Dreams of Gods and Angels [Archive]

[DragonSong]

It took a few moments after she was able to feel pain again for her to wake. Meri jerked up with a gasp, staring around at the people attending her.

Animal instinct took over and she vaulted off the table, running three paces before the pain in her side completely reasserted itself and she collapsed to her knees, crying out raggedly.

The healer and his assistants hurried forward, attempting to assure her, explain that her friend had brought her to them for help...

Friend? What friend? Oh- the man who'd saved her. And...a girl. There'd been a girl. Why had no one mentioned her?

[Magyar]

Raoun remerged from a quick wash, little more than cleaning his hair and rinsing the dirt from his skin. He had both an injured girl and Mage hunters to deal with. He walked out of the bathing room, only to find Meri on her knees on the ground with assistants circled around her.

She seems to have fallen.

Raoun rolled his eyes, and hurried over to the girl on the ground. He picked her up in much the same way he had back in the forest, and carried her back to the table. "You can't be freaking out until you're patched up, alright?" He  told her as he walked, "Then you can freak out all you want."

[DragonSong]

"I- who are you? What's happening?" She whimpered as her wound protested the sudden shouting and finally submitted to the shaman's attentions.

"The girl- where's the girl who was with you?" she asked softly, looking around. "H-how did you find me?"

[DragonSong]

"I- who are you? What's happening?" She whimpered as her wound protested the sudden shouting and finally submitted to the shaman's attentions.

"The girl- where's the girl who was with you?" she asked softly, looking around. "H-how did you find me?"

[Magyar]

"My name is Raoun," he said to her as he laid her down onto the table, "I brought you here, and I can bring you home when these men are done, but first, I need to deal with the men hunting you."

What are you going to tell her of me?

Raoun frowned, and muttered to himself, "Shush Naia." He shot a glance at the elven girl, then whispered to her and only her, "I'll show you later, but we cannot speak of her here."

At this he left her to the Shaman, and walked out through the tent flap, only sparing a glance back before he was gone.

[DragonSong]

Meri stared at him as he spoke, whispered, then nodded slowly.

"Thank you," she murmured as he turned to go. Her eyes slid closed yet again as the shaman moved closer and began to work at her side. Something was slipped past her lips, a bitter sort of tea, and her mind started to go foggy.

Poppy, she recognized vaguely. The healers were putting her to sleep so they could work. Her instincts fought for a few moments, still feeling hunted, but eventually she succumbed.

[Magyar]

What now?

Raoun sprouted his wings and with a violent flap took off, spraying dust and debris away from him. As soon as he was high enough that the village seemed small below the, he answered, "We hunt." In his left hand materialized a nine tailed whip, long and barbed in flame, and around his right, of a much darker and golden flame, five floating knives began to rotate. "Find them."

Yes Raoun.

[DragonSong]

Her dreams were full of dark and twisting paths, angry faces, shouting at her and a dull ache in her side. Meri whimpered and thrashed in her sleep, forcing the healers to bind her down so she didn't further injure herself.

The men who'd hunted her had followed the trail of blood she left, but Raoun's timely rescue had left them with nothing to track once they reached her hiding place.

[Magyar]

They are found. See them.

Raoun's eyes became dotted with little specks of light, away down the mountain. He twisted in midair, and flew. No, he didn't fly, it was more of a dash through the air, his wings tucked but he gaining speed nonetheless. He angled straight for the ground smack in the centre of the glowing group, and landed with such force that it ripped the sod from the ground and shook the teeth of his enemies. In one movement he threw the knives at several targets, impaling two trees and felling three men. The whip in his other arm was almost autonomous, swinging of it's own accord. With each strike of the tail, it sent another man to the ground, and before two minutes had passed, the glade was set afire and torn asunder. Satisfied at his carnage, Raoun took off again, flinging bodies and grasses to and fro. He set off again for the mountain village, not ten minutes removed.

