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Post by Ringulf on Dec 16, 2010 11:17:44 GMT -5
Ringulf laughed as His merry little throng trotted along the path. He had just been telling an amusing story about catching puffins on the cliffs of Bjornholt as a boy and the trouble you could get in when the funny little birds knew you were after their nests.
"Those comical little things, we used to call them sea parrots after the beautifully colored birds from the south, because of their bill..."
"I used to hunt them too venn we had to supplement the larder and game was scarce, they also are good targets for de falcons ven we train dem." Said Geir.
Mylia was on Ringulf's other side chit chatting away with her friend Tory. They rode four abreast on this road as it was the road that lead from Araluen to Marshwood Fife.
Tory had decided to take a short break and come spend Yule with Ringulf, Mylia and Finn in Marshwood and let Tandar sort out some things with He and Brandwyn and his future as a Ranger. They were all to meet back again in Norgate at the Winter Revel.
Geir's notoriety on the archery field had made his application to the Ranger corps apprentice program fairly solid. He was sponsored by Ringulf of course but it would not be till Spring or perhaps even summer before he would find out about his acceptance or assignment, and to whom he would be assigned.
So Ringulf, who had more or less taken right to the boy, Suggested that in the mean time even though he was not his mentor, there was no reason why he could not have him stay and help Fin with her work, do some hunting and learn a bit about the ways of a ranger and long distance archery from him.
So there they were Papa Bear and his cubs as happy as could be, This was going to be a good Yule! a family Yule even though they were all unrelated they were a family and the big Ranger cabin in Marshwood was going to be alive with warm fires merry song and good food and drink.
"We should be catching up to Fin by the evening tonight if my calculations are correct" he said to them. all of a sudden he herd a bird call, "OK my young Rangers, What type of bird was that?
They all chimed in with what they thought it might be, He looked around at them, Nope, no and oh my no! That was a yellow hammer part of the wood pecker family, if we listen we may hear him start to beat his bill on a tree looking for lunch!" and as if by magic a loud thuck thuck thuck sounded through the woods to the right of them.
"OK What is that one?" he said as they heard a cute little dee, dee , dee.
Most of them knew this one and they told him so it was a little chickadee and they had several calls but that one gave it it's name.
Ringulf put the back of his hand up and in a kind of kissing fashion made the same call almost perfectly. "Chickadee dee dee dee", it it went then the bird answered. He did it again and it answered. A funny look came over his face and he let out a strange whistle that was more familiar down at the wharf or the brothel when a pretty girl walked by a bunch of sailors.
"Freee, freeew it went with the first not climbing upwards then the next coming down. Then to the apprentices delight the call was answered in the same manner.
Ringulf stood in his stirrups and held up his hand for them all to stop and listen quietly.
"35 yards off to the left at about 45 degrees!" he called out in a strong voice.
He sat back down in the saddle and the youths looked at each other like..."are we supposed to answer him or what?" they shrugged, but then saw what was happening.
Out of the forest on there left about 30 yards ahead a horse and rider came down out of the brush and trees.
The cloaked rider urged it's mount toward them slowly till the rangers were only 10 yards away, then stopped.
They stood looking at one another for a few moments neither saying a word. Then Ringulf broke the silence.
"You are just in time for lunch, you are looking good Simone...wish I could say the same for that horse!"
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Post by Firehead on Dec 17, 2010 8:55:17 GMT -5
Simone pulled Snap to a stop within the dense forest and swung down, giving a little groan as she streatched the muscles in her injured leg. Leading Snap, she continued onward, hobbling less as she eased the cramps in her body. She'd given up sleeeping and broken camp well before dawn, opting to put a few more miles behind her and Snap instead.
They hadn't gone far, when Snap alerted her to the faint sound of hoofbeats approaching at a steady gait. Leaving Snap ground-tied and signalling him to remain quiet, SImone slipped sideways through the brush until she found a tree to lean against, that provided her a good view of a road up ahead.
