Shadow over Gerelden IC

[DormantEvil]

((Sorry this took so long, total brain freeze for half a month.))

All Yurioni needed to unleash the rest of her self-control was the firm yet soft pressure of his hand as he gently ran it over her hair. It could have been as strong and important in breaking her down that little bit more, as raising a castle's gates for an advancing army was. Just enough to have thoughts flood in, doubts erased and inhibitions banished. At least for a while. So far they had yet to be interrupted, even Shadow, who still sat at the door was silent during the exchange. And as she continued to press her lips against his fingers and knuckles, she forgot about everything else, and only knew that she wanted him. Even if it was only for that night. He continued to sit still and do nothing more than brush her hair, his body language gave no indication of disliking or disapproving of her advance. If that divine voice that had called them all together was not happy with relations between the group, he was yet to tell them, or show them. Enough of a reason not to let such thoughts leave her restless any longer.

Bringing herself up from her knees, she moved to sit straddling his lap. Slow and careful in her movements. Her hands moved to rest on the sides of his head, as for a few long moments she stared down into his eyes. Checking for any sign of him turning her away, his last chance unless he wanted to use force later on.

But she saw nothing in his eyes that caused her to move away, instead, they drew her in closer, until her lips pressed against his. They enjoyed the feeling of being crushed against anothers. As if seeing an old friend after too long apart. It seemed as if suddenly her clothing felt uncomfortable, and she wanted it gone. And his clothing seemed like nothing more than an unwanted, if not well fitting barrier between them.

((Nope, brain still sucks.))

 

[LeoHawk35]

Zelthuros

Zelthuros remained silent, doing nothing more than brushing his hands along her hair. He could stop her. Tell her to leave. To leave him be.

It was better for the group.

Safer.

She moved to straddle him, slow and careful in her movements. Her hands moved to the sides of his head and she looked down into his eyes for several seconds. His gaze remained calm, passive.

Then she brought her lips to his. It had been a damnably long time since he had felt the lips of a woman against his. The body of a woman pressed against his like her's was. He didn't want to stop. Didn't want her to stop.

Her lips seemed eager against his, and his own responded in kind.

He managed to get his hands on her shoulders and push her back slightly, breaking the contact between their lips. His gaze passed over her, looking into her eyes.

He could stop her right there. Stop all of this from happening and forgo the pleasures that it might bring tonight and perhaps other nights as well. He could. He knew that he could. Had the capacity for such a thing. Resisting an elemental was nothing.

Resisting Yurioni was another story.

She seemed to draw him in. Not in a way that other beings of a similar nature would, but something...different. He couldn't place it.

He pulled her back to him, his lips pressed to her's. His hands moved, one on her side just below chest level and the other against her neck.

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

Angel smiled softly as he extended his hand.

"So polite..." she murmured.

She reached out her hand to place it in his, stepping close to him and laying her other hand on his shoulder. She sighed and stepped closer as the music slowed, moving her arms to wrap them around his neck and laying her head on his shoulder.

She pressed her body to his as they slowly moved, but was disappointed upon realizing that he was wearing armor still.

She looked up to him, an emotion flickering behind her eyes, and slowly started leaning up on her tip toes, but then realized what she had been doing. She stepped away from him quickly, blushing furiously.

"We should go..." she said quickly.

She started walking away, her mandola flying to her hand with just a flick of the wrist.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Grimlock

She moved lightly in his arms, she felt lighter than a feather, but then of course because she could dance. He felt her arms shift, but could not feel her body against him and that was a bit of a disappointment, she leaned up and he thought at first that she wanted to whisper something, but her sudden withdrawal and furious blush brought to light where she was heading to.

He nodded absentmindedly at her words and followed after he had freed Kelt. Strange times these, that an elf would try to kiss him, the King's Champion and definitely the least desired man. The thoughts brought a wry smile to his lips and he mounted up, at least a knight should ride into town on his steed with or without the maiden. So far it seemed like it will be without.

