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Post by Firehead on Jul 24, 2009 13:09:10 GMT -5
"Do you know if Monkuta's-" Badger hesitated, then continued. "-staying out of trouble?" Rab laughed quietly. Monkuta, stay out of trouble? Hardly. "He's better at staying out--but he's usually in." Rab had dropped back to his usual soft tone. "Pick up the pace?" he suggested.
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Post by ivory on Jul 24, 2009 14:59:07 GMT -5
"Pick up the pace?"
Before Badger could answer, Mikilana did it for him, though not too fast where Rab couldn't keep up...if he ran. He let her go for a few yards before pulling lightly on her reigns to get her to slow back down to a quick walking pace. A smile tugged at the side of his lips hidden from Rab's view.
[OOC: skip ahead if you want]
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Post by Firehead on Jul 27, 2009 10:26:31 GMT -5
2 hours later, the Mountains of Rain and Night lay a small distance behind them as they continued their trek to--wherever Badger was heading. It had been a quiet trip, for the most part. Rab kept pace with Badger's horse, staying abreast and a few yards to the left. Finally, Rab broke the silence. "Where are we going to?"
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Post by ivory on Jul 27, 2009 10:36:26 GMT -5
Two hours of blissful silence. It wasn't much considering the last two years had been mostly silent, but when he remembered his talkative apprentice, he was grateful for it. That boy could probably make take up a storm alright. The corner of his lips twitched at the memory before Rab cut through with his question, "Where are we going to?"
He thought he'd told him already, but couldn't be sure since he wasn't used to having company. He probably only said it within his mind, so he made sure to say it outloud this time, "Araluen. Need to pick up the trail."
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Post by Firehead on Jul 27, 2009 11:03:02 GMT -5
"Araluen. Need to pick up the trail." Rab looked askance at Badger, then around him at the rolling hills and grass, then back toward the Mountains of Rain and Night, before answering, being careful to make the tone neutral. "That's... rather... obvious." They were IN Araluan. "Anywhere.. in Araluan.. in particular?"
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Post by ivory on Jul 27, 2009 11:40:05 GMT -5
"That's... rather... obvious. Anywhere.. in Araluan.. in particular?"
Badger started to ask him if he was sane, but then remembered that there were three different ones: the city, the country, and the fief. Oops.
"The city. Sorry." Man, he needed to get used to speaking to others again. Since he understood himself, he hadn't thought to elaborate, forgetting that people couldn't read his mind if he didn't give them enough information. He turned his head to scan their surroundings again, partially to hide his embaressment, the other because he was paranoid.
The Thorntree Forest stretched in the distance on their right, the hills on their left, in front of them the path. Personally, he'd rather go through the woods instead of staying out in the open by keeping to the trail of taking the hills. He wondered if Rab would mind and figured the best way to head in that direction and see if he'd protest. This way, he wouldn't have to ask.
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Post by Firehead on Jul 27, 2009 14:56:59 GMT -5
"The city. Sorry." Rab nodded, but kept his face blank. There was no way on the earth that he was going to open his mouth about something he probably shouldn't say. Better to not even think about it, just to avoid the complications. Badger swung his horse toward the Thorntree Forest and Rab altered his own course to compensate.
[Your turn to skip ahead if you want!]
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Post by ivory on Jul 27, 2009 19:38:16 GMT -5
[lol. Roger that. *grin*]
They kept only a few feet in from the forest's edge, Bager wanting to know who traveled the roads. Word spread fast among the 'people of the shadows' and eleven days was more than enough time for Hatchet to figure out where he was. And then there was his run in with the Assassin Guild's leader - icing on the cake. It wouldn't be too hard for him to ask around and find out that he boarded a boat for Araluen and from there...well, he could make assumptions well enough.
But as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon, Badger headed a few yards deeper into the trees, not wanting to risk even the slightest chance of being seen. He reigned Mikilana to a stop and swung down off her back, saying as he did so, "We'll stop here. Good place as any. I'll take first watch."
He wasn't really looking for an answer, still unused to being in another's company to mind their opinion. He brushed Mikilana down and made sure she was comfortable before climbing a tree a few yards from where he left her. If somehow they got past him, the last thing he wanted was for them both to get caught with their britches down. Best to split up even if it were only for a few yards. Besides, the shadows hid him beautifully. And he had access to the road.
