fuck..." he muttered as he began to run once more. The healer glanced at the ice mage nervously. "Taiga, you're the one with a band of criminals, is it possible she's after you?"

"Please, please say yes. I really don't want to find out she's one of Kaida's loonies or something."

Celegwen

"No way!" Taiga said, her breathing heavy. She hadn't run for her life in years. "I seek out criminals. They don't find me! And none of them try to kill me!"

They continued to run, only spurred on by Wasp's melodic taunting. Chills ran up and down Taiga's spine. This new woman knew what she was doing and clearly enjoyed doing it. Somehow that made the whole situation even more disturbing.

"She's right," Taiga said suddenly slowing down. "We can't keep running forever. We have to figure out a way to cover our tracks and hide."

Meanwhile, Wasp heard a buzzing in her ear. Teryn's voice came through to her mind. "Eckhart fucking Von Musel?" He shouted angrily. "Melissa, stop this immediately! I don't need a war breaking out over this!"

"Spider, I can't hear you," she lied. "You want a war breaking out? I can arrange that." She laughed in a childish manner, doing a brief cartwheel in the road.

"This is serious issue!" He said. "Back the fuck off, now!"

With a short laugh, Wasp waved apparently to no one. "Bye-bye, Spider." She silenced his voice in her head, rolling her eyes and talking to herself. "The spider eats the fly, but the wasp kills the spider." She knew Teryn could hear her, and she knew he would come after her. A darkness came over her as she embraced her predatory side. She just need to find and end the Von Musel brat before Teryn found her.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Shit." Eckhart muttered. "Then this is probably my fault." Eckhart admitted quietly as he too slowed down. "I, uh, kinda pissed off a dragon a while back..."

Images of Kaida's pink haired agent flashed through his mind. "This new girl is acting just like Jaela did, except she's actually trying to kill me this time. Does Kaida do something to people to make them like that?" Remembering how the dragon had taken a bizarre interest in him, the boy paled. "Oh Ansgar, she wanted to make me like that too, didn't she?"

Taiga's suggestion snapped Eckhart out of his thoughts. "Oh, um, ok..." he said timidly. "Um... I've never really been good at outdoorsy stuff. Should we, like, climb a tree or something?"

Belladonna sighed. "Eckhart, let me talk to her please. I have an idea."

Eckhart nodded timidly. "Y-yes. You may speak with her."

When Belladonna next opened her mouth, Taiga would find herself able to hear the cat's dry voice. "Alright bitch, listen. You do stuff with ice, right? Can you make snow we can walk backwards in?"

Eckhart watched nervously. "Sweet Ansgar, you don't need to be so rude to her about it..."

Celegwen

Taiga stumbled back, shocked at the cat's voice. "Of course she can talk," Taiga grumbled. "Like cats aren't bad enough. Okay, let's bring winter a bit early this year."

The girl handed her frosted staff to Eckhart. "You break my staff, I break you." She crouched to the ground, placing her hands on the dirt. A ice blanket of snow started forming in all directions, further than they could see. It wasn't the fastest process, but it was quicker than Wasp would be able to get to them.

Looking up at Eckhart with glowing eyes, she furrowed her brows. "Why the hell would you piss off a dragon?" She asked condescendingly. "You know what a dragon is, right?"

Wasp chuckled to herself as snow began to coat the area. She shook her head. Clever little shits, she thought to herself. They might be smart, but I'm smarter.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart accepted Taiga's staff gingerly. It was cold to the touch, making Eckhart wish he had brought his gloves with him. The girl touched the ground, and a blanket of snow spread through the once orange forest. Despite everything that was going on, Eckhart couldn't help but smile- it reminded him of home.

Belladonna jumped onto Eckhart's shoulders, muttering. "Like cats aren't bad enough? I'll show you bad enough, just you wait..." Her good eye twitched. "Alright Tuna Fish, now start walking backwards, away from the psycho. It'll look like you're going towards her."

"Um... Right..." Eckhart said, as he hastily began to follow Bella's instructions. As he passed Taiga he handed her back her staff. "Ah, here you go." He grimaced. "I wasn't trying to piss her off, I just-"

"Had a panic attack and threw a pot at her." Belladonna finished flatly.

Eckhart went red in the face. "Well... yeah, but she was like, trying to recruit me to something. You saw how she kept buttering me up, offering me free food and stuff!"

"Yes, yes, I know she's a terrible person. I'm just saying, you could have handled yourself better."

Eckhart glared. "I wasn't thinking straight, okay? I was crying, for fucks sake!" Suddenly realizing he had said this out loud, he gave Taiga an embarrassed smile. "Um..."

"Sweet Ansgar, that was painful. I should just kill myself now, save Kaida's assassin the trouble."

Celegwen

"You're pretty smart," Taiga admitted, "for a feline."