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

Angel shook her head, thoughts dancing through her mind. What was up with that? She had tried kissing him. The King's Champion! What was wrong with her? She must be out of her mind...or just having an off day. Or both? And yet, part of her still felt she was thinking right. That she actually had wanted to kiss him. She shook her head again to clear her clouded mind. It didn't work.

She turned to look over her shoulder at him. He had mounted up and moving up behind her. She looked back forward, half wishing that he would offer her a ride.

She blushed again as a thought crossed her mind.

She glanced back at him once more before looking forward, placing a hand on her sword's hilt as she walked.

Interesting times that she would try to kiss a human.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Grimlock

As Kelt cantered up to her side he waited for her to look up at him,

"Could I offer the lady a ride...on Kelt? He is in an extremely good mood today and I'm sure he would insist if he could speak."

To be honest, he wanted her to sit with him, share something close. Its not as good as a dance, but it would at least be something he could enjoy. Her company.

"Also I must admit that it would not do to have you walk and I ride, but the way to the town is not built for armor and I have to wear it as I do not really have any other protection out here in the open."

He was not going to beg her to join him, if she wanted to join him was up to her.

 

[DormantEvil]

Yurioni was on the verge of heating to the point of her fingertips igniting, even now she could sense fabric smoldering underneath them. It was this sudden realization that caused her to pause. This wasn't a good time, and she was stronger than this. Her desires were controlled by her, not the other way around. Looking into Zelthuros' eyes, she smiled to him and slowly withdrew from his lap.

"Forgive my rashness, and forgive me again for not following through. But this is not right."

Sitting down on the edge of her bed, she sighed deeply and began to gather her gear. Slipping herself back into them with ease and well rehearsed movements. Looking over to Shadow at the door, she tried not to laugh. It would have been a little awkward having him in the room anyway, for him if not for Zelthuros and Yurioni.

"I'm going to stretch my legs, and get some food and wine downstairs. The others should be arriving soon, or already have."

Shaking her arms gently, she concentrated on reducing her core temperature, partially by thinking of wart covered trolls bathing. The thought caused her to shake her head in disgust soon after.

"Do not get the wrong idea from me turning away from you. I want you more than I can say, but I would feel guilty for days if anything was to happen. We are too important to be ruled by desires and emotions."

 

[LeoHawk35]

Zelthuros

Zelthuros blinked, watching the light in Yurioni’s eyes die down. He leaned back, away from her, noting briefly the smoke coming from her fingertips. His clothing was smoldering. It wouldn’t burn. Not yet. And it seemed that it wouldn’t be burning, either. Yurioni drew back from him with an apology. He simply looked at her, his own eyes returning to their normal calm. His mind returned to him. He blinked again, shaking his head and standing. He looked out the window and then down to Shadow, who still lay by the door. Shadow blinked, and he could assume that the wolf was secretly happy they hadn’t continued. He walked over to the door, passing by Yurioni and snagging his longbow, slipping it over his shoulder and opening the door. Shadow followed him out.

He walked silently down the stairs, rolling his shoulders and fixing his clothing in the slight ways it was improper. He would need to fix the slight burns Yurioni had placed on his shirt and cloak. He brushed what seemed like ash off his shirt as he made it to the bottom of the stairs. If she had made this much of a mess with such a brief encounter, he found himself curious about what would have happened had they continued. It would have been…interesting. And he just so happened to be all about interesting. He stepped into the main room and found a seat in a darkened corner, leaning his bow against the wall next to him and placing three arrows swiftly in his boot where they wouldn’t be seen under the table.

He waved off the waitress that started walking over to him, instead pulling a flask from inside his cloak and taking a brief drink of it. He may not taste bread or water, but this was something his...condition had not yet robbed from him. He actually spent many years in the north looking for this. There was no name for it, as few knew of its existence. He didn't even have a name for it, a term to call it by.

"Strange, how much this helps." he mused idly to himself.

Shadow lifted his head from his paws to gaze upwards at him, tilting his head slightly. Zelthuros reached down to pat his snout gently.

"But, if it helps it must be good, no?"

He lifted his gaze from the wolfish features to the room around him, taking in the various occupants.

"I think not." he said simply.