As she watched, a small group of riders appeared, moving at a brisk trot, talking and laughing among themselves as they drew nearer. At the same time, Simone noted that there were four riders; three wore Ranger cloaks. As they drew closer still, SImone was able to pick out Ringulf's burly form--surprise, surprise, he was actually riding! Although she had to wonder where Old Bob had managed to come up with a Ranger horse big enough for the job.
As she watched and listened, she heard Ringulf attempting to copy a chickadee: Not bad, but she could still tell the difference. Forgetting that she was blending in and observing the little party, she chirped back, hoping he'd notice the difference between his and the real birds'. Instead he chirriped back again, and Simone shoke her head. He wasn't getting it. She copied his chirp this time.
This time, he definitely noticed. She watched Ringulf's face pull into a frown and and smiled slightly. Then it occured to her that if she'd been hoping to catch him unawares, she'd just blown her cover. No bird would copy a whistle like that. Ringulf gave another whistle, this time definitely not a bird call, and there was nothing else for her to do but turn her palms out in resignation and return the whistle. Ringulf already knew that all was not as it seemed with his party's surroundings, and he would be on a hieghtened guard. "35 yards off to the left at about 45 degrees!" Need anything more be proved?
Simone remounted Snap and nudged him forward out of the woods and down toward the group of riders. At ten yards diestance, she brought Snap to a stop once again. They studied each other for a long moment, before Ringulf broke the silence with, "You are just in time for lunch, you are looking good Simone...wish I could say the same for that horse!"
Simone responded. "You mean the one you're riding?" she asked innocently.
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Post by Ringulf on Dec 17, 2010 10:33:50 GMT -5
Ringulf laughed and swung down off his horse. Chenlot stayed just were he was left. Ringulf came over and put his hand on Simone's shoulder and shook her hand. He would have given her his normal bear hug and the young apprentices would not have thought ill of him for it, but he sensed the need to be more professional with Simone at this point for her dignity.
"It is good to see you again Simone." he said to her warmly, then he broke off and moved to Snap "I was only kidding old one," he nuzzled her face and cupped her big soft nose. "She still having the problem with her gate on the left rear hoof? I shoed this one quite a few times and it seemed like the special shoe helped her."
One of the Apprentices cleared their throats to draw attention to the fact that they had no idea what was going on.
"Ah yes right, very subtle there...Ah Simone I would like you to meet The cubs, he he, This is Mylia my apprentice and Spinner. This young lady is Tory Waterton, she was the other ranger with me on the trip to Caraway and is Tandar Polaris's apprentice, and her horse Chip. And the newest member of our merry mob is Geir, apprentice applicant and the overall winner of the Archery Tournament in Whitby. Oh and his horse, Horse, he has not decided on a name yet as he just bought the beast."
"As I said we are just about ready to stop and have lunch then proceed on. I believe we should catch up with another companion traveling from the fair to Marshwood around supper time."
They all dismounted and found a glade off to the right of the path and sat on some fallen logs to much a cold but enjoyable lunch and wash it down with water and a jug of Apple cider.
The morning had started out a bit brisk but it was now warming nicely for this time of year so the cool drink felt good going down.
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Post by Firehead on Dec 20, 2010 10:17:59 GMT -5
Ringulf laughed as he dismounted and walked over to her. Simone swung down as well, taking her time but still wincing slightly when the foot of her injured leg hit the ground. She turned to meet Ringulf's shoulder clasp and vigerous handshake.
"It is good to see you again Simone." he said to her warmly, then he broke off and moved to Snap "I was only kidding old one," he nuzzled her face and cupped her big soft nose. "She still having the problem with her gate on the left rear hoof? I shoed this one quite a few times and it seemed like the special shoe helped her."
Mentally, she sighed. However, Snap didn't have any such inhibitions about Ringulf's feelings, he gave a loud snort and shoke his mane as if to say, He never gets it right. Simone gave a small smile before answering. "He...is doing fine. Hasn't had any problems since I took him back from Old Bob. Which is good considering." she finished, thinking back to the time she'd been in Picta with a warband on her heels. She and Snap had managed to outdistance the band to the border and disappear. A polite coughing sound brought her attention back to the present, and she shifted her attention to the three young people behind Ringulf.