She smirked, listening to the exchange between Eckhart and Belladonna. Now that she knew he wasn't insane and talking to the air, the young man was growing on her...to a point. And though she just really hated cats, the fur ball was absolutely a great source of entertainment, if nothing else.

Throwing a pot at a dragon, she thought. So...maybe I was a little quick to think he's clever. Even so, the humiliation on his face when he realized he'd confessed to crying gave Taiga secondhand embarrassment for him. "Listen," she said, "if you had a good reason, I'm not judging. Tears are strength, kid. Don't think anything less. So, what made you freak out so bad you had to throw a pot?"

Trudging through the snow, Wasp kicked herself for not planning ahead. The horse that was lying dead on the road could've been used to made this much easier. Then again, where's the fun in that? She walked over to a tree and pulled herself up to a low branch. Navigating the close trees was much easier than shoving her way through the snow.

She dropped back down at the sight of footprints, seeming to be headed back towards her. She narrowed her eyes, looking in either direction, but the prints led further than she could see. Wasp examined the prints.

Toe is deeper than the heel, but they're not spaced out enough to be running. Sorry, bastards, but you're gonna have to do better. She laughed, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice. "Hide, ya little bugs!" She called, her voice once again in a singsong tone. "Better hurry, or Wasp is gonna sting ya!"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart went even redder in the face. "Um... Thank you for not judging. That's really nice of you..."

"Oh, gods." Belladonna scoffed. "Are you gonna get sentimental now?"

"I- no!" stammered Eckhart, who was clearly about to get sentimental. "This isn't the time." He turned his head to look at Taiga, a pained expression on his face. ""Anyway, Kaida began to lie to me about what my powers were, made some big deal of it as if I was... special or something." He stared blankly at the forest ahead of him. "She told me I wasn't a healer..."

"What made it obvious she was lying," Belladonna quickly interjected. "Was her telling him that he could be better than his sister. If we actually look at the timeline of how this whole dragon clusterfuck went down, Hildegarde apparently kicked the scaly bitch's ass after she attacked Eckhart the first time. If I was were Kaida, I'd want revenge- what better way to do it then turn her own brother against her?"

Eckhart nodded. "Yeah. And now, since I rejected her, she just wants me dead. Just my-"

Eckhart froze when he heard the woman's voice. "W-wasp?" he asked, breaking out into a cold sweat. "You mean like-"

"Eckhart, she's not a bee. Calm down." Belladonna said, rolling her eyes. The cat looked at Taiga with her one good eye. "If we run, can you leave a layer of snow over our tracks?"

Celegwen

"Whether she was lying or not, it doesn't matter," Taiga said. In her experience, the weakest mage could be better than the most powerful if they learn to use their powers properly. Strength wasn't everything. She wasn't going to say anything more, though.

Eckhart's insecurity made a little more sense to her, after hearing Belladonna's explanation. The young man simply saw himself as inferior to his sister. Made sense, but he could easily get that smacked out of him with the right hit.

Upon hearing Wasp's voice, chills ran down Taiga's spine. She wasn't used to being the prey. Back in Hyoite, the ice girl was always the predator: this was a new and extremely uncomfortable position to be in.

Taiga couldn't help but smirk at Eckhart's reaction at the mention of a bee. She certainly didn't see that coming! Belladonna snapped her back into the scene. "Cover our tracks?" Taiga repeated. "I'll do you one better!" She aimed the tip of her staff in the direction they needed to run, which blasted the snow into a sheet of course ice. "Snow's a pain in the ass to run in. Come on!" She took off, spreading the ice ahead of them, while her free hand was behind them, covering the trail with a fresh layer of snow.

Wasp heard Teryn's voice in her head, encouraging her to stop, but she ignored it once again. At that point, she made Eckhart her own mission. She didn't care what kind of trouble she would cause.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Taiga ran down the pathway of ice she had created, and Eckhart followed suit. He stumbled slightly at first- he hadn't had to run on ice since he left home half a year ago- but he quickly regained his footing and matched the girls pace. "This was a good idea!" he said in between breaths. "Putting us in our element like this gives us the advantage! There's no way that she has the kind of experience with snow that we do!" 

As he ran, Eckhart drew his warhammer. The weapon was large and heavy, and Eckhart often had trouble using it- but it was better than nothing, and carrying it made him feel safe. He looked at Taiga, brows furrowed. "Is there anybody like this in your group? Like, totally batshit crazy? How do you deal with it?"

Celegwen

"Don't put a jinx on us!" Taiga snapped to him. "With our luck, she'll have grown up in Hyoite!" Taiga focused on her breathing with each step. During these nineteen years, she had never used ice and snow simultaneously. It was a powerful combination when used in a fight, but this was a method the girl hadn't developed fully.

When Eckhart drew his warhammer, she smirked. He looked a little foolish with the large weapon, but it was something. Taiga only hoped he would have the guts to actually use it.