He braced his back against the trunk of the tree after having swung himself up midway, legs stradling the branch. His longbow hung loose in his hands, an arrow already knocked and ready to fire. Considering Hatchet's men hardly ever came in one's he figured he might as well be ready to take out as many as possible.
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Post by Firehead on Jul 28, 2009 9:34:55 GMT -5
After traveling along the edge of the forest for some time, Badger turned his horse further into the woods, then slid out of the saddle, saying, "We'll stop here. Good place as any. I'll take first watch." Rab shrugged-- he knew it didn't really make much of a difference if he was first on watch or last on watch--he'd still be getting the same amount of sleep.
As he hadn't planned so much on meeting Badger as he had on 12 hours of exploration, he did not have a bedroll with him. But there were only two of them, and only one person would be able to sleep at a time, so Rab borrowed a blanket from Badger's bedroll.
Seeing that Badger had taken a tree closer to the edge of the forest, Rab headed in the opposite direction, circled back to the left a bit, then shimmied up a tree until he was hidden from below by the leaves. choosing a sturdy tree branch, he walked out on it a little ways, then took two pieces of braided twine from his bag and set to work. A scarce five minutes later, he was fast asleep in a makeshift hammock.
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Post by ivory on Jul 28, 2009 9:46:56 GMT -5
[Ooh, nice thinking with the hammock. I would've just had him straped to the tree - very uncomfortable. lol. :-)]
Badger's shift slowly came to an end with nothing interesting in the least and after another glance around him, he lowered himself back to the ground. He quietly made his way back to Mikilana to wake Rab, brow furrowing when he didn't see him.
He wondered if someone had slipped past him and got Rab. If so, they did a great job at keeping quiet and made his life worse than it was, implying that Hatchet had gotten smarter since they last 'met'. But after a quick inspection he saw that his bedroll was missing and figured that he'd simply wondered off. But where?
He stayed in the shadows, glancing every once in a while around him to make sure everything was nice and quiet, as he slowly progressed outward in a spiral. After having gone fifteen feet, he stopped and headed back to Mikilana. Next time he'd make sure Rab got the first watch so he could hide and skip out.
He scowled, but doubted that Rab was hiding just to skip out of his watch. Still, it was irking to have to stay up all night. With a sigh and a shake of his head, he dropped a single pat on his horse before heading toward his tree.
[skip ahead if you want...or have something happen. Your choice. *grin*]
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Post by Firehead on Jul 28, 2009 10:28:51 GMT -5
[OOC: I'm having a real good laugh from your post! The best laugh in a long time here! I'm laughing tears. Good post Theramind!] Rab woke, unsure what had caused him to do so, and strained his ears to catch even the slightest sound. After hearing nothing for several minutes, he slipped out of his 'hammock' and quietly out of the tree. Taking a guess that anyone sneaking around this section of the woods would be going toward the camp, he padded silently in that direction. Reaching what constituted as 'camp', he dropped to a crouch and waited for several more minutes. When again nothing happened, Rab slowly eased his way forward. Nothing but Badger's horse. And tracks. His tracks....Badger's tracks...of course! Normal people slept in camp, easy to find, unlike himself. Following the slight imprints of Badger's feet--was he wearing hard-soled boots? Shaking his head, Rab forced his mind to remain on the subject at hand....literally. His hand brushing lightly across the ground, he moved slowly, so as not to overshoot Badger's tracks. Finally, his hand banged into the rough bark of a tree, and he slowly rose to his full height, trying to avoid the inevitable cramps to his leg muscles. Hopefully, there was no one in that tree other than Badger. Keeping his voice soft, he threw it--though in the dark, success was a matter of perspective. If it was Badger up there---no harm done. If it was someone else--hopefully they would miss him on their first shot. "Badger?" he paused, listening for any sound that would alert him as to where in the tree the person was. Pausing was the second best thing he could have done, under the circumstances that he would soon become aware of. The first-- was throwing his voice. For from behind him, during that pause, he caught the sound of a twig breaking as someone's foot trod heavily upon it.