"Ah yes right, very subtle there...Ah Simone I would like you to meet The cubs, he he, This is Mylia my apprentice and Spinner. This young lady is Tory Waterton, she was the other ranger with me on the trip to Caraway and is Tandar Polaris's apprentice, and her horse Chip. And the newest member of our merry mob is Gyr, apprentice applicant and the overall winner of the Archery Tournament in Whitby. Oh and his horse, Horse, he has not decided on a name yet as he just bought the beast."
Simone gave each a nod in turn, acknowlaging that they existed and fixing their names in her mind. Mylia was the shortest, well under five feet, with mousy brown hair that went where it wanted, and blue eyes that studied her back with the same amount of intensity. Tory was taller, standing around five feet tall, was rather skinny but looked to be filling out, with light brown-- almost blonde--hair, and blue eyes. Lastly, Gyr, who looked to stand somewhere between five and six feet tall, with coppery hair and hazel eyes, and carrying magnificent longbow. When Ringulf told her that this young man had held the highest score of any catagory in the archery tournament and was applying to become a Ranger apprentice, Simone raised her eyebrows.
Why not just let him--." she broke off mid-sentence, as a reason for why not came to mind. He was an unknown; they would need to make sure that his win was not a fluke, before they considered him for a silverleaf. "Of course." she said.
"As I said we are just about ready to stop and have lunch then proceed on. I believe we should catch up with another companion traveling from the fair to Marshwood around supper time."
Simone nodded, still slightly distracted by her previous train of thought. She followed behind Ringulf as they found a nice clearing and settled down for a cold lunch. She had no objections to it being cold; she'd skipped breakfast this mourning and was feeling the effects of hunger now. Still, before she sat down to eat with the others, she took the time to go over Snap with a dry cloth, removing the gear to do so, then replacing it when she had finished. She left the briddle off, allowing Snap to graze freely, hanging it on the saddle instead. This rub-down/inspection done, she joined the others for the meal. -------------------------------------------------
Mylia studied the woman whom Ringulf had introduced to them as Simone, out of the corner of her eye. Long curly hair, as black and shiny as a ravens, gathered at the nape of her neck in a ponytail, slim of build (though Mylia got the impression that this woman would be no easy target if she was entangled in a fight), but the real surprise for Mylia was when she got a look at Simone's eyes--one was blue, the other was grey. The first time she saw that, Mylia felt her hackles rise on teh back of her neck. Like many people, she had heard the superstition that odd-eyed people were marked--or cursed, if you wanted to believe the witches theory. She'd never heard what they were marked for, as no one seemed to know that part of the superstition, but seeing Simone's eyes, she could almost believe that it was true.
Turning her thoughts to other things, Mylia wondered just who the woman was--beyond the fact that her name was Simone, and she owned a horse that appeared to be as well-trained as any Ranger horse-- and what Ringulf knew that they, the appreantices, did not.
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Post by Brandwyn on Dec 21, 2010 13:25:01 GMT -5
Tory was riding along, partly listening to Mylia and chatting with her, partly paying attention to Ringulf, partly keeping an eye on her surroundings and partly musing over this new direction in her life. In short, she was not doing any of them well because her attention was so divided.
She wasn’t really participating in the ‘recognize the bird call’ game that Ringulf was conducting. Normally this would have been a very fun game and she would likely have gotten all the answers right. She was extremely familiar with the normal birds and other wildlife found in an indigenous forest. But today her mind wasn’t into it, she was pre-occupied.
She responded to Mylia’s comments, but had no idea what they were talking about and she was only half-watching the woods around them in case something ambushed them. That was an old habit she had gotten into when on the run with Patrick. She had never let her guard down for a moment back then. Now, she had to admit it was foolish later, she felt safe in her current company and travelling a well-known road from Whitbey back to Marshwood.
