The Trees

[Tobias116]

([Insert generic personal character plot here] I thought I said that he killed them himself by a misfired spell, but anyways, we'll see how this goes... /Interest)

[Woo]

(Think we should disregard that post? Remember, if we object to something it can be removed. Though I do agree we can't have these guys fighting in the street for too long. Wasn't Causeldeir being part controlled by some other big magic force anyway? Thanatos could try to track that down, merely out of interest in vast evil forces, and in doing so release Causeldeir, for better or worse. As a suggestion.)

[Snowman]

(Yeah I was actually hoping for the story to swing a slightly different direction. In fact I was curious to see what Tobias would do with the story, so I was going to let him lead.)

[Tobias116]

(Ok. I'll see if we can work something out then Snowman.)

Thanatos cast another roaring bolt of fire towards Causeldeir who deflected it with a shield. The ball of fire spun to the left of him and into the ground, creating a long line of seared cobblestones.

"Damn, his shield is strong." Thanatos thought.

Causeldeir bit into his tongue, the blood seeping out into his mouth. Thanatos stood about 20 yards away from him, scratching his head going "What should I do with you?" with an annoyed tone.

Causeldeir channeled the power of his master into the spell. Thanatos tensed up as he sensed the levels of magic used. "Fuc-!" was all he could bare to yell before a huge black with red outlines dragon's head jumped out of Causeldeir's aura towards Thanatos at the speed of lightning. The shockwave from the spell hitting him caused buildings close to the blast to crack.

Thanatos stood with his hands out in front of him to protect him, a V shaped shield buzzing with blue energy had met the dragon's head thrown at him.

"Blood magic." Thanatos concluded after seeing the spell. He had also detected a temporal presence of something much, much more evil than Causeldeir.

"Who is your master?!" he called out to Causeldeir.

[Snowman]

Causaldeir stared menacingly down the alley, breathing erratically. The fury was flowing through him. Before unleashing another attack upon his assailant, Causaldeir remembered why he had come to the city in the first place. The mission he was instructed to carry out, and the repercussions that would be unbinded upon him, were he to fail. He slowly unclenched his fists.

"You do not understand the true gravity of the situation, of what power you truly temper with," Causaldeir warned, yelling down the alley. "And let us not forget where we are. The magi who guard this city are not weak. If we remain here, we will be overrun." He stared at Thanatos and his demon, atop a nearby house. "If you wish to learn more, I will require you help me complete my task. But we must go into hiding to discuss such things. Or...we can stay here and continue this pathetic quarrel until the magi come to destroy us. Your choice...surely you're not a fool..."

[Tobias116]

Zentara jumped down from the slightly cracked building agilely. He looked at Thanatos with curiosity.

Thanatos tilted his head towards the sky in a strange manner. The gray clouds stared down at him.

"Let's be on our way then." He said politely with a calm voice and started walking the way he and Zentara came from.

Causeldeir started walking the same way as the odd pair in a slow pace.

"Zentara, do you remember the way to my house?" Thanatos asked.

"Yes, I remember it." Zentara responded.

"We'll never get away if we travel at this speed, but we can't use magic to travel." Thanatos said, pointing out the obvious.

"Ah, see, I have an idea." he continued, and sent the idea to Zentara over the mental link.

"Yes, that'll do." Zentara said, grinning. He walked over to Causeldeir who looked at him in confusion. "What are yo-" he didn't have time to respond because Zentara had already picked him up on his shoulder and was running at terrible speed towards Thanatos house.

Thanatos took off soon after casting a spell to hide their tracks. The spell itself dissipated as soon as it was done.

[Snowman]

The three of them burst into the home and slammed the door shut. Thanatos dropped Causaldeir to the floor and continued into the next room.

"That did not seem necessary," Causaldeir groaned as he lifted his feeble body. Zentara stared at him as he struggled.

"Who cares? We're doing it your way, so now you get to start talking," Thanatos demanded from the other room. Causaldeir walked tentatively over to a table and sat. Out the window commotion could be seen. City guards began searching the streets for anything peculiar. Causaldeir pulled the shades closed over the window and the room darkened. He looked over at Zentara who continued staring curiously at him.

