A/N: Yeah, hey - sorry for taking so long on the last chapter! I hadn't intended for such a lapse in my updating but, well, you all know how crazy things can get sometimes! But now that it's summer-time, I won't have quite so many time restrictions! Okay - back to the story!
From the tree, two pairs of eyes watched as Dante and Deyan burst into view, shredding the plantlife around them in their haste to reach the girls. Dante was covered in a fine sweat, Deyan's coat glistened with the first signs of it, too, and both of them were swinging left and right as Wyrsa after Wyrsa lunged at them.
'What a partner to have,' thought Kate, admiring those dagger-like hooves and the way Deyan put them to use, 'What a weapon to cover your back in times of war!'
And it was true - Deyan made a formiddable opponent to even a man with a sword, and his apearance fooled many an ignorant enemy when they took him for what he appeared to be - a horse.
There was movement in the bushes behind Deyan, and Kate's eyes narrowed on it like a hawk's to prey. A dark and lithe form misted through the shadows, heading directly for Deyan's flanks. Kate slipped from the tree as quietly as a cat, her slender body moving swiftly over the ground as a mighty huntress might, with feet that made no sound on the pine needle-carpeted forest floor.
Caelan had been too absorbed in what Dante was doing to notice that Kate had gone, but when she spotted that leather-clad body lurking through the underbrush, her heart leapt into her throat.
"No, Kate!" she hissed the whisper as though it might reach Kate's ears that way, "Don't be foolish!"
However, no amount of whispering or even shouting was going to bring Kate back into the safety of this tree, and Caelan wasn't too stupid to realize that. She clung to the trunk of the tree with both hands and prayed to the Goddess that no harm would befall her best friend and his - what, his lover? Surely they were together, given the way Kate looked at Dante whenever she was near him - but... Dante had never mentioned anything about it!
Caelan was startled from her thoughts when one of the Wyrsa let out a terrible shriek, and the woman looked up to see that it'd been impaled upon Dante's sword. Gruesome, to say the least - and where had Kate gone!?
Kayatice Fitral, Master swordswoman, spy, street fighter and Fire Mage, slunk through the bushes like a snake. If there was anything out here that didn't belong, she'd slice it to bits first, and ask questions later. It was a good policy, if Kate said so herself, and one that the woman followed almost religiously. Closer and closer she went, into the fray of teeth and claws and swords and hooves, using the chaos of the fight to cover her stealthy movements. She continued on, expecting to discover one of the Wyrsa, lingering behind to take its cue from the others whereupon it'd move in for the kill and finish Dante of Deyan off. What she found she'd been chasing, instead, was the leader of the pack - the Alpha - and it was looking mightily disgruntled.
What passed for the creature's ears were laced flat against its skull, and it now stood at ready, watching its pack lessen in numbers with every passing moment. At random intervals it would yip or bark; Kate got the impression that it was giving out orders. And what had she learned so long ago in her schooling? 'Taking out an officer demoralizes the troops, but taking out the Captain leaves them in chaos.' Kate would bet her left arm that the exact effect would happen here, and in that case, drew her swords and moved onward.
'Here I am,' she glared at the beast, 'Come and have a taste of your own poison!'
The Wyrsa's snake-like head whipped around, staring Kate in the face with its sulferous eyes for a split second before lunging at her.
Kate's blade met teeth half way, the Wyrsa closed its jaws upon it and aimed at wrenching the hilt from Kate's hands, but the woman had been prepared for such a trick, though her mind had never expected the beast to bite her blade - Kate had always been able to think on her feet. She met the force with an equal amount of her own and jerked the blade back, snapping it around again to the front of her body, level with the Alpha. Something akin to a growl hissed from the creature's throat, and it bared it's nasty yellowish teeth. 'Venomous teeth,' Kate reminded herself, and lashed out again with the sword.
The last thing Kate thought about when the fangs sank into her arm was, 'How could I have missed!?' Then her world heaved, she fell to the ground, and knew nothing more.
For two days, Kate tossed in the hell of a world of nightmares. She saw the horrid face of her father, the sneer upon his lips when he ordered her beheading, the way he seemed to enjoy seeing her in pain. There were many of them, each more hellish than the first, all of them beginning with the same, emotionless line, 'Where is your strength NOW, oh Heir?' In some of the dreams, Kate would escape, set the castle aflame, live on with the knowledge that her father was dead. But in others - the ones that had her thrashing in cold sweats - Kate hadn't fared so well. She could see her stiffened body being dragged from the dais, see the repulsive glee on Pyrte's face. Kate was watching her own death over and over again, and was powerless to stop it.
She awoke, one morning, to find herself being stared in the eyes by a young woman with chocolate-brown hair. It framed her face in tight ringlets, fell down her shoulders and back, and somehow it seemed to compliment the green in her robes. "Well hallo, there! You're awake, then? I thought I heard something over here..."
