Belden- (Pre-Beaugro) 1x1 Oriel and Redsparrow

[Oriel]

Jaws clacked together high overhead, their rushing hiss louder than wind in the leaves of Belden's trees. Alec held still while Luke directed what sounded like a response at the predators stalking them in the night. Elementals made challenging enough prey for one another and, although he knew on some level that he could defend himself from their attacks, it was the ravening hunger of their shadows that worried him most.

He knew the taste and touch of their venom in Esterbrush's ointments. After his battle with Jossan, he'd approached the edge of madness with the ebb and flood of pain in his crushed bones. They dosed him with as much venom as they thought safe, cut and bound his wounds while he lay insensate, and then repeated the process for more than a month. Half a year passed beyond that before he was able to write with quill and ink again, the letters cramped and over-neat with the effort it had taken him to move the pen.

All that, his recovery and throwing his lot in with Luke, he owed in some way to the creatures that had created this den of rot in the heart of the forest. Alec drew careful breaths through his mouth, for all the good it did him when the scent of death was already so strong.

The first Swan trees he touched were still living. At first it was difficult to distinguish between the massive root systems. He caught traces of difference not in the branching networks, themselves, but in the ways they reinforced the soil. One tree gathered the soil to itself while another pushed mud away and allowed only rock and more solid fragments to come to rest beneath its bulk. "Great spirits," he breathed. "Luke, did you ever wonder how Swan trees grow so tall?"

"The oldest in Esterbrush grow in the high mountains, but they're not so wide through the middle as a Swan tree. They grow so slowly that only parts of their trunks and branches remain alive. The rest are dead, with the live tree growing up and around the old skeleton. These, though! Luke, these trees ... they're earth elementals. They're altering the soil to support themselves as they get larger. I wouldn't have believed it if you'd told me."

"I can get their roots to let go, by asking. Maybe even push them a bit, but it'll have to be you doing the rest."

Alec buried his fingers in the damp earth and looked up to the spot of light that marked the place where his friend stood.

"Luke, I-- these are my element. The dead trees will be enough practice for me. As much as I know about the earth, the living Swan trees know more."

[Redsparrow]

Luke paused at Alec's comment, it wasn't uncommon to find animals and plants with elemental powers, but was Alec really going to try and stop them from killing a few? He mulled over Alec's request for a moment before giving in, he needed Alec's willingness.

"I really need you alive Alec." Luke was going to push his concern with not fully practicing. "When older large trees come down it allows new younger ones to grow. But if you feel so strongly about the living ones, I will respect that."

Luke played around a little with his fire, burning away low hanging spider webs. His eyes watching Alec's figure below as he jumped from root to root making his way up a little higher. He was excited to play with Alec's power. He had sparred and defended himself a few times when running into each other back during raids or boarder patrols. But Luke had never really gotten a good chance to have a friendly power interaction.

[Oriel]

"I don't worry about you burning yourself with fire," Alec replied. "This is no different for me. I'm not going to be injured by a falling earth elemental tree."

With Luke now questing about the roots higher along the trunk of the dead tree, he withdrew support for the path that they had followed into the clearing. He immediately sunk into the swamp up to his calves, his hands resting in a mixture of water and rotten debris over the slick black muck beneath. Unpleasant as it was with the dark and the insects now swarming him, Alec rooted himself into the soil and reached for the skeleton of the Swan tree.

For lengths around them he could hear the old roots quaking. The trunk groaned above him as he pulled on one section and shortened another, setting the angle of its fall with patient shifts of his focus between each guiding support. If he had not been paying such close attention he would have missed the moment in which a live tree eased its own grip to permit him to pry at the dead one. It settled back into place with a ponderous creaking as it withdrew its support for the bones of the other.

"Careful with your lightning," Alec called. "The ground is a bit wetter than I'd like."

[Redsparrow]

Luke who had climbed up the tree as far as he dare worked to steady his footing as Alec messed with the roots. His eyes kept careful track of the arachnids who eyed the pair hungrily. He used flame to keep any at bay and warned against getting any closer.

With the tree now freed from the ground Luck sent a small wave of static down the water within the tree. In doing so he chose a grounding point for the power surge. Before sending an larger blasts down he used strict to locate Alec, it was sure to send an odd tingling sensations. Spreading out slowly Luke felt the sprawl of energy to be sure it would grounds well below Alec's feet.

"Ready?" Luke called down.

[Oriel]

He grabbed after the dry stone he could find, layering it around himself in ridges of rock that mounted above the water and might blunt the full effect of Luke's power. Trust each other as they might, he'd blame no one but himself for his death if he chose to take no precautions at all.

The dead skeleton of the tree creaked dangerously above him under the burden of its own weight.

"Ready!" he answered, rooting himself into the soil like a swan tree, anchoring both his barriers and his body with branching threads of elemental energy. The living trees offered him a place to rest in response, murmured to him about which way the old tree would fall, and filled his mind with thoughts of sunlight on leafy canopies and the creep of sap from base to crown.

Somewhere mixed in with these old impressions lay the roar of fire. The oldest among them had borne witness to the death of other Swan trees. Even if he did not know what to expect when felling one of the giants, a few of the trees closest to him did, their roots stretched far beyond the fastness of the grove.

Alec alternately pushed and pulled on the dead tree, bending it in the direction it had always been destined to fall, his marshaled force guided by prodding from several of the nearest Swan trees.

[Redsparrow]

Luke scrambled closer to the trunk of he tree, once there he could sent a shot down its core and hold on for dear life as the tree sifted under Alec's control.

Once the movement stopped and Alec called that he was ready Luke chose a grounding point. His palms placed flat on the three he closed his eyes and started a small flame, forcing it to burn brighter before emitting a powerful blast of energy down its core.

The tree shook violently, like a kettle starting to boil. Large fractures along its truck began to show as steam escaped. These features began to break connect and large parts of the tree started to slough off. Luke sent one more blast down it to insure all the water within it had gotten a chance to expand.

[Oriel]

Tendrils of living energy, bound to the standing Swan trees, wrapped and merged with his own until he knelt in a dark pool of muck, buried in the earth past his knees. Water drained between his fingers, leaving him damp but then sheltered by dry soil as Luke struck the skeleton of the tree a crippling blow. Beyond his anchor there was the flicker of deadly electricity and then the groaning, rapid disintegration of wood and bark about his shoulders.

Alec cast his awareness out farther into the gravel, tasted stale rot, and molded himself into an elemental beacon as incandescent as the heart of a living Swan tree. The others took him for an elder forest giant, their roots twining about the dead one at his direction. Alone he might not have had the raw strength to control such a fall, but with the living wood answering his call the hollowed, rotting mass swept toward the ground in a series of smaller collapses. Branches collided with other trees and shed old spider webs into the morass. Arachnids of all sizes fled to the other trees as they were able, but many still fell into the dark water with the wet crunch of shattered carapace.

Beside him, near within arm’s reach, a flash of pale fang and impossible motion dragged one of these bodies beneath a hummock of earth.

Alec shuddered in reaction, but the tree was down.

[Redsparrow]

Luke had chosen the branch originally for its reach was directed towards another tree. As the swan tree split and began to fall Luke made a mad dash for the next tree. Jumping he landed firmly and watched Alec gradually say almost gracefully remove the dead swan tree.

The movement of the swan tree seemed to excite the spiders and Luke shot off another electrical charge into the air around him, it cracked and roared as it stretched down to ground itself in the swamp. The light given off gave Luke a chance to check on Alec and see where the spiders were around them.

Making his way down the tree he approached Alec, the smell of the muck on him was a little overwhelm so Luke kept a short distance from the man. "Well that was easy enough. Are you sure you only want to do practice on one, and a dead one at that?" He feared striking Alec with lightening or even the tree fighting Alec's will if it were alive.

[Oriel]

There were sounds with meaning, Alec knew, but his hands still lay in the grip of the earth. Another older, slower pulse beat in his ears alongside the flow of his blood. He watched Luke form and project sounds, puzzled at the familiar tones, and then as if from a great distance began to recognize the shapes of bitten consonants and softer vowels. There were breaths and pauses between. Words? Words.

A struggle that he felt must have been visible played over his face while he blinked and forcibly wrenched himself away from his new awareness of the Swan trees. The roots let him go as soon as he'd eased further back into human patterns of elemental energy, rolling up the anchors he'd used and centering himself until he no longer sensed the grove.

"That's practice enough," Alec answered, the words rough in his mouth. He eased himself to his feet and brushed at his clothes as a matter of reflex, but only succeeded in smearing dirt over the few clean patches left on his clothes. "If I did any more than what we tried tonight, I'd probably grow roots. Swan trees listen to their own. So, that is -- pretending to be one, that's what I've been doing."

He looked once at the hillock that had opened and then swallowed the body of a spider.

"If it's all the same to you, I think it's time we left."

Alec followed in Luke's wake out toward the road, dimly aware both of the solidity and the unnatural texture of the surface. He steadied their path as they traveled.

[Redsparrow]

Luke nodded at Alec, he seemed strangely distant. Choosing not to ask about it the two walked in silence. Surpassingly Luke had a great sense of direction leading him to rarely be lost in the swamp even on the darkest of nights. The moonlight poured onto the two as they stepped from the uneven paths Alec made onto the stable road.

Luke kicked a cobble along with them as they made their way down the major road, it wouldn’t be long before they reached the tunnel to the small roads. The clattering of horse hooves that announced the approach of a carriage was barely audible at first. From where they stood they could see the speed at which it was moving and both men knew they would not have time to reach the tunnel before it passed.

“Best not tempt fate.” Gesturing for the two to step off the road with Alec’s aid and hide within the marsh until the vessel passed. The dune horses seemed worn out from a long trip, their steps were sure but slow. Judging from the elaborate engravings and decorations on the carriage it was bound from Snowden and held nobles or royalty.

The carriage had just passed the two when voices called from down the road. A loud whistle cued the highwaymen who seemed to have been expecting the travelers. Five or six made their way down the road towards the prize like a cat cornering a mouse. Flames sent from a young fire elemental blasted the front of the carriage instantly killing driver and setting the horses free. Sending them galloping down the road from once they had come in fear and pain.

The doors burst open at the sound of the attack; three guards emerged from within to protect the carriage. As soon as their feet meet the moist ground large ice crystals erupted surrounding their feet and inching up their legs. Cries of pain emanated from the guards as the water in their flesh began to freeze.

From the carriage a women’s voice cut clearly into the night. “What is the meaning of this?” It was calm and commanding like royalty always was.

A tall lean figure gracefully hung to the door of the carriage, weary of touching the ground. A long black and golden tail curled around behind her, its fur caught the moon light like flakes of gold shimmering in a river. Transparent white and gold fabric hung loosely accenting the curves of her body. A short layer of leopard fur covered her from head to toe. Atop her head adorn a golden crown that on either side was supported by two curved leopard ears. Her hair was loosely braded and decorated with beads, feathers and golden thread, its length reaching to the small of her back. Her face was a mixture of human and feline, with emerald green cat eyes and nose. Long claws made holding onto the wooden door easy as she faced the oncoming danger.

“Well hello you’re heinous, we have been waiting for quite a while for your arrival.” The fire elemental hissed. “I am afraid you won’t be going to see the falcons like you originally planned. No instead you will be coming with us, Snowden is sure to pay well to see their princess returned safely.”

Her eyes narrowed at the approaching men, reaching down she drew a sword from a guard and used it to keep the approaching men a bay for a moment. “I shall do no such thing.”

“Take a look at those ears, and that tail.” One man called as he approached. “Hard to believe anyone would pay for a safe return of this creature.”

“A face only a mother could love.” Another man added. Laughter echoed around the forest.

“Perhaps we can fix that.” The fire elemental sneered. Letting several balls of flame fly at the women, one brushed her arm setting the clothing and fur aflame. She scrambled to put out the fire but the smell of singed fur and flesh soon filled the air. Despite the injury she still clung onto the sword in a desperate attempt to keep them away from the carriage.

Luke was filled with a sick feeling; no one protects a carriage like that. From were Alec and Luke were standing they could see movement in the carriage. “Children.” Luke whispered to Alec.

A child’s scream broke into the silence as the man who had slipped around the back of the carriage roughly pulled a young girl from within. “Well lookie here, how much do you think they will pay to get a grandchild back?” His voice was dripping with power and joy.

“Children?” Another added. “We hardly need this monster if there are children. Much easier to control and keep track of.”