"Why do you travel with this demon?" Causaldeir asked. Thanatos came back into the room abruptly.

"It's of no concern to you. I thought I told you to start talking..."

Causaldeir sighed, knowing that he had to reveal information to this peculiar duo, but perhaps in doing so it would come as a benefit. He hoped it would be. "Very well. I was once a much different person than as you see me now. Younger...agile. This was taken from me, as well as other things I cared for in my life..."

"I don't care about this stuff!" Thanatos snarled. "I demand answers for what I witnessed today."

"I am a slave. I have spell-power of my own that you have seen, but I also wield dark powers of the Overlord that I must answer to. And with these combined powers, I am a tool of destruction for him, who's name will not be mentioned."

"Why not?" Zentara asked skeptically.

"He will only reveal himself to his slaves, never anyone that he does not directly control. Even his master plan involving the four seasons of the world cannot be explained to any lesser, so I can only tell you what task I was instructed to perform here in the city."

Thanatos grumbled and walked closer to the old man. "And that is?"

Causaldeir closed his eyes and moved into Thanatos' mind. "My Overlord has felt a threat to his plans, and he believes it is here in this city. A threat that moves in a small party, one that I have seen only through the creatures that I control." Causaldeir imprinted the images of Sam, Henry, and Jaggery into the mind of Thanatos, who shared these with Zentara through their mind link. "These are members of this party. I need to find them, and stop them from what they seek to accomplish."

Thanatos gasped, and gritted his teeth viciously. "I know who they are..."

[Tobias116]

"Their names are Henry, S'kendra, Sam and Jaggery." Thanatos said whilst sending the mental images in the order of the names said.

"The boy, Henry recently got his spine broken by me, S'kendra seems to have sacrificed her life to save him." Thanatos told Causaldeir, telling him about the recent events.

"Henry possesses magical powers that few have." Zentara filled in. "The rest aren't as important and their powers are negligible, though someone has had trouble killing them..." Zentara sarcastically remarked.

"The boy froze us both inside a glacier." Thanatos snarled in response.

"Now now, don't fight." Causaldeir said whilst looking upon them.

"What is the plan now, except finding that boy and the rest of them and turn them into skewered meat?" Thanatos inquired. He looked upon Causaldeir, awaiting the answer eagerly.

[Snowman]

"If the girl has sacrificed herself, then our only real problem will be this Henry you speak of," Causaldeir pondered. He lightly chewed his lip and stared down at his walking stick in thought. "And it sounds as if he wields significant powers. Quite a fortune that you were able to snap his spine..."

Thanatos smirked. "I can do it again."

Causaldeir continued pondering the situation. "We can not defeat him while he is among the magi of the city." Suddenly a thought came to mind, a selfish endeavor that Causaldeir felt necessary to explore. "When he leaves the city, we will have ample opportunity. But we can not kill him."

"What?!" Thanatos erupted. "When I get the opportunity, I will kill the whelp!"

"You will not. I need to delve into his mind. I need to discover something about him. So we will subdue him first, then perhaps when I am finished with the boy, you will have your opportunity." Causaldeir watched Thanatos storm around the house briefly.

"Fine, we will see where this goes," Thanatos said as he turned and faced Causaldeir.

"Good. Once Henry and his pawns leave the city, he's ours."

[CriDFU]

Calet rose from his knees, keeping his glance at the young girl. Her face was once one of death exposure, seeming to be at the edge of life, the weak grip of her hands holding the grass being the only thing to keep her from falling. Now her face was calm, beautiful and full of life. Her face regaining some of it's colour after being drained of it only moments before.
He wiped a tear from his cheek, tears of joy now, before tears of fear and anxiety. He had never dealt with a situation quite like this before. Never once in his career as the highest esteemed guard in the City. But something bothered him about this situation that stretched beyond the grotesqueness of the situation. It was the man who did this, those eyes. His mind flashed back to that moment every second; his mind registering a new thought only to have the mans face take it over again.
This would be a battle of willpower to get the image out of his head.