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Post by ivory on Jul 28, 2009 10:43:07 GMT -5
Badger had made his way back to his tree two hours ago, muttering a few curses with Rab's name on them. He'd climbed back to his perch and readied his bow, eyes once again gazing out on the watch. The first hour had passed like the many before it - slow and lacking interest. Toward the end of the second one though, he caught sight of a group of four shadows 'bout the size of men. He shifted to gain a better angle, but they'd already slipped into the trees. It could be a group of civilians expecting no trouble, but he doubted it. Of course, there was a war going on and it could be preparations, but that too he doubted considering to his knowledge, the war hadn't reached Araluen shores yet. Hatchet was the most likely scenario, but he didn't want to shoot in case he was just being paranoid.
He started to ease slowly from the tree when he heard his name being called. He looked down and barely made out Rab's form beneath the myriad branches that still seperated them. He opened his mouth to warn him that there were people about when he heard the faintest snap of a twig. He shifted his weight, gripping the branch tight between his knees as he pulled the string back on his longbow, eyes scoping the grounds for whoever was out there. And then he cursed as he realized that whoever it was would know his position soon enough if they heard Rab calling his name. So much for the element of surprise. With a scowl, he thought to 'jump' to the next tree, but thought better of it. His luck, he'd end up missing in the dark and falling the six yards to the ground. He'd just have to wait where he was and hope that it wasn't Hatchet's men.
[OOC: they can be Hatchet's men if you want them too, if not, then they're aren't. You call. *grin*]
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Post by Firehead on Jul 28, 2009 12:09:49 GMT -5
Rab froze at the sound, listening. But not a sound came from behind him. Taking another risk, he threw his voice again. "Who's there?" Still no sound. Then he heard the slightest of creaks--a sound to extraordinarily like a bow being drawn for him to doubt it as anything else. He didn't know if it was Badger behind him or someone else, but he'd find out quick. He hated this sort of suspense.
Letting out a loud, shrill "Eeep!" while simultaneously dropping to the ground, he heard the twang of a bowstring and the zzip--thud! of an arrow going past to slam into the outer edge of the tree trunk-- the side farthest from him, thankfully. Whoever it was behind him had been startled by the sudden, loud noise, probably jumping, and had bumbled his shot.
Rab froze where he was, making no sound. He could hear the person's nervous breathing now, and knew from the tread of the person's feet that they were circling the area a scant two yards from him. Obviously hoping for a another shot at him. Something he wasn't interested in giving them.
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Post by ivory on Jul 28, 2009 12:24:06 GMT -5
Badger's heart jumped at the shriek in suprise, but he managed to keep his hands steady. He released as soon as he heard the twang of another bow and hoped it was his that hit flesh instead of the other's. One down, hopefully, he fitted another arrow and scanned the shadows beneath him, hoping to get off another shot.
Another shot twanged out, but it wasn't from him. He sucked in sharply when an arrow grazed his arm and fought to keep his own arrow from flying loose. He loosened his grip on his branch, swung a leg over, slid down onto the branch beneath, and then fired. Not wanting to risk getting shot at again, he quickly made his descent to the ground and hoped that Rab was still alive. Once on the ground, he replaced his bow with his knives and waited for the next attack. He doubted he'd have to wait long considering they now knew his position.
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Post by Firehead on Jul 28, 2009 12:58:55 GMT -5
Three more shots were fired, both going well over his head and in opposite directions.The ones from the tree apparently made a hit, but hadn't killed the man on the ground, for Rab still heard the sound of heavy breathing coming from that direction. Then without a sound, a man dropped to the ground, landing so close that Rab felt his boot rub his wrist. Only the exacting training of the Rangers kept him from moving. Glancing up with painstaking slowness, he nearly wentweak at the sight and realization that it was Badger, knives in hands.
'This had better work, or I've just cooked our collective goose.' Rab thought, as he threw his voice to the lowest branches of the next tree, making it gravelly and rough. "You took long enough!" Then, chills racing up and down his spine, he reached out and yanked downward on Badger's pant leg while throwing his voice to a bush a few feet away from him to the right of the first, this time making it higher and whiny-sounding. "Well I'm here now, aren't I? Say, what's goin' on anyway?"
He prayed that if Badger ducked fast enough, the arrows that were sure to be flying through the air at any minute would miss him. Hopefully. In fact, if they were able to pull it off, only one of them would have to voluntarily put their skin in danger. IF it worked.
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