Kate's first reaction was anger. She was being treated like a child and loathe to think of herself as one - she was not, after all, an infant - and this woman seemed to enjoy cooing at Kate like a mother babbles at her child. A cool hand touched Kate's face, pressed a cup of water into her hands and examined the bandage on Kate's right arm. "Drink this, love, you need it." Obviously the woman thought Kate was daft, else why would she instruct on what to do with a cup of chilled water? 'This is ludacris,' she thought, downed the water and nearly threw the cup at the woman in green. Kate hoped she wouldn't have to be in here for long. She didn't think she could handle much more baby-talk and infantile instructions. "We were starting to think we'd lost you," the woman said from one end of the room - Kate couldn't see what she was doing, since her eyes were still a blurred from the venom - "Been two days, and you'd been thrashing in your sleep. Fevers like you wouldn't believe. Aye, we were certain-sure you'd not make it through another night, but here we are!" Altogether too cheery for Kate's tastes. Damned pep. Damned vigor. Damned high spirits.
"Yes, here we are. " she grumbled sarcastically, closing her eyes again - if only to keep from looking at the ray of sunshine over there in green robes. "Damn near dead and annoyed as hell by some woman who speaks to me as though I'd just passed my fifth birthday. Oh, what a grand bit of luck I've had, hey?"
Either the woman didn't notice Kate's sarcasm, or she ignored it. "You're lucky, you know. Wyrsa bite-victims seldom survive. If that redhead hadn't have gotten you in here in time, you'd have died. Thank the gods that she'd the help of her Companion!"
Companion? Caelan didn't have a Companion... did she? "Redhead?"
"Oh, a sweet little thing in a tattered, rose-coloured gown, I think it was. Dragged you in here off the back of a Companion, she did. And not a moment too soon. One mark later, and you'd have been beyond repair."
Sweet. Why was it everyone thought Caelan was sweet? Stupid was more like it. Brainless, maybe. Helpless was a good word, too. "And you know, I think it was a Grove Born that got her here so fast - even seemed prettier than usual."
"Oh, Deyan? He's Dante's Companion... Caelan doesn't have one, she's not the type of person to-"
"His name is Pasan, and he's mine, Kate. Deyan was with Dante all the while, keeping the Wyrsa off of our trail. Not that they'd have been able to keep up." Caelan closed the door behind herself and smiled at Kate happily. 'Great,' Kate rolled her eyes, 'Just what I need - more cheer.'
"Oh, gee. That's wonderful," she lied, and left her eyes closed. "Too bad I wasn't conscious long enough to see him. I'm sure he's the bee's knees." Were these people TRYING to make her life a bigger living hell than it already was?? "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think I'd rather have my eyes gouged with hot pokers than stay awake and listen to you two go at it." A curmudgeon, Kate decided, was DEFINITELY better than a ray of sunshine. She tugged the thin blanket up to her chin and flopped over onto her side, refusing to speak to either of them.
From the tree, two pairs of eyes watched as Dante and Deyan burst into view, shredding the plantlife around them in their haste to reach the girls. Dante was covered in a fine sweat, Deyan's coat glistened with the first signs of it, too, and both of them were swinging left and right as Wyrsa after Wyrsa lunged at them.
'What a partner to have,' thought Kate, admiring those dagger-like hooves and the way Deyan put them to use, 'What a weapon to cover your back in times of war!'
And it was true - Deyan made a formiddable opponent to even a man with a sword, and his apearance fooled many an ignorant enemy when they took him for what he appeared to be - a horse.
There was movement in the bushes behind Deyan, and Kate's eyes narrowed on it like a hawk's to prey. A dark and lithe form misted through the shadows, heading directly for Deyan's flanks. Kate slipped from the tree as quietly as a cat, her slender body moving swiftly over the ground as a mighty huntress might, with feet that made no sound on the pine needle-carpeted forest floor.
Caelan had been too absorbed in what Dante was doing to notice that Kate had gone, but when she spotted that leather-clad body lurking through the underbrush, her heart leapt into her throat.
"No, Kate!" she hissed the whisper as though it might reach Kate's ears that way, "Don't be foolish!"
However, no amount of whispering or even shouting was going to bring Kate back into the safety of this tree, and Caelan wasn't too stupid to realize that. She clung to the trunk of the tree with both hands and prayed to the Goddess that no harm would befall her best friend and his - what, his lover? Surely they were together, given the way Kate looked at Dante whenever she was near him - but... Dante had never mentioned anything about it!
Caelan was startled from her thoughts when one of the Wyrsa let out a terrible shriek, and the woman looked up to see that it'd been impaled upon Dante's sword. Gruesome, to say the least - and where had Kate gone!?
Kayatice Fitral, Master swordswoman, spy, street fighter and Fire Mage, slunk through the bushes like a snake. If there was anything out here that didn't belong, she'd slice it to bits first, and ask questions later. It was a good policy, if Kate said so herself, and one that the woman followed almost religiously. Closer and closer she went, into the fray of teeth and claws and swords and hooves, using the chaos of the fight to cover her stealthy movements. She continued on, expecting to discover one of the Wyrsa, lingering behind to take its cue from the others whereupon it'd move in for the kill and finish Dante of Deyan off. What she found she'd been chasing, instead, was the leader of the pack - the Alpha - and it was looking mightily disgruntled.