Naia materialized around him, customarily placing a hand on his cheek. She smiled oddly, looking at him, I'm impressed. A warrior you truly are.

Raoun snorted, and shook off her hand, thereby releasing her form. She frowned, and then a second later dissipated. He renewed his flight, and soon was over the village where they'd left Meri.

[DragonSong]

Meri woke to find herself bound.

Her scream could have raised the dead.

Healers surrounded her, attempting to hush her as she fought the ties in a mad panic. With a snarl, she shifted, taking the form of a large wildcat. Claws and fangs slashed at perceived enemies, her brain functioning completely on instinct and still not entirely conscious.

[Magyar]

A scream echoed from within the tent, and Raoun dived for the entrance. As he opened it, he saw a healer being mauled by a mountain cat. The cat had a strange spiralling pattern, and he knew it was Meri. "Naia!" He called in desperation, reaching to her with his mind.

I understand.

Immediately, Naia went to work pacifying the violent and confused fey girl, worming her way into first the emotional centre of the mind, and then into the parts that controlled movement. She tried and failed to calm her, and so she triggered an extreme sadness, so overwhelming as to consume the panic of the girl. In the other action, she tried to paralyze her, but failed, only loosening the girl's grip on her own movements.

Raoun then sprung at the cat shaped girl, issueing hurried apologies as he flew from the tent with her still flailing form.

[DragonSong]

Grief like nothing she'd ever felt swamped her. Meri yowled, pausing her mad thrashing for a moment as she just threw back her head and screeched the sadness to the sky.

Then she was being lifted, flying again. She struggled for a few moments before her conscious mind finally won out. Still feline, she stared up at Raoun's face, panting and wild eyed.

[Magyar]

Raoun landed none too gently, and dropped the cat-girl on her feet.

"What the hell!" He yelled, obviously angry, "What-what the-," he stopped, took a deep breath, and released it, then tried again, "That was a safe place! Do you know how long it will take me to convince them I'm not an angry mountain spirit, and that they have not offended me?"

[DragonSong]

The cat yowled at him, then suddenly shimmered, form stretching until she was once more an elven girl.

Meriana sprang to her feet, ignoring her body's protests and sinking back into a defensive crouch. "What the hell?" she repeated, glaring at him. "I woke up tied to a table! You expect me not to try to defend myself?!"

She honestly felt guilty about lashing out at the healers- now that she was fully conscious she realized that's what had happened- but Raoun's tone had her on the defensive.

[Magyar]

Raoun sighed, unwilling to argue, and sat upon the ground. His wings shimmered out of existence and he suddenly looked very tired.

"Alright," he mumbled, "alright. You've done what you've done. We can't change that now. Naia, show yourself."

The all too familiar wisps of her female form began to coalesce, and soon she had a hand on his cheek yet again.

What do you call me for, Raoun?

"For her," he said, and pointed at Meri.

[DragonSong]

"You." Her eyes widened and she slid back a step. Her gaze flicked from ethereal girl to man. "Who are you people?"

[Magyar]

We are Guardians. Of a sort.

"She has no form," Raoun explained, "So she lives... in me. Well not lives, persay, more so exists."

[DragonSong]

"Ooookaaay..."

That was weird.

Meri frowned. "But I can see her." She waved a hand at Naia. "She's right there. Are you a ghost?" she directed the question directly to the insubstantial girl, brow furrowed.

[Magyar]

No.

That was all Naia designed to say, as she didn't see the need to explain further.

"She's a...n ethereal being." Raoun finished a tad hastily. He had been about to tell the truth, but a mental warning from Naia had stayed his tongue. Outwardly she hadn't changed, but she had sent a dangerously threatening thought his way when she felt his intentions.

[DragonSong]

Meri blinked.

"Okay..."

She shook her head and gave a slightly hysterical laugh, hands going to clutch the sides of her head. "What the hell happened?" she muttered. "Why did you help me?"