Swords and arrows

[Anadwen]

Athran nodded. "Saw them. Yes, we should go as soon as we can." he agreed. He could see the camps, with small fires burning in the middle of each one. He breathed in the cold air, and crossed his arms on his chest, clutching his shoulders.

"Not too much. I can't sleep, but I can keep awake and travel." he replied to Dram's question. His wounds still hurt and a rest on the stones was far from comfortable, but it was just a small inconvenience with which he could deal. He didn't need sleep for several hours every night to be able to perform everything normally...

"I've been dead before, and I'll tell you, this isn't as bad as waking up after it." he muttered, and buckled his dark cape. "I'm tired, but not because of lack of sleep. I don't want to sleep."

[Lion]

"Good, I don't want to sleep either," Dram said with a nod.  He didn't believe the whole back from the dead thing.  It wasn't his business anyway and he wasn't about to ask Athran about it either.  He stood from his sitting position, clad in no cloak or coat, for the cold didn't bother him.  He stood and walked back to Bane and gathered the rest of his things, bundling them back into the saddle bags.

Wordlessly, he mounted the great eagle and took the reins in hand, not before casting a final glance at the fires and swooping up into the black sky.

[Anadwen]

As Bane took off, Athran gripped his hands around the edges of the saddle and pressed his legs onto Bane's body. The wind was wailing in his ears, singing its sad song on the edges of the rocks... He looked up.

Stars were like diamonds on the sky, glowing with their hard shine, beautiful, yet so cold. And so far away... He would reach for them, but it was always worthless to try to touch the stars. Too cold, too distant, they would burn someone so daring with their radiant light.

He turned back to looking at the ground, and watched the terrain below, rather then letting his thoughts flow in melancholy. That was what they needed - watchfulness, not sentiment.

[Lion]

Bane was a steady flier and kept on the wind quietly.  Dram was thankful for the blackness of his feathers, concealing them against the sky.  No conversation passed between them and Dram kept his eyes toward the trees below.  He could still see the fires, even as they gained distance, and when they were out of sight, he furrowed his brows in thought.

"Exactly how do you rate an orc's intelligence, Pale Elf?" he asked as his eyes lingered in their wake.

[Anadwen]

Athran scowled. "They can talk and use weapons, but... Most won't find out about a trick for children. They are very dumb." he replied. The intelligence of most orcs was even lower than that of humans - which was already low. Off course, some individuals had average intellect, but those were rare.

"On a scale from one to ten, where five is an average human, I think they are a three. Four at best." he said after a while of thinking. "You won't get any intelligence from them even if you smack them on the head fifty times in a row. Brain on the floor, yes. But wit, no."

[Lion]

"That is comforting to know," Dram said, his frown deepening.  He peered down into the dark then forward toward their set path.  "But I get the strange feeling that they set those fires as diversions.  If orcs are really as stupid as you claim, then likely the smartest among them would take the lead, and maybe together they're smart enough to spring a trap, though how, I don't know.  I'm sorry, I just, get a bad feeling about all this.  I have learned to trust my bad feelings."

[Anadwen]

Athran gave him a faint nod. "Better be careful and fast. There's something odd about this and I don't like it..." He shook his head, "They usually do choose the most clever, or strongest - depends on situation - to lead them. Together, they often aren't as stupid alone."

He glanced over his shoulder and looked down at the forest. The fires were still burning, but there was no sign of movement around them... "Dram. Fly higher and change course... There are no orcs around the fires..." he muttered.

[Lion]

"Right!" Dram nodded to Athran and pulled Bane higher into the sky.  The night concealed them and soon then were just below the highest mountain top.  The air whistled into his ears and Bane was silent otherwise.  But soon there was another whistling that caught his ear suddenly and Bane gave a squawk and Dram saw just along his side a black arrow protruding.  It wasn't deep for Bane's feathers were thick, but it definitely broke skin.

Dram reached down low and plucked the arrow from his mount and suddenly realized it was poisoned when Bane suddenly dropped from the sky.  "BANE!" Dram cried out to no avail as the bird fell unconscious.  And he plummeting with Athran toward the trees below.

[Anadwen]

In one moment, Athran held onto Bane's feathers as they were ascending higher into the air... And in another, he found himself falling.

His eyes opened almost inhumanly widely. This how they die... Both... By a painful fall from a mile in the air.

No, they won't die. Not yet. They can't give up yet.

He delved his fingers into Bane's feathers and grabbed them, almost ripping them from the bird's skin. They have to wake it... Somehow. Their time was slowly running out, and Athran didn't know if they can survive such a fall. Were they both not previously hurt, their chances would be higher, but in a state so poor, there was hardly any hope.

"If we fall, aim for something softer! Not for the ground!" he shouted, wildly shaking Bane beneath himself. "It will hurt if we fall... But there is a small chance that at least one will survive!" It was helpful as hell, but right then, lingering on the edge of panicking, he couldn't think positively in any possible way.

[Lion]

But his pulling did nothing and Bane fluttered through the air like a spinning leaf, with his wings twirling about him, eventually shaking the Pale Elf's grip.  Dram was falling back first through the air and managed to shoot a glare at the stupid elf falling with them, trying uselessly to wake up his mount.  "Right!  Because I've never fallen before," he shouted over the air.

He turned about in the sky, facing the torrent of wind that made his eyes burn.  He aimed for the trees and when at last he landed, there echoed a horrific crash and breaking of branches before he fell into the ashes below.  Dram landed in a crouch, and was largely unharmed save for a few bruises that could easily be mended, but the soreness would pass, he instead heard the crash landing of Bane and Athran.