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

Angel walked on, looking down at the ground and playing with her hair, twirling the soft locks of hair around her fingers. She glanced up to Grimlock as he cantered up next to her. She looked at him in shock at what he said, then recovered her expression as he finished his sentence. She shook her head and walked a few more paces before looking up to him again and nodding.

She turned and stepped up to Kelt, placing a hand on the saddle and easily leaping into place behind Grimlock. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned into his back, closing her eyes with a soft sigh. She wondered idly what he looked like under all that armor, though she admitted that the armor was a good look for him.

"How much further to town do you think we are?" she asked, suddenly wary of the darkness around them.

She wondered how Yurioni and Zelthuros were getting along.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Grimlock

He was right, just the knowledge of having her so close was something he enjoyed, he wondered why she showed interest in him, a human. And one of course there is the fact that no woman has ever looked twice at him, while she...she was just one of the prettiest...her question broke his musings.

"I would think two or three miles, I am not that familiar with this stretch of the land."

He looked at her hands resting on his armor, on an impulse he unfastened his gauntlet, slipped it off and placed his now naked hand on her's. It felt soft yet cooler than his own. He reluctantly removed his hand and slipped on his gauntlet again

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

Angel sighed, leaning forward against the form in front of her and tightening her long, slender arms around him just slightly. A light gasp escaped her softly parted lips as she felt his hand press over hers. She shuddered ever so slightly, the feeling of his hand over hers was so nice. His hand was warm and rougher, but it was a nice texture. Elves had always been more sensitive to the senses...more in tune with them. She wasn't sure how her hand felt to him. She was actually a little disappointed when he took his hand away.

But then again, why would he want to be with someone like her. An elf? There had never been any human-elf relationships before in the history of the entire land. It just didn't happen. She assumed that it just wasn't meant to happen. What human would want to be with an elf? Honestly. What was she thinking? That they could be together? That they might have something?

No, it couldn't happen, as much as she wanted it to. She loosened her arms slightly around him upon feeling his hand withdraw back to the security of his armor.

"Well I hope we get there soon. It's been some time since I've been in some sort of village. A nice bed will do me some good, I believe." she murmured in her soft tone of voice.

She didn't even catch what might have been inferred from her comment about the bed.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Grimlock

He chuckled softly at her remark,

"Then perhaps I should have taken the time to sneak you up to my quarters, the High King really spoil his knights with soft beds. I don't use mine, I find the ground much better and it keeps one honest..."

He had noticed her loosening her hold on him and that made him feeling kind of sad, which was strange.

"I'm sorry if I have offended you by touching you, it was instinctive."

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

Angel couldn't help the small smile at his words, or the blush when she thought of sleeping in his quarters, in his bed, with him so close by...

She shook her head clear, or tried. Not very successful.

"I suppose that knights need to have a good night's sleep." she said with a grin at her play on words.

Surely they were close by now?

"We seem to have been riding for some time now..." she trailed off.

The truth was that she just didn't want to be outside after nightfall, though it was quite dark already. She couldn't be outside tonight. Not tonight. Any other night will do, but not this one. She could already feel herself being drawn towards the closest living being around. Grimlock. Not a good sign. But what WAS a good sign? Torches.

"Are those torches ahead? We must have arrived." she murmured, glad to have arrived finally.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Grimlock

"Yes the King does, he trains them hard and make them soft with beds."

He smiled,

"The other knights does get a good night's rest, but then again they have lasses to warm their beds."

They rode into the outskirts of town and Grimlock started looking for their rally point.

"Well Angel seems like you will soon have your soft bed."

It didn't take long for him to find the inn, he swung himself out of the saddle and lifted Angel Blackwing from Kelt's back. With the weight gone Kelt started to wander off, looking for the stables. Grimlock shook his head as he watched the big horse, then turned and pushed open the door to the inn, the moment his booted foot hit the floor, the general hubub inside went quiet. He walked over to the inn keep, eyes following him, non human hands rested on weapon hilts.

"Inkeep, how much for two rooms?"

The inkeep peeked past him and was astounded when he saw the elf accompanying him, then he gave a price which Grimlock paid. Retrieving the keys he gave one to Angel and without looking at the crowd walked up the stairs.

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

Angel looked around as they entered the small village. Not much to look at. But then again, did she want to look at her surroundings, or at the man in front of her? It didn't quite matter. She blinked, looking off to one side at the inn. Grimlock dropped off Kelt and then lifted her down. She blushed furiously and tucked a lock of hair behind one of her elven ears.

She followed him in to the inn, glancing back at Kelt as he wandered to find the stable.

"Seems to know his way..." she murmured.

She watched with clear eyes as Grimlock talked to the innkeeper, renting out a room for the two of them and then walking towards the stairs. Angel turned her eyes over the main room, noticing Zelthuros in the back corner of the room, his ever-faithful dire wolf at his feet. She thought she noticed something strange about him, but shook her head, following Grimlock up the stairs and to the room.

She stepped inside the door after he opened it, looking over the quaint arrangement. She looked down at the single bed, tilting her head. She wondered what Grimlock and Yurioni's sleeping arrangements were like. She stepped up to the bed and trailed a hand along it, closing her eyes. The bed was rather soft. She turned her head over to Grimlock.

"Are you sure you want to sleep on the floor?" she asked in her soft voice.

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

*Stupid double post.*

 

[DeathsKnight]

Grimlock

He watched the gracefull movements of Angel Blackwing, he did think that he should look after Kelt, but a short cry assured him that a stable boy was...trying to do just that. He gave her one of his rare smiles.

"And if we share that small bed?"

A small flicker ran through his mind, telling him that he did want that,

"You will have no space, only room then would be on top of me."

He kept his voice calm and steady, why on earth did this particular elf touch him so? He would like to think on that.

"You have the bed m'lady, you wish for it and I am sure that a warm bath should be found as well."

 

[LeoHawk35]

Zelthuros

Zelthuros looked down at the flask in his hands, turning it round and looking over the icy surface. He rarely drank from this flask. At least, now it was rarely. Before? He drank from it quite often, as a normal being would drink water. He wondered idly what the cause was. Why the sudden yearning for the taste of the waters. He glanced down at Shadow and patted his snout. A faithful companion, though not a very talkative one. Of course, it would be a strange occurance for a wolf, even a dire wolf, to speak. And the Ranger was no mind reader. Though he had often wondered what it was like to read minds. Peering into the thoughts of another being.

But then, that would be invading the last sanctuary of a person. The one place that isn't meant for another to see inside of. The one place that he, nor another, were meant to know the contents of, what transpired there. Mind-readers were abominations unlike even himself. But then, did he truly believe such? That he was an abomination? Perhaps. Unnatural? Quite so. The undead were a curious enough race, or state of being as some might call it.

"Hey there, handsome." said a light female voice.

Zelthuros looked up slowly, taking in the form in front of him. Feminine, without a doubt. She was leaning forward to give a generous view of her bosom and had her hands on her hips. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?" he asked simply.

She smiled at him and blinked her eyes.

"I couldn't help but notice the young woman you carried upstairs earlier." she started.

Zelthuros raised an eyebrow.

"Well I was wondering if you needed any...feminine attentions tonight." she said with a clear tone behind her voice of what she meant.

He raised a hand and waved her off. What has this world come to? Women selling their bodies for money. No, there was only one woman whose body he wanted.

His trail of thoughts were interrupted at the rememberance of who he had just been with. Something stirred inside him. Zelthuros tilted his head. Shadow looked up at him. This was a feeling that had avoided him for some time. A feeling that had left him some time ago...then a sound broke through his mind, and without a doubt the minds of anyone familiar with the magical side of fire.

A dragon's roar.

Zelthuros' eyes widened in the first emotion they had shown in over four hundred years: Suprise.

He snagged his longbow and moved towards the door, dodging and slipping through the crowd like a wisp of smoke. He needed to get out of there.

The door was blocked for a mere moment. His mind reared. The door cleared and he was outside of the building in a flash. He ran, Shadow on his heels. He flicked his hand and Shadow veered off, heading his own way. He knew what was happening, and knew that his master needed to be alone. This was going to get...interesting.

He slowly started losing control. First were slight twitches in his arms and legs, then he started having thoughts that weren't his own. He turned off the path into the woods, running faster than any man rightfully should be able to. He dropped to his knees and clutched his head in his hands. It was stronger this time. Stronger than before. He threw his arms out to his sides and tilted his head back, a dragon's roar escaping his parted jaws in the moment before his body was lost to him.

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

A flash of something went through her eyes when he mentioned them sharing the bed. She pictured her on top of him in the bed, seeing them doing some of the naughtiest things she'd ever seen before. And dealing with blood magic, you see some rather naughty things. All the desires that were contained in the body were accessed through the blood, and she knew them all...

"That's not what I meant. I could sleep elsewhere if you wanted the bed, I'm sure." she murmured.

His next words cooled her body down, and she was grateful for that. She sat down on the edge of the bed, and it was indeed soft. A small smile touched her lips. She should ask Yurioni how the bed feels on bare skin. The small smile broke into a grin. She shook her head and looked over at Grimlock to say something, but her trail of thought was interrupted by a sound. Not a physical sound...but a mental sound. Just an echo, like something you couldn't focus completely on...

But it sounded like something she had only heard once before and was widely known, spread by illusionists.

The roar of a dragon.

She couldn't tell where it came from, though. And, after all, it could just be a ploy by someone unknown trying to trick her. It seemed that Grimlock didn't notice anything, so she could assume it was some magician playing with sounds. It wasn't her mind turning against her. There was a definite tinge of primal magic to that roar. But she would leave it be, for now. There was no threat.

She looked over at Grimlock and smiled.

"Thanks. For letting me have the bed." she said softly, looking away to look at anything other than him.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Grimlock

He saw the look in her eye and found it strange that she seemed to feel the same things he did. Why? Her words almost drowned out the roar from outside, his hand was on his sword's hilt and he looked at Angel. He knew she must have heard it, elves with their enhanced hearing.

"What was that sound? No animal I know of makes a sound like that."

He moved to the window to find if he could hear anything else coming from the outside.

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

Angel blinked, hearing the dragon's actual roar.

"Was that..?" she trailed off.

She stepped over next to Grimlock to look out the window. People had left the inn and several other buildings in town and were milling about to look around, confused. A small group of men at arms had also assembled along with a few hunters and other sorts of wanderers at the center of town. She stepped back, turning towards the door.

"We should go see what that was. Might have been some magic mishap, but if it IS a dragon...they'll need our help." she murmured.

She turned from him and walked out of the room, padding quietly down the stairs and moving to the door. She noted that the entire inn had cleared out and was now outside. She followed suit right after hiding her ears in her hair and stepped outside. She flagged over the nearest man-at-arms.

"What news?" she asked.

The man shook his head, rubbing his neck.

"No idea. I haven't see anything after that sound. No one has seen anything as far as we can tell. Bloody magic users," he muttered.

He was human. Standard human close-minded thinking. She shook her head, keeping the disdain out of her voice.

"Let's hope that's all it was then, hmm?" she murmured, turning from the man to walk away. She placed a hand on the hilt of her sword, her ears flicking towards the southern entrance. Something was coming. Something...big. The thumps were sounding through her body, making the water in the nearby trough ripple.

All heads turned towards the southern entrance...

 

[DeathsKnight]

Grimlock

"Dragon?"

But she was gone, did he hear right, did she actually say dragon? He hurried off after her, he was just in time to overhear her and a man-at-arms, he noticed her quick move to hide her identity. It was then that he heard it, from the ruckus coming from the stall Kelt heard it as well. He hurried to the stall and quickly found Kelt. He opened the stall door and saddled the big horse. If it indeed was a dragon he had no chance against it on foot.

Once saddled Kelt waited impatiently for Grimlock to get on, stamping his heavy hoofs in annoyance. Grimlock got into the saddle and Kelt set off, cantering around the corner of the building and coming to a stop close to Angel Blackwing.

"If you said Dragon back there I'm pretty sure that we are screwed."

He looked around,

"And our ranks seems pretty much thinned out. I don't see any of the others."

 

[LeoHawk35]

The stirrings of magic. Old, powerful magic. The kind that drew him out of his rest, drawing him from what was deemed to be an eternal rest. He opened one, large eye, looking directly at a human who happened to be staring at what he thought to be a large rock inside the dank cave. He, and his few companions just behind him, all uttered a startled cry and fell right on their rumps. The male furthest back tried to make a break for it, but a simple flick of a tail crushed him against the wall and turned him into a pretty blood spot on the rock. The dragon gathered itself and stood, standing at about the height of a cottage.

He glared downwards at the humans. Pathetic, squishy fleshbags. He crushed most of them and ate one of the females. She tasted good. Better than he remembered humans tasting. He padded outside the cave, noting the darkness outside and noticing the smell of smoke in the air, and torches in the distance. He flicked his tail idly and walked along the road, paying little heed to the creatures fleeing before him. He smelled...something in the air. Something drawing him to the village.

A village. Yes, that's what it was. It reeked of humans. But yet, another scent mingled with the others. Several scents, to be precise. He needed to know what they were.

And so he walked right through the southern entrance of the village, fixing his gaze on the pathetic group in front of him, marking the strongest smelling individuals. Save them for last. In this group?

A human male standing in full plate armor, and a female who looked to be human, but her smell and the tingle of elven magic about her said otherwise.

 

[AngelLightheart]

Angel Blackwing

Angel blinked and widened her eyes, staring at the dragon as it lumbered in to the town. It was young, but its mind still felt ancient to her, feeling the invisible tendrils of its mind reach out to examine each individual in the town. Its eyes stayed on her a moment longer than anyone else, and she felt it touch the edge of her magic. The air temperature changed just slightly and the dragon parted its jaws, a stream of flame shooting forth.

Angel stepped forward and threw her hands out in front of her, manipulating the air and freezing the moisture, blocking the stream with a sheet of ice that materialized from, literally, thin air. She flicked her wrists when the stream died down and the dragon closed its jaws, turning to glare at her. Invisible chains locked around its jaws, holding them shut to limit his use of fire and magic. A fire lit in the dragon's eyes as he threw his will against her own. She braced herself as his concious slammed into hers.

They stood like that, a battle of willpower silently raging, its effect showing much more on Angel than on the dragon. For one person to hold off a dragon, even as young a dragon as this, was quite the feat. As it stands, the dragon wasn't locked in place like she was, and was advancing already, moving in to kill her. Once she was down, he was free to kill the others with no problem.

"Grimlock," she gasped out. "Stop him..."

She could only hope the rest of the people gathered joined him, or this dragon may very well kill them here and now.

Her slender form slid back a few inches as she struggled with the immense willpower being thrown at her.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Grimlock

Even as protected as he was, he felt the heat of the flames through his armor, oh how fun this would be. As Angel gasped out his name the man-at-arms standing next to him gaped,

"As in Sir Grimlock? The King's champion?"

Grimlock grunted,

"Stop gaping and get archers on that dragon, Flank it and for Heaven's sake give that spear."

The man-at-arms snapped to attention under the tone used and passed the spear at Grimlock. Without further delay the man-at-arms ran, barking orders, Grimlock knew that arrows would do little to the dragon, but if one could pierce a scale, the dragon might stop for a moment and buy them more time. Angel was the one holding off the beast for now and he had to protect her.

"Come on Kelt, let's do this."

He barely spoke the words when Kelt charged, the huge muscles rolling and contracting, driving the two of them at the dragon at a reckless pace. Grimlock steadied the spear, braced himself and as they drew near, he raised the spear tip from the well armored chest to the sensitive underside of the dragon's throat. A swipe from one massive paw struck him solidly on the side, but the spear drove home, though off centre it still pierced the tough skin.

The impact from the paw sent Grimlock flying, he crashed into the wall of a cottage and slumped to the ground. He decided to rest a bit as his consciousness fled from him like a bird from a hunter.