He stood over the child. He gently took her from S'kendra's arms and lifted her out of the pool of blood she had formed in her short time laying on the marble floor of the hall. He carried her a couple of feet over to a wall and sat her up against it. He knelt to one knee and placed a hand delicately on her right cheek before moving it down to her neck. He held two fingers to the right side of her wind-pipe, exhaling in relief as the slow pulse beat under his index and middle fingers. She was alive; and that was enough to calm his heart and quiver his legs some, maybe his body was still in shock. He would have to take it easy for the next couple of minutes.

He rose back to his feet and spun around in the direction of the tan-skin girl who had saved her. "I thank you for saving this girls life." He said, tapping his right shoulder with his left hand twice, both producing a loud tap echoing through hall.

S'Kendra (spelling?) smiled at Calet, her hands joined in front of her. "I'm just glad I could have helped." She said. "When I heard the door blow open I thought it might have been trouble."

Calet winced at the word "trouble". He had seen enough of this tonight and the very mention was enough to drive his mind to physical pain. Small needles darting through his ears. He moved over to the wall and leaned against it, his hand trembling in his pockets. He needed time to collect himself after this event that would traumatized a weaker-mined man. But Calet was intelligent, he knew he lived in a world of magic and understood that it's powers are limitless; he understood even more-so that there are evil men in this world corrupted by the power they obtain. He had met one such man on this night.

He looked back over to S'Kendra, her attention moved to the child sleeping against the wall. "What's going to happen to the girl?" She asked after a seven second silence.

Calet's head lowered some and darted his eyes back an forth between S'Kendra and the girl. "We need to locate her parents first" He voice was weak and quavery. "Until then she will be kept safe by the palace guard and housed here. First things first we need to find her a bed to sleep in. The poor thing can't just rest on the floor; not after what she's been through." His head shook in pity at the second half. "I'll have to arrange something with the guards." He slid his back against the wall until his butt was on the ground, his arms hung over his knees.

S'Kendra lowered her brow. "Are you a member of the city guard?"

His eyes shot open and his head moved quickly in her direction. Surly his lack of uniform made it hard to believe him as a guard, but this mannerism told them otherwise. "No, not the city guard." He smiled. "I'm royal guard, a protect the family." He switched his focus to another man standing behind S'Kendra. A tall skinny man with black shoulder length hair and the same style of facial hair running along his chin and lower cheek. His hand stuffed in his pockets. He had the same look of worry as Calet, only more so as he did not know what happened. Perhaps it was Calet who should be worried more.

Calet stood up once again, groaning as he did so. As he got to his feet he straightened out his right hand and positioned it vertically and moved it back and forth horizontally beside the left side of his neck all in one motion. As a reaction the man who stood behind S'Kendra talked past her and towards Calet. They gave each other a quick salute before speaking.        

"Graz, can you see this poor girl to a bed?" He asked.


"I would have forgotten my god if I didn't." He responded and moved to the girl. running a hand gently through her red hair before picking her up and moving across the great hall and leaving through a giant wooden door.

Calet ran his own hand through his short brown hair and hefted a heavy sigh of relief as he watched Graz leave with the girl. He seemingly froze in motion as his hand met the back of his head as his eyes shot towards S'Kendra. "I must apologize for my rudeness earlier, you did not look as though you could heal the girl because you're young, apprentice age. Please accept my apo-"

The hall suddenly shook and the sound of a breaking window echoed through the Great Hall. Calet moved his feet quickly in position to keep himself from falling down, looking around he saw that everybody else had the instinct to do the same, save for a guard in front who looked like he just made it out of apprenticeship. At first Calet thought of the child, he hoped that she was alright in the sudden fissure, but he knew Graz; he was nimble and would have not dropped her. Then he thought of the man, surely he had no noble intention in this palace. S'Kendra noticed the colour leave his face when he thought of the man.

Calet instantly spun around and flew through the broken door into the darkening world of dusk. S'kendra as well as a handful of guards following suit. If he had the slightest bit of common sense he would imagine the origin being where he first saw that old bastard.

(Guys, tell me if my writing style bothers you. If it's too long or if there's too much information in the actions.)

[Woo]

(It's not that bad, you just need to work on making it a little more fluid. And perhaps toning down the details a touch, though I know how much fun they can be to write. ^^ But don't worry about it too much! We're here to have fun.)

S'kendra took off into the courtyard, determined not to be caught up with by her guards. Unfortunately, she had hardly gotten a few feet from the shattered door when a heavy, armored hand clamped onto her shoulder. She spun around, panic stricken for a moment, and was met by the sight of a single guardsman and her tall, bald headed interrogator stood directly behind her. Her sharp features formed a disappointed grimace as the mono-toned man leaned in for what seemed set to be another threat or accusation; instead he took her hand, knelt before her, and kissed the ring finger.

"Forgive me, my lady." He droned. "I should never have questioned you for an instant."

"What the devil are you on about now!" S'kendra cried, pulling her hand away and moving to leave. She had to make sure that nervous looking guardsman didn't get himself killed.

"My lady! You are the missing child in the Royal Line! The Royal mark of the tiger is on you!" The man seemed oblivious to the distant flashes of lightning and the strong stench of dark magic in the air. But S'kendra most definitely  had to pause on hearing this.

"I'm what now? Royalty? I'm afraid I find that far-fetched." She affected a haughty smile, her hands on her hips, as she considered how utterly ridiculous the suggestion was. Yes, it did make a few aspects of life make a bit more sense... But still, it sounded lunacy. She considered one final thing before sighing and shrugging. "I suppose it would explain why Darien, the Wandering Wizard, made me his errand-girl."

She could only laugh at the shocked look on the faces of the two men, before turning and bolting into the distance on slender, powerful legs. As she approached the Palace gate, she saw the Honour Guard once more. He seemed unable to exit the Palace grounds, and S'kendra soon realized that the magi had placed a shield around the palace, and it did not discriminate one side from the other. Slowing her pace, she meandered calmly over to the man, resting a hand gently on his shoulder. He looked like a distinctly distressed mime as he beat his hands against the invisible wall in front of him.

"Ssh ssh, calm down now. Naught to be done about it now, hum?" she smiled soothingly, trying to calm the distressed man. "Come now, the magi will sort it out. We're safe in here."

The man turned, his eyebrows betraying his urge to scowl at the young woman who seemed to be patronizing him, but before he could say a word, a shout came from the courtyard behind them and she spun about with a gasp.

S'kendra couldn't fail to recognize the voices calling from across the grass. "Henry! Sam! Jaggery!" She raced towards them, amazed and delighted to see them all together and in one piece. She embraced each of them in turn.

"Jaggery, I can honestly tell you I've never been happier to see a dwarf in my entire life!" she laughed as she slapped him heartily on the back.

"Aye, I see being dead ain't changed you much!" he smiled, wiping a tear from his eye.

"We saw explosions from inside the palace," Sam explained with a grin "so naturally we assumed we would find you here!" He hugged her once more, muttering "It's great to see you again."

S'kendra finally turned to Henry, who smiled shyly. He clearly felt guilty about what had happened, but was relieved to see her alive and well again. She smiled and took him by the shoulders.

"Henry, thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for working so hard to save me. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you." She hugged him fiercely, trying to bite back tears. Before letting go, she whispered "I have some important things to tell you, soon, but not now."


(I hope no one objects to this! If I'm making too silly of a story, then do tell, but I have some idea of how I might tie in the Wandering Wizard, seeing as S'kendra never used to have much of a back story. But tell me if it's all too daft. :3)

[Relym]

(Aw, man. I screwed something up. I knew Thanatos told everyone that his parents died in an accident. I thought maybe I'd spice it up. If no one wants that, then I'm fine with the deletion of the post. In the mean time, I'm also hopelessly behind.)

Henry frowned slightly. What was it with girls that made them create such unnecessary suspense? He knew this anticipation would only boil in the back of his mind until S'kendra explained everything to him. He pondered what kind of information might be relayed as the embrace ended much too soon. "Oh, Jaggery, don't cry," S'kendra simpered maternally as she kneeled next to the now-sobbing dwarf.

Henry couldn't help but laugh. The combination of the sight of Jaggery's tears of joy and the deep, cleansing relief of seeing S'kendra alive was making him giddy. "I say we all get drinks!" Jaggery choked. "This is a time for celebration!" His voice broke more than once as he stood up and wandered off in no particular direction.

"Sometimes I think we're looking at a boy with a man's beard." Sam said exasperatedly, shaking his head slowly. "But I agree wholeheartedly. A few pints should do us all well. We deserve it, eh?"

[Woo]

"Come, the Palace is under a strong shield, so we can't get out for the next few hours. If we head indoors, I should be able to use my charms to get us a room and a few drinks." S'kendra smiled and led the way back into the palace. She felt light headed and giddy at all the sudden change, and she was truly touched at her friends reactions upon seeing her again. She couldn't help but spin about and smile at them all every now and then, half dancing in excitement under the warm night sky of the Royal City.

"She's livelier then ever, isn't she?" Sam whispered to Henry, giving him a slight nudge with his elbow.

Soon S'kendra had skipped through some large double-doors, and waltzed casually up to one of the guards. Henry, Sam and Jaggery followed her in, and arrived in time to see the guard indicate that they should follow him. S'kendra dropped her pace so that she was walking alongside her companions while they followed the guard through a concealed corridor.

"He's agreed to take us to the guards barracks, where we should find a bar and some reasonably comfortable seats." She smiled, giggling as Sam gave her a quizzical look.

"How did you convince him to agree to that?" Henry asked, looking amused yet perplexed. S'kendra merely shrugged.

"I can be convincing when I need to be." she said with a coy smile.

Soon enough, they were all seated at a large wooden table in a surprisingly clean and comfortable barracks pub. The guard who brought them there muttered something to the barman, who ensured that none of the adventurers sat with an empty glass; an amenity Jaggery seemed set to make full use of. This was the first real lull in the storm since any of the four of them had met, and it felt well earned. Each of them had been on the edge of death at least once since meeting, and two of them had been over the edge and come back. Now, they all seemed the oldest of friends, sitting around the great wooden table together, indulging in storytelling and jokes, friendly mocking and lighthearted teasing.

"A Toast!" Jaggery rumbled, standing up on his chair and leaning on Sam drunkenly for support, almost toppling them both in the process. "A Toast, to the finest and most loyal lot of rabble-rousers I ever had the pleasure of meeting!" he bellowed, before tossing back his drink with almost enough force to throw his feet out from under himself.

"Sit down, you drunk old fool!" Sam laughed with mock impatience, while Henry and S'kendra chuckled and joined in the toast across the table.

"Barkeep! More ale!" Jaggery grinned to the good natured man behind the bar, who promptly refreshed the drinks.

Henry had been fighting the urge to ask what S'kendra had to tell him all night, despite the curiosity nagging away at him. But Jaggery had just launched into another one of his long rambling stories, directed primarily at Sam, and now seemed as good a time as any. He lent over to her and whispered as casually as possible.

"If it's not too much, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

S'kendra glanced at the other two, who seemed deep in discussion. She then looked Henry in the eye, taking hold of his arm, her her brows knit into a worried frown, and her deep brown eyes looking distinctly troubled. "Firstly, know that none of this changes. None of the time we've all spent on our adventures are changed by this. And I sincerely hope that your view of me is not altered in any way." her voice was hushed, clearly this was something she wanted to keep between them for the time being.

"Is it really so serious?" Henry asked. Her tone was worrying him. Despite being quite a serious girl, she rarely made things seem this dire.

S'kendra looked away a little nervously. "I am not sure. I don't fully know myself." she confessed. She let out a sigh, and continued. "I suspect you may have figured a few things out for yourself, I do have more talent in magic than I was letting on... And, as I have just discovered, I seem to be of some Royal Lineage. No doubt the nature of which will be explained to me in due course." She said the last part with a wry smile, and Henry guessed that she was still coming to terms with the news. "But, I must tell you, the day I met you in the woods, I was not wandering there by accident. I was told to be there." Her eyes searched his face, looking for a reaction.

"Told by who?" Henry asked, looking utterly perplexed.

"Darien. I owe him a dept, and he's had me running errands for him for two years... He told me to 'Look for something of interest' in the woods. I suppose I found you of interest." she muttered the last, barely audibly, and lent back in her seat. "You may ask me what you will, but I hope this does not damage our friendship."


(I hope this is ok! I really do. Just tell me if you don't like it and I'll delete it or edit it... I hope I've not done something stupid with the story now! *flaps about in a panic* S'kendra is super scared about upsetting Henry.)

[Relym]

"So Raz wasn't a pompous fool after all," Henry said, staring at his mug blankly, deep in thought.

"You mean that tiger that helped revive me?" S'kendra immediately seemed to tense up. "No, he's definitely still a pompous fool. Just a smart one." Henry had to laugh at her reaction.

"Royal lineage," Henry said aloud, as though maybe it would make more sense afterwards. "All this time. Man, I would have tried to protect you much more thoroughly if I had known that when I met you."

"Don't make this your fault," S'kendra scolded, "You did everything you could to keep me alive. In fact, the only reason this all happened is because you tried a bit too hard." Henry still had no recollections of that occurrence, but it seemed like a bad time to say so. "Besides, I don't need protection. I never have. I'm a capable magician. Well, I was..."

"What do you mean?" Henry said, worry beginning to dissolve the base of his gut.

"Well, coming back to life after all that time being dead," S'kendra said quietly so that the other inhabitants of the bar couldn't hear. "The longer you're without life, the less of yourself you become. Since I had lots of magical protection around me, I'm miraculously fit, physically and mentally. The only problem is, I'm not really able to tap into magic anymore."

"What?" Henry cried, and S'kendra hushed him and sat him back down.

"We don't want anyone to know," S'kendra hissed urgently. "'We' being the royal magicians and myself. I suppose you, too."

Henry tried to think of something to say. Should he comfort her? Should he ask further questions? Was it a touchy subject? He had never had to converse with someone who had recently been resurrected after a week of death before. He didn't get the chance, because at that moment, Jaggery stood up on top of the table. "Wunny loss merale!" He shouted. The barman clearly understood this as "We need lots more ale," and brought over fresh mugs. "Thangoo," Jaggery slurred.

"We'd better take him to bed," S'kendra sighed. Despite being the size of a ten year old human, the density of Jaggery's limp body seemed to be the same as any fully-armored man. He's not going to feel good in the morning," Sam groaned, already clutching at his head.

[CriDFU]

Calet watched as the four adventurers walked into the palace. Smiling at happiness the girl felt, for what he did not know but it rubbed off on him some. A good thing considering the nature of the evening. But he was at ease now, the girl had been healed and is now resting. But it was still disturbing, the man who did it was not an average magician. Someone who could alter the actions of even a weaker minded person possessed more power than Calet had even seen before, and he fought two wars. But another thing troubled him tonight, this barrier that encircled the palace. Surely it was made by the man. But why? Calet guessed at two options: either he's keeping people here as prisoners or he's keeping others out. But for what?

Calet reached his hand out to the barrier that imprisoned him. His hand meeting with the nonphysical object. He felt a surge of pain as his hand pressed against it, a combination of being burnt and electrocuted with a sense of water flowing under his skin. He threw his arm back as he yelped in pain, a brief yell at the echoed off the walls of the palace and into the infinite sky. He rubbed his arm, the tingling of the simulated water still remained, his arm grew cold. Frowning, Calet twirled his arm around twice in hopes of relieving the tingling feeling that surged through it. But to no avail, the feeling remained. Calet shivered at the though of something actually underneath his skin. Surely the man did not somehow transfer water into his body, what goo d would that do?

Thinking back to the man Calet realized the danger he was in, not just him but the entire palace. If he created the barrier to keep everyone in while he roamed the halls then he would unarguably be up to no good. And if Calet was to carry out his duty as an Honor Guard then he wouldn't be able to do it in civilian clothes. As of now Calet was voluntarily on duty, along with every other Honor Guard that was willing to assist him.

He spun around and ran into the palace, if he was on duty he would need his weapon, as well as his uniform.

(I hope I don't have any more posts in here that are this short.)