"I've come across several people who are batshit crazy," she said. "The last one killed three of my men and convinced another to kill himself. I put an icicle through his eyes. There's no helping these people! Best thing to do is avoid them, and if they do catch you, void any emotions you have because they are predators who feed on power. And you'd better be able to swing that thing."

Taiga shivered, thinking about the last time she had to face someone like Wasp. It hadn't ended well for anyone.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart paled. "An icicle through the eye? Sweet Ansgar, that's fucking brutal." The boy swallowed nervously. "W-well..." he stammered. "Um, hopefully it won't come to that."

"Alright, we should try to make a loop back to the road. There should be enough distance between us now." Belladonna meowed authoritatively. "Head back to the town we stayed at last night. From there we'll be able to plot our next course of action. Sound good?"

Eckhart nodded, and began to slow down. As he did so, he noticed that Taiga's breathing was far too heavy, even for somebody who had been running as fast as they were. He looked at the girl nervously. "Um... Will you be okay?" he asked softly. "Would you, ah, like some help?"

"Please, pleasedon't take that the wrong way."

Celegwen

Taiga slowed, the flow of ice and snow stopping. She was able to slow her heart rate to near normal, leaning on her staff for some support. "I'm fine," she snapped too quickly. Squeezing her eyes shut momentarily, Taiga sighed. "Sorry. I'll be fine. Once we get to the road, I won't need to use my magic."

She sized up the cat, hating that she actually thought the mangy thing had some good ideas.

"We have to keep moving. Last thing you want to do is underestimate a psycho assassin." Once again, Taiga cast the icy path ahead of them. She started off again, though that time in a jog. Speed was much less important at that point than covering their tracks. She could rest when they got the road, but they needed to live long enough to do so.

Taiga was right; they were underestimating Wasp. She found where the tracks ended and looked around, her eyes searching for any sign of them. She took another step, but realized that her feet didn't sink into the snow. She brushed the sheet of snow away and felt the path of ice Taiga had created.

Clever, indeed, she thought to herself. This is more fun than I thought. Her boots' thick and grippy soles held onto the coarse ice better than she expected. Though she slipped a few times from the mostly unfamiliar terrain, Wasp was making shockingly good time.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart flinched as Taiga snapped at him. "I knew it. I knew she'd take it the wrong way." he thought, internally kicking himself. "Sweet Ansgar, is it possible for me not fuck things up?" The girl's apology didn't make him feel much better. "She's just saying that." a small voice in his head told him. "She doesn't really mean it."

The two began to move again, this time slower than before. As he ran, a thought occurred to Eckhart- something about the situation they were in didn't make sense. He looked at Taiga. "Wait, so if she's after me, then why did she kill the people in the carriage?" He shook his head. "Something about that doesn't seem right..."

Celegwen

"If you don't listen to another word I say, take this advice." Taiga shook her head and looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "Don't question crazy. She's a trained killer, so one of three things must've happened; she was hired to kill you and used the carriage as a trap, she was hired to kill the people in the carriage and saw you as a better opportunity, or..." Her voice trailed off, unnerved with the last possibility. "Or she's bored and just wants bloodshed."

Maybe I was wrong to tell Hakan not to come, she thought.

"You have my word," she said softer. "You'll be fine." It wasn't so much that she wanted to protect the man, but rather it was her own internal sense of duty that forced her to makes sure anyone she was with was safe. She's had that part of her for as long as she could remember, so it was a deep feeling of responsibility that Taiga just wouldn't let go of.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart stared blankly at the pathway ahead of him. "Yeah. We'll pull through." he said, more to himself than anyone. "Who am I kidding? I'm going to die today." he thought hopelessly. "I never should have left home. Hildegarde was right about me."

Belladonna's voice pulled him out of his self loathing. "My bet is on the first." the cat said. "If she works for Kaida- and I suspect she does- then she'd want to create a situation where people needed healing. It's the perfect bait."

Eckhart's eyes twitched. "Holy shit, that makes perfect sense! That's really fucked up though..."

Belladonna nodded. "Yes. Yes it is. The road is up ahead, I can see it through the trees now."

***

It was a quiet day in the town of Ashbark. A few people were going about their daily routines, but the majority of them seemed to have chosen to stay indoors. Ignatius Pratt couldn't blame them- he could feel the cold breeze even with his leather jacket on. 

Carolina the goldfinch landed on the teenage boy's head. "Alright dude, so there are four inns in this town- I just checked." she said telepathically. "Do you still got the sketch the boss lady drew?"

Ignatius nodded, pulling a small piece of paper from his coat pocket. "Yeah, I still have it." he thought back. "You think we finally caught up to him this time?

"Man, I don't fucking know!" the goldfinch replied indignantly. "This Eckhart guy is fucking impossible to find. Is it really so hard to stay in one place for a while?