[Anadwen]

Athran let go off Bane before they reached the trees, launching himself out of the saddle. The air slowed his body, much lighter than that of the eagle, up, and even though the air was still wailing in his ears, the fall didn't seem as bad now.

He turned sideways, pressing his arms to his chest and head, and he broke through the branches of trees with loud cracking and crashes. A branch of an oak fell apart beneath him, and he rolled onto the grass. Nothing worse than a few bruises and grazed skin - the luck finally turned to his side.

He stood up, reaching after a knife on his belt, and his bright eyes were flashing around. Wherever was the one that fired the arrow... He was going to get him, and kill him.

[Lion]

Dram held a hand to his side and stepped forward though the trees until he came toward the scene of the crash.  Bane was still largely unconscious.  The arrow had been dripping with whatever serum is was coated in and so the dosage must have been great to take down a creature such as the giant eagle.  "Gods," he murmured just as he stepped forward and listened for the heart beat of his mount.

When he found it, he was thankful at least that serum did not kill him, but there was nothing he could do for Bane now.  Instead he ran in the direction he suspected Athran had landed and paused short at the presence of the blade before him.  "Watch it Pale Elf!" he whispered harshly.  "It's only me!  They stuck Bane.  He won't wake up now, but I imagine when he does, he'll fly far from here.  What direction are the parties coming from!?"

[Anadwen]

Athran's hand, clutched around the hunting knife, arose at the sound of footsteps, but sunk back down when he saw Dram. His tense stance unwinded a little, and he shook the hair out of his face. He slowly pointed south. "I have heard them coming from the south. We are going northeast, and they follow..." he replied silently.

He glanced towards the direction Bane fell in. "So poison?" he growled. "I may have..." His hand reached beneath the armour, but he shook his head in disappointment, pulling out a cracked and empty vial. "No. Nothing left."

He hid it back into the layers of clothes, and listened, tilting his head aside like a hound. His keen ears could hear the sounds of a large group, coming from the south... He gestured Dram to follow, and pointed into the opposite direction. "They're coming." he whispered.

[Lion]

Dram crouched low between the trees and nodded to Athran regarded the direction they had to go.  The orcs were slightly quiet when it came to stalking through the woods, but Dram could hear the sound of paws and feet stalking through dirt at least a few leagues away.  "Bane will be fine, c'mon," he whispered and took off in the direction they had to go.

"Perhaps if we split up, just a few meters between us, they might think we've gone off in two different directions," Dram suggested as he weaved between trees, having brandished the kopis in one hand and held into a throwing knife in the other.

[Anadwen]

Athran shook his head. "I have a better idea... They can follow smell, but they're too stupid to look up." he said, pointing at the dense branches of trees above them. One of his scimitars appeared in his hand, while the other was free, and he leaped into the air.

His fingers clenched around the closest branch, and threw him up. He landed on a rather thick branch, and stood up, grabbing another one for support. "I grew up in a forest. This is natural to me... Run!" he said, and launched himself through the leaves again to demonstrate his ability to run through the trees themselves, or rather leap over the gaps between their branches.

His lean body was used to the swift movement in forest, and memories of his youth returned while he ran. This was freedom... It was as natural as breathing to him. As natural as fighting... As natural as the forest can be to an elf.

[Lion]

"Show off," Dram said to himself with a roll of his red eyes.  He too was nimble enough to move between trees.  True, leaping among the branches would prove to be better cover than wandering through the ground.  He ran straight up onto a trunk and leapt higher than Athran, jumping from tree to tree as the sound of wargs and orcs came ever closer.

[Anadwen]

Athran was gradually leaping onto higher and higher branches, flashing between them like a bolt of lightning despite the heavy armour that he wore, until he could see the sky at the top of his jumps. The orcs and wargs were behind them, but not even they could outrun an elf in the forest.

A shout echoed through the forest, followed by a howl. The pack divided, judging by the direction the sounds were coming from, but he was shielded by the leaves of the trees, and safe so far. They must have lost their scent...

[Lion]

Dram matched him move for move for the elf wasn't really more nimble than he.  He wasn't encumbered by armor or excessive weapons and leaped and bounded alongside Athran as the sounds of paws and feet and indiscernible tongues wagged behind them.  Perhaps they had lost their prey, but perhaps these orcs knew just who they were dealing with.

It wasn't hard to miss the stench of elf.

They called out something between them and suddenly there was the whistle of arrows whizzing just passed their heads as the orcs began to realize their prey leaping between the trees.

[Anadwen]

They found them... There were two options: keep running, or turn back and fight. Both would require the same amount of energy...

They didn't have to run or fight together.

"Dram, keep going! Leave me behind! I'll catch up later!" he shouted, and stopped running. Quickly sliding through the branches of the tree, he hid in the leaves, and waited for the orcs to stop. They indeed did, losing his scent. The stench simply stopped at one point...

He prepared himself to jump, and kill the whole group beneath him. Dram should run alone... It was safest like that.

[Lion]

Bah, curse the stupid elf.  "If you think I'm going to leave you behind, you've got another thing coming," Dram cursed as he hung back in the tree.  No, he would not run.  He never left anyone behind.  No matter how annoying they were.  A companion was a companion until this journey was over.

He leaped down from the branches in a roll and threw the throwing knife into the throat of the orc nearest him.  Their stench was powerful and fowl and they uttered a nasty guttural sound, when blood spurted out and he fell to the ground.

If Athran was trying to diver their attention, Dram just gained it.  All of it.