What passed for the creature's ears were laced flat against its skull, and it now stood at ready, watching its pack lessen in numbers with every passing moment. At random intervals it would yip or bark; Kate got the impression that it was giving out orders. And what had she learned so long ago in her schooling? 'Taking out an officer demoralizes the troops, but taking out the Captain leaves them in chaos.' Kate would bet her left arm that the exact effect would happen here, and in that case, drew her swords and moved onward.
'Here I am,' she glared at the beast, 'Come and have a taste of your own poison!'
The Wyrsa's snake-like head whipped around, staring Kate in the face with its sulferous eyes for a split second before lunging at her.
Kate's blade met teeth half way, the Wyrsa closed its jaws upon it and aimed at wrenching the hilt from Kate's hands, but the woman had been prepared for such a trick, though her mind had never expected the beast to bite her blade - Kate had always been able to think on her feet. She met the force with an equal amount of her own and jerked the blade back, snapping it around again to the front of her body, level with the Alpha. Something akin to a growl hissed from the creature's throat, and it bared it's nasty yellowish teeth. 'Venomous teeth,' Kate reminded herself, and lashed out again with the sword.
The last thing Kate thought about when the fangs sank into her arm was, 'How could I have missed!?' Then her world heaved, she fell to the ground, and knew nothing more.
For two days, Kate tossed in the hell of a world of nightmares. She saw the horrid face of her father, the sneer upon his lips when he ordered her beheading, the way he seemed to enjoy seeing her in pain. There were many of them, each more hellish than the first, all of them beginning with the same, emotionless line, 'Where is your strength NOW, oh Heir?' In some of the dreams, Kate would escape, set the castle aflame, live on with the knowledge that her father was dead. But in others - the ones that had her thrashing in cold sweats - Kate hadn't fared so well. She could see her stiffened body being dragged from the dais, see the repulsive glee on Pyrte's face. Kate was watching her own death over and over again, and was powerless to stop it.
She awoke, one morning, to find herself being stared in the eyes by a young woman with chocolate-brown hair. It framed her face in tight ringlets, fell down her shoulders and back, and somehow it seemed to compliment the green in her robes. "Well hallo, there! You're awake, then? I thought I heard something over here..."
Kate's first reaction was anger. She was being treated like a child and loathe to think of herself as one - she was not, after all, an infant - and this woman seemed to enjoy cooing at Kate like a mother babbles at her child. A cool hand touched Kate's face, pressed a cup of water into her hands and examined the bandage on Kate's right arm. "Drink this, love, you need it." Obviously the woman thought Kate was daft, else why would she instruct on what to do with a cup of chilled water? 'This is ludacris,' she thought, downed the water and nearly threw the cup at the woman in green. Kate hoped she wouldn't have to be in here for long. She didn't think she could handle much more baby-talk and infantile instructions. "We were starting to think we'd lost you," the woman said from one end of the room - Kate couldn't see what she was doing, since her eyes were still a blurred from the venom - "Been two days, and you'd been thrashing in your sleep. Fevers like you wouldn't believe. Aye, we were certain-sure you'd not make it through another night, but here we are!" Altogether too cheery for Kate's tastes. Damned pep. Damned vigor. Damned high spirits.
"Yes, here we are. " she grumbled sarcastically, closing her eyes again - if only to keep from looking at the ray of sunshine over there in green robes. "Damn near dead and annoyed as hell by some woman who speaks to me as though I'd just passed my fifth birthday. Oh, what a grand bit of luck I've had, hey?"
Either the woman didn't notice Kate's sarcasm, or she ignored it. "You're lucky, you know. Wyrsa bite-victims seldom survive. If that redhead hadn't have gotten you in here in time, you'd have died. Thank the gods that she'd the help of her Companion!"
Companion? Caelan didn't have a Companion... did she? "Redhead?"
"Oh, a sweet little thing in a tattered, rose-coloured gown, I think it was. Dragged you in here off the back of a Companion, she did. And not a moment too soon. One mark later, and you'd have been beyond repair."
Sweet. Why was it everyone thought Caelan was sweet? Stupid was more like it. Brainless, maybe. Helpless was a good word, too. "And you know, I think it was a Grove Born that got her here so fast - even seemed prettier than usual."
"Oh, Deyan? He's Dante's Companion... Caelan doesn't have one, she's not the type of person to-"
"His name is Pasan, and he's mine, Kate. Deyan was with Dante all the while, keeping the Wyrsa off of our trail. Not that they'd have been able to keep up." Caelan closed the door behind herself and smiled at Kate happily. 'Great,' Kate rolled her eyes, 'Just what I need - more cheer.'
"Oh, gee. That's wonderful," she lied, and left her eyes closed. "Too bad I wasn't conscious long enough to see him. I'm sure he's the bee's knees." Were these people TRYING to make her life a bigger living hell than it already was?? "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think I'd rather have my eyes gouged with hot pokers than stay awake and listen to you two go at it." A curmudgeon, Kate decided, was DEFINITELY better than a ray of sunshine. She tugged the thin blanket up to her chin and flopped over onto her side, refusing to speak to either of them.