Nighttime Greetings
Orange rays of light faded slowly as the source of their origin sank down lower and lower under the horizon, its attention needed elsewhere on the other side of the world. Stone and wooden buildings laid scattered throughout the grid-like pattern of roads and alleys. Amongst the top of majority of the buildings, crows watched from their perch on the rooftops, yellow eyes staring at any movement that catch their attention. However, on one of the stone houses laid another kind of bird, one who is found amongst the creatures of the night.
"Move ya little pest." The blue owl said as it shooed away the surrounding crows, its golden eyes filled with annoyance and blue feathers ruffling slightly. Shrieks and caws escaped the black beaks of the black bird before they fluttered away to anywhere but there. The owl wore a brown tunic shirt along with brown pants, and tennis shoes underneath the light armor. Several feathers from the top of the head curved across the forehead similar to a bob cut. "Finally," the owl said, crossing its arms behind its head and laying on the flat, stone roof, "Now I can catch up on some sleep before…."
"Estrella!" a dark brown wolf shouted from the street that ran along the front of the house, its gray armor reflecting the remaining light that denies the order to fade away. The mentioned person groaned in annoyance as she stood up.
"Ugh, can I ever catch a break." She mumbled before sighing in defeat. The owl took a running start before leaping off the three story building. Green eyes widened in horror as he stood there in fear, watching Estrella plummeting toward the ground that could lead to a bone crushing splat. Several seconds before the possible fate, the blue owl unfurled its wings, catching enough air to slow its descent until she landed softly on the ground. "I can fly, Harlan, remember." She chuckled slightly at the look of the wolf's face as he released the air that was held captive in his throat.
"I know, but please do be more careful. You are one of strongest knights in town, also the youngest." Harlan replied as he took several deep breaths to calm his pounding heartbeat.
"Yeah, yeah, I now, but what about Victoria, she's our only doctor/wizard here and you don't bug her about her protection." The owl said as she glared at the wolf.
"Actually, I did, but she threatened me to stop or else she would freeze me and a block of ice for a millennium."
"I wish she did it anyway." Estrella said as she quickly walked down the street to town's gates which was in the east side of the town.
"Hi." Harlan shouted to the owl as he raced up to catch up with her.
~ Meanwhile somewhere out in the Outlands~
"Are we there yet?" Nate said in boredom as he followed the group through the bare lands of the Outlands. The person in front of the brown haired human was having a twitching problem with his eyes.
"No, we weren't there when you asked five seconds, we weren't there when you asked several minutes ago, now shut up." Nate's twin said as he turned to face his annoying brother, teal blue eyes hardening in anger.
"Sheesh, sorry, someone got some anger issues." Nate said as he crossed his arms against his chest and looked up to see the sun barely keeping itself above the distant horizon.
"No you just can't seem to get the hint to be quiet." Nightmare said as he glared back at Nate as the others sighed in relief that the repeating question had finally came to a stop.
"Was I really that annoying when we went from place to place?" Sonic whispered in Percival's ear, who had giggled slightly at the comment.
"You don't know the half of it." She replied in the same hush tone.
"Hey, I think I see a town." Starkage shouted from the front of the group, who had switched places with the black hedgehog as a way to see an upcoming town and to avoid the dragon and the hawk from another round of arguing, which had surprisingly stopped after Lunar's recruitment. He had stopped in place on top of a sand dune, viewing the hazy silhouette of the distant town. The others caught lined beside him, also taking in the view, and the distance from where they were to it.
"Well, we don't have much farther to go." Sonic said as he whistled slightly at the distance, "If we quicken our pace a little we should make it in possible an hour or less after nightfall.
"Uh, could we wait on that?" Lunar said as the slight pain of his and Nate's transformation began.
~Back with Estrella and Harlan ~
"Are you sure you're ready for night duty, I mean, you still need your sleep." The wolf complained as the duo approached the wooden gates and stone walls that separated and protected the town from any enemies that would attempt to attack and/or invade it.
"Dude, I'm an owl, of course I'm ready. As for sleep, I kind of got that taken care of." Estrella said as she saw the afternoon lookout coming down from his post at the lookout tower.
"All is ready for your post, Estrella." The gray eagle said before handing the binoculars over to the owl.
"Thank you, Connor, you are dismissed." The eagle bowed slightly in formality, raised the proper way of a gentleman, and left the area leaving only Estrella and Harlan to themselves.
"Well, I think I should…" Harlan stopped as he heard an exasperated groan of annoyance escape the mouth of the blue owl.
"Look, Harlan, I know you were a good friend to my parents, and were given a duty to protect me, but I'm not a little girl. Heck, I'm almost a teenager. I know how to protect myself, I am a member of the Knights of the Round Table, so would you please stop bugging me for the night." The wolf opened his mouth to add a comment to her statement, but closed it quickly when Estrella sent a glare at him, golden eyes glowing in agitation. No longer were they belonged to a little defenseless girl he had once known of, but of a growing young adult.
"As you wish." Harlan replied before scurrying out of sight to avoid troubling the young owl anymore. Sighing in relief, Estrella quickly climbed up the ladder to get to her post. Night had fallen before she and the wolf had reached the gates. Placing the binoculars to her eyes she scanned the region, the binocular's enhancing her sight distance and her natural ability to see clearly in the dark were a perfect combination especially if someone was to attempt to attack the town at night.
"Hm, what do we have here?" she muttered as she saw a group of possibly ten people approaching the town. She was about to turn around and shout out a warning to the inhabitants, but stopped herself as she recognized some of the travelers. There were four hedgehogs, a blue one, a black with red stripes one, a white one, and a black one so dark that it he had practically blended in with the surrounding darkness. Along with them were a red echidna, a lavender cat, a green hawk and dragon, and two werehogs that followed closely behind the other. "The, the king is coming here. Oh my, I must get the gates open then."
~ Back with others ~
"Do you think they'll let us in?" Lamorak asked as he along with the group stood before the town's gate. Not long after the hawk asked the question did the gates slowly rise to allow them in.
"Does that answer your question?" Starkage said as he started walking toward the gate.
"But what if this is a trap?" Lancelot replied, stopping the dragon in its place. The green dragon turned around to give the red and black hedgehog a slight feral grin, brown eyes narrowing into slits.
"Then we will give them another reason why they need to be asleep."
"Or we can say hi to an ally of ours." Sonic stated as he saw a blue owl fly out of the gate and land in front of them.
"Greetings, Sir sonic, what brings you here at such late hours. Surely you have duties back at the city." Estrella said.
"We have more important matters at hand. The Black Knight…"
"I know, the Underworld have been attacking this place for days now. I just so happen to be close by, or this place would have been nothing except a smoldering pit of ashes and bodies." Estrella turned around and walked toward the gates, gesturing the others to do the same. "I'm sure, however, that you would like to rest, we may finish this conversation in the morning."
"It's good with me." Both the dragon and the hawk exclaimed before entering the closest hotel nearby.
"Excuse them, but they have not had their 'proper' sleep and sometime." Percival said with a sigh, before following the two green creatures, the others followed closely behind, hoping for a good night sleep.
Me: sorry I took so long to up this one, I had it ready but my computer messed up on me. I had no internet.
Lamorak: Internet, what in Merlin's name is that.
Me: That's for me and other people to know and for you to find out, in about 1000 years or so.
Note: I'm trying to finish the story quickly, not because I'm bored of it, actually I'm going to make a few sequels to this. Anyway, review.