Ignatius shrugged. "Well, he is on the run from a family of dragons. It's kinda to be expected."

"Pfft, those dragons ain't gonna do jack shit." the bird scoffed. "Hildegarde has the little one eatin' outta the palm of her hand. Also, I hear the frost dragon is a massive pussy."

"Really? Where'd you hear that?"

"Hey, I know stuff, alright? Stop bein' so nosey." The bird chirped excitedly. "First inn is up ahead!"

"Haha, alright!" Iggy thought back, smiling. Running towards the building, he went inside ready to ask about his boss's little brother...

Celegwen

Taiga sighed. "You'd better hope it isn't the first one because that means you're the target of someone who will kill innocents just to get your attention. They didn't need healing, fur ball. They were killed very thoroughly."

She stumbled briefly, regaining her balance and shaking her head. What the hell is going on with me? She thought, pursing her lips. The short altercation with Wasp had thrown her off more than she thought it did. No one was able to avoid her attacks that easily, so she lost some of her confidence.

Making it to the road, they were able to slow just a bit to regain some energy. "This woman isn't gonna quit," Taiga said finally. "If she really was sent by this Kaida, she's gonna be damn sure to get the job done. Unless she's taken out first."

Teryn's voice echoed in Wasp's ear. "I'm less than four hours away, Melissa! I'm begging you to stop this!"

She stopped walking, focusing on Teryn for once. "Once upon a time, a fly thought she could take on a spider. What she didn't know was that this particular spider wasn't actually in charge! No, no, no. When the fly challenged the spider, she kicked a nasty little wasp nest." She smirked, starting in a brisk walk. "Because of one little fly..." Her playful laugh echoed. "...everybody gets stung! See you in four hours, Spider!"

Wasp suddenly sank in the snow. No more ice? She felt around her and smirked, looking at the ground. The ice was changing directions. Trying to throw me off? She thought. Me? Really?

"I'm getting bored," she mumbled to herself. Pulling from her pouch the stone she blew on, Wasp gave it just a little more juice. She hurled it forward and crouched to the ground, hands covering her ears.

BOOM!

The large explosion from the little stone threw her onto her side. She stood, laughing maniacally and starting off again towards the road.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Everything Taiga said just made Eckhart feel worse. "I didn't think she'd drag innocents into this..." he thought blankly, eyes beginning to tear up. "I should have just let her kill me back in Northwatch."

Taiga stumbled before reaching the road, though she quickly regained her balance. Eckhart was about to say something, but Belladonna cut him off. "Alright, now that we're at the road you need to stop the snow, that way she wont know which direction we-"

BOOM!

An explosion some distance behind them caused Eckhart to panic. "What? What was that?" he squeaked, clearly scared out of his mind. "She's blowing things up now? Sweet Ansgar, we're gonna die!"

Celegwen

She looked at the snowy land and nodded, realizing that she had been still covering their tracks.

The loud explosion was possibly worse than being face-to-face with Wasp. It was the anticipation of what was coming; the buzz right before the sting. She wanted fear.

"I don't think she's gonna need the snow to track us," Taiga said, once again picking up the pace. "This lady's good. Of all things to piss off, a dragon? We aren't gonna die! You keep your shit together, I gave you my word that you'll be fine. I don't break my word. We're about two hours away from the town, right? So, let's not make her job easy."

Wasp felt the two remaining stones in her pouch. Two left, she thought to herself. I can make do.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Taiga seemed just as panicked the explosion as Eckhart was, but she hastily assured him that they'd be fine. "How? How are we going to be okay?" the healer whined as he sprinted alongside Taiga. "Didn't you just say she'll stop at nothing? What's the plan when she manages to follow us into town? Then what?"

"Eckhart, calm the fuck down!" Belladonna yowled. "Towns have guards and mercenaries! We'll pay somebody to get rid of her with the money you stole from Kaida!"

An idea suddenly hit Eckhart in the face. "That's right! I have all the money from Kada's wallet! Maybe we can just... pay her to leave?"

Celegwen

In truth, it wasn't a horrible idea. Then again, did they want to risk it?

"You don't know how much Kaida's paying her," Taiga said. "You don't know if she's personally tied to Kaida. You don't know if she'll take the money and still come after you." Shaking her head, the girl huffed. "There are too many unknowns. Do you really want to slow down and find out?"

Belladonna was probably right. The safest bet was to get somewhere at least a little controlled. Even the most deadly assassin isn't a match against an entire t-

She can just blow it up, Taiga thought, pursing her lips. "I'm with the cat. We need help. I don't care how much you have: I'm almost positive you aren't buying this one off. She has skills I've never seen before, so Kaida has to be paying her a shitload. Best thing to do is find someone else you can pay to make her leave."

Tags: