The Invasion of Arias Chapter 4: Massacre

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Tantalum did not land. She circled the air above them, head swivelling in search of more food. Her predatory side had already lost interest in the creatures much larger than her. They would not be good prey, and so she circles once, twice, before turning east and began hunting again, her appetite still not satiated.

[pendejochy]

{What is dirty birdy yelling about?} I listened closer and heard Hale mention half-vampires. I yelped at the thought. "Yelp! Aiera, did you hear that?! Half-vampire!"
I sat up quickly and started t get into the caravan.
"Halt, brother! Make no sudden movements and I may be able to convice the others to let you live. Otherwise, the werebird and I will fry you to a crisp!" I looked around the caravan with my staff in my hand and some intensity in my eyes. I glanced around and only saw Hale yelling at a sleeping gnoll. {looks like it is really tired; wouldn't blame it, he has been trough a lot today. But, where is the V.H.?} "Huh? Hale, where did the Vampire-half go?"

[TheBlindMime]

Hale's accusatory finger remained pointed solidly at the unresponsive gnoll's face. "This is the half-vampire of which I spoke. It's a rare occurance to run into a half-vampire whose second half is not that of a human but they do exist." His head slowly rolled towards pende, "You should consider yourself lucky Pende, on your first trip into the world on your own you met a rarity of the undead breed." He turned back towards vargus as he presented his evidence as a detective would to a criminal, "Firstly there is the oddity of your color, a white gnoll. A rarity at best. Secondly even though you were missing a leg you had an unnatural talent at killing even as a child. The elder gnoll himself told me of the battle where you slaughter them with a divine grace. Yet another thing that could be accepted as somewhat normal, but we must take into consideration your status as a hero of prophecy."

He paused for a moment as he smirked, "And as my father forced me to study almost all hero's of prophecy and legend I know they almost all hold one commonality. They all have a parent of incredible power. And one of yours was a vampire. I should have known the moment I saw you feeding from the closet, after being unconscious for three weeks the first thing you did was drink the blood of your keepers, who just so happened to make a verbal note in my prescence about your unnaturally quick healing. After killing your percieved threats you ignored the uneaten food that had been set out for you entirely, opting to lap up there blood from the floor. Next when the only half-vampire alive in the tent with us attacked us you said something that I should have never ignored. I believe it was something along the lines of, 'Even half-vampires of such divine blood as yours can old use their power over other's minds in such a way so many times before they exhaust it for a while.' just by being in the room with him you knew the power that drove that half-vampires flesh."

The volume of his voice had decreased but his tone remained unchanged, anger covering over confusion. "Then you even summoned your black bladed scythe with a flick of your wrist. Whether or not thats part of your heritage I do not care. But all the evidence is there. You are a decendant of a Vampire." As Hale finished his sentence he began a deep laugh. Choking out a final sentiment before the Gnoll could respond, "And I don't even give a damn, for some reason I still feel as though I would follow you into the pits of hell itself. I pledged my word to your elder that I would do my best to bring you back safely to them, and now I, Haliaeetus Right pledge my life to you." Hale threw his fist against his shoulder and bowed in front of the gnoll, fully intending to follow his pledge till death.

[pendejochy]

Pende laughed while Hale was luaghing, more out of habit han it being genuainly funny. {Hopfully, this Vampire-Half will be a good representitive of his species.}
"Ah, you were vampire-half? It is nice to have another undead on the journey."
I looked over at Hale, and back at Vargus.
"Looks like you gained a servant, more or less. Well, I can assure you that Hale will be able to carry out his duties to you, he is competant both as a fighter and as a mage. Just make sure that you go easy on him, I was told that werebeasts had a history of abuse, and I don't want Hale to worsen his already negitive view of vampire-halves. I recalled werebeasts and vampire-hlaves having some sort of feud. Now I understand why you were so evaisive of Aquilla's questions. You didn't want him to know you're a vampire-half. Well, your secrets safe with us. So, what do you really know of your leg, the vampire-half village, and the invaders? We won't tell the others."

[Gineko]

Aiera was staring at Vargus, then Hale, then Vargus again. She had a look of horror on her face. Her heart was beating very fast and she seemed to have lost the ability to talk. She managed to choke out "I need to be alone" under her breath and then she started walking briskly away from the group, away from the caravan and into the forest.

She didn't know why this upset her that much, she knew he was a good guy, why would finding out he's a half vamp influence her this much? She found a thick tree and sat at it's base, she could still see the caravan slightly through the trees.

[pendejochy]

{oh no, I forgot about Aiera. I'd better make sure she doesn't do anything rash, like tell Aquilla about Vargus.} As I waited for Vargus' answer, Girito flew to Aiera and landed with a soft thud on the ground. It walked up to Aiera, hoping to console her. <Hello, Aiera. I just wanted to make sure you are alright. Now, this Gnoll thing is a secret, you can't tell Bossy Bird or his wife nor anyone else who isn't me, you, Hale, or Vargus. If you do, sooner or later Aquilla would find out and he'd blow the caravan to bits just like he did with that building in the V.H. village. If you need some moments of silence, I can be quiet for a bit or listen if there is anything you need to get off your back.> Girito sat there in front of Aiera, half-expecting a responce.

[Mintaro]

Aquila waited for awhile studying Karvans kill before remembering he was out with Tanta. He looked into the sky for her and couldn't see her in the failing light. Letting out a little craw of annoyance he flapped up into the air again. He decided to just enjoy the solitude and fly about in the darkness. He did so for a little while before catching a glimmer off of a pool of water down in the darkness. He glided gently down to it and landed near the edge. Aquila turned back into his human form and surveyed the area. It was dark and quite. There was a small assembly of rocks near the pool that housed the spring that happened to be the source of this small area of tranquility. His sensitive ears could hear nothing but the gentle trickle of the water. He moved over to the rocks and curled up in a small hallow underneath them. He watched the night sky as it reflected off the calm pool. He sat back and thought for a long time.

[Ryu Kurai]

OOC: Sorry about that. Couldn't get on the comp yesterday. And Karvan wasn't cooking his food, just not bothering to skin it, as he doesn't have a skinning knife on him.

IC: Karvan barely noticed Aquilla's prescence, completely set on slicing up the meat. Karvan turned as he finished the slicing and saw that Aquilla had just taken off. He wrapped the long slices of raw vennison in his chain and flew after Aquilla, landing a bit after he did by the pool of water. He walked towards Aquilla, stopping in front of him and putting down the chain. "Do you want some deer meat?" He asked, picking up a slice himself and biting around the edges.

* * *

Vargus looked startled at first at Hale's conclusion, then simply sank into humiliation before Hale kneeled before him. He waved his hand at Hale as he did so, shaking his head at the same time. "I did not tell you for fear of persecution, but I can see I was careless. I am not proud of the fact that I am half-vampire, but it's something I can do nothing about. It's a part of who I am, and nothing will ever change that. I dislike keeping secrets, but if that is what is necessary, I will not hesitate to do so." He looked over to Pende. "I am afraid that some kind of magic was used by my foes. My memories are almost nearly gone, as though I experienced them decades ago instead of days ago. All my other memories are fine. I suspect it is the work of magic, or maybe I've just gotten too old..." He said, laughing a bit.

[TheBlindMime]

Hale's smile widened as he explained his reasons for not revealing the truth of his heritage, "You see that is what bound our fates together, I never wished to be part-eagle and yet here I am. Half of the beast I was named for. That elder knew what he was doing, by not telling me you were half-vampire it allowed me to approach you with an open mind..." Hale's mind drifted over what Vargus just said to Pende. As if they happened decades ago, and he does appear older then he had in my vision. What kind of power do these invaders hold... "Vargus, just so you know I didn't pledge my life to you due to your heritage, you are a hero far more skilled then I. I'm sure that in our upcoming battle it will be your hand that will deal the decisive blow, and I intend on making sure you fufill that fate by any means necessary. What good would I be as a spirit guide if I didn't make such a boast, my friend." Hale decided it would be best to keep the mood somewhat light, Vargus obviously had no more clues to offer to this puzzle. Prying into his mind would only do more harm then good from this point on, it felt oddly familiar to call him friend. Hale hoped that someday Vargus would feel the same way.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

OOC: Ryu, Aquila has already taken off and is now near a small spring.

All of a sudden, hands abruptly erupted from right beneath Aquila and grabbed his naked ankles. Pale, four-digited fingers immediately yanked downwards, and the earth yielded and Aquila sank a surprisingly good two feet into the ground, before the hands released him, and the earth around his feet immediately reverted to hard ground. There was the light hooting laughter of Tantalum in the air, and her head, covered in plumage of dark hair surfaced with a gleeful expression on her face, opposing the shocked expression on Aquila's. She flicked her hair as she slid out of the earth, revealling that she, too was naked.

"Fancy a meeting like this," Tantalum smiled impishly. She dipped a toe into the ground and flicked a lumpy object out, "I saved you some bird food," she said as she helped Aquila out of the ground. The object was a plump partridge, slightly de-feathered and scruffy.