In the back of her mind she recognized the chickadee answer wasn’t real, but it didn’t really register at first. She was busy thinking about Tandar and Aribjorn. She wondered if she had done the right thing in choosing to come back with Ringulf for the holidays. Even though Crowley (whose standing went up a notch in her book) said it was up to her, she thought he had looked disappointed with her choice. On the other hand, she didn’t care a great deal about what Crowley thought of her – well, not much anyway.
She was worried about Tandar though. Was he going to be okay on his own, or was he going to get worse? She hoped Brandwyn would be able to help him, because Tory had no idea what to do or what his problem was. She only knew he was hurting over something and wouldn’t face it. The only thing she could think of was that his father’s death was devastating and he wasn’t getting beyond his grief. Somehow though, she thought there was more. So, should she have left him? She was feeling rather disloyal and guilty now that they were miles away and heading away from Meric. Meric. There it was again, the root of her problems. She had chosen to go with Ringulf just so she wouldn’t have to return to Meric and face her tormentors. That also meant she would not see her parents either. It was both a relief and a burning hole of remorse that she was not going to be there during Yule.
She would have to go back one day, though. She knew that now. The only way to move on and possibly get rid of the nightmares would be to face Korrin again, but her knees turned to jelly just at the thought of being in the same room with him. She was such a coward. As they rode, she got quieter and that haunted look came back into her eyes.
Then the bird call registered as not being a bird at all and Tory snapped her bow up, fumbling for an arrow as she looked around sharply. "35 yards off to the left at about 45 degrees!" Ringulf called out to them. Tory’s eyes snapped to the location and she saw the movement, bringing her bow up, knowing if it was someone who meant them harm, one of them would likely already be dead. She berated herself for not paying better attention. She knew better than that. Strangely, though, Ringulf didn’t seem alarmed. In fact, he seemed to have been expecting this woman who stepped out of the trees like she’d been spawned on the spot by the Forest Spirits.
She and Ringulf exchanged some words and Tory eyed the forest, clearing her throat nervously, wondering if anyone else was out there. She hadn’t intended to draw attention to herself, but it had brought Ringulf back to the scene and he introduced everyone to a woman he called Simone. Tory saw at once that she wore a gold oak leaf and she was riding a rather old ranger horse. ‘That explains how she got so close,’ she thought, feeling slightly better that she had been taken off guard by a retired ranger. The woman looked too young to be retired though. ‘Interesting,’ she thought, ‘I wonder what her story is.’ They looked each other over for a moment, neither saying a word, Tory only nodded her head in deference, then scanned the woods again, still wondering if there were anymore out there. She also wondered why Chip or the other ranger horses hadn’t alerted them a bit earlier to Simone’s presence.
She loosened Chip’s girth and gave him a mouthful of grain in his nosebag after removing his bridle and then joined the others for a cold lunch, glancing at Mylia every so often with a questioning look on her face, but mostly her thoughts strayed back to their earlier lines. Would Tandar be okay? When was she going to see Ari again? Did he like her or like Mylia better? She wondered how Gyr was going to fit into this little party as he seemed to be rather quiet and almost shy. Maybe it was a language barrier. She discovered about halfway through the meal that she was staring at him, comparing him to Aribjorn and she flushed and turned her attention back to her food, thinking they were both pretty handsome, but how could either of them be interested in her with all of her scars and her bony arms and legs. Mylia was far prettier. Tory didn’t mind that either, she wanted Mylia to be happy and if dating one of the Skandian boys would make her happy, then so much the better, but she couldn’t help but be a little envious – just a tiny bit.
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Post by Ringulf on Jan 2, 2011 13:31:40 GMT -5
The group had a relatively good lunch and chatted between themselves. they all took turns filling Simone in on the events of the Harvest Fair and when they had had their fill rose and continued on their path towards Marshwood. They all sensed the growing cold as the weather took a noticable change. It was brisque and grey with a feeling like snow was on it's way.
As the drew close to the Northern border of Caraway fife they saw a big rounded wagon pulled by a team of long haired draft horses. They had finally caught up with Fin, even though she had a two day headstart.
"That thing does not move very quickly I'm afraid." said Ringulf to the rest.
(OOG This thread continues on the "Marshwood Yuletide" thread)
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