“How dare you touch her.” The women’s voice roared into the night. In an instant she had changed from her human form to that of a sleek cat. With in one leap she had pinned the man to the ground, freeing her child. His arm bones crunched loudly between her jaws, his scream cued the ice that had enclosed the soldier’s legs.

The child realizing the danger quickly choosing to run for the swamp, as luck would have it the young girl dashed in Alec and Luke’s direction. With hesitation she reached the edge of the road and jumped. She seemed to expect to be swimming for she knew the surrounding area was water logged.

Luke lunged forward catching the child in his arms and preventing her from jumping into the solid ground that Alec had created around them. Quickly he covered her mouth and lowered her to the ground. “Its alright Zacora, your safe.”

The child’s body that at first writhed against Luke’s grasp calmed at the sound of his voice. Wide eyed she stared up at Luke as she calmed down he let her stand on the ledge and uncovered her mouth. “Luke.” She was unable to hold back the bright smile that was followed by a confident glare in the direction from which she had come.

Zacora looked to be about eight, had strawberry blond hair and instead of having freckles seemed to be decorated with the eyespots of a cheetah. There was striking similarity in facial structure between the two; her eyes, minus the golden flakes that made up Luke’s and nose seemed to be a smaller feminine version of his.

“Let her run, she won’t be getting far. Besides there are two more where that one came from.” Another man snarled as he stepped around the leopard that desperate struggled against the growing ice crystal that held her in place. “For now let’s deal with what we have.”

“I see no need to keep the mother if we can take the children.” Members of the group nodded in agreement to the statement.

“Well then, looks like you’re out of luck my dear.” The fire elemental cued as he sent small sparks of flames in her direction. “Judging from your state, I bet you’re looking forward to feeling some warmth just about now.”

“You will regret your actions, if you chose to end this now I will let you go freely.” The women’s voice was so calm considering the state she was in.

“Ha feisty little thing! Ending this now is exactly what I plan to do. Though I have to admit I will miss the chance of spending quality time alone with you.” He teasingly blew her a kiss. The man whose arm she had broken worked to drag his body away from the carriage, known the whole thing would be up in flames shortly.

The reaming men worked quickly to remove the other two children from the carriage. The two boys, one around the age of twelve while the other was only five or so fought valiantly against their captors.

“No matter what happens Zacora, I need you to stay here. Do you understand me?” Luke’s voice was stern, the little girls head nodded quickly in response.

“I understand, go show them whose boss.”

“Goodbye Princess.” The fire elemental called as he sent a blast of fire large enough to engulf the entirety of the carriage in one blow. As the fire reached for the carriage it suddenly changed trajectory, taking a ninety-degree turn towards the sky. The fire elementals mouth fell open with shock as the flames flickered to nothing.

“What the hell?” He called; his attention fell to the figure approaching the group from the swamp. “Who the hell are you?”

Luke strode confidently into the moonlight, his eyes ablaze with excitement at the challenge of these men. Sparking a small flame he made quick work off the ice crystals that bound the guards and the leopard. Each fell to the ground unable to stand from the damage done by the ice.
“Can it be?” The fire elemental was shocked. “No, Ashmore is a drunkard, a useless heap of flesh rotting away in the swamps.”

Luke straitened up to watch the man’s reaction. “I am going to extend the offer of her royal heinous, leave now and you will not be chased”

“You, are you really going to defend these creatures? The very creatures who enslave our race, who kill our children!”

“Perhaps I shall. What is it to you if I do?” Luke said with a smile as he worked to slowly restore warmth to the fallen. All four of them had severely frost bitten damage and pain to boot. He didn’t mind stalling this rogue fire elemental, for any attention he could spare from a fight onto their legs was greatly increasing the chance of saving the flesh.

The fire elemental seemed outraged at this response; he extended an arm then sent a second pillar of fire in Luke’s direction. This cued the water elemental to work to start crystals around Luke’s feet holding him in place.

Luke’s eyes flakes seemed to be glowing red in the moonlight, the expression on his face was one of no mercy. It was one he wore every day in the arena, but this time a small smile, a glimmer of enjoyment sparkled in his eyes. As the fire elemental’s blast touched Luke’s out stretched palm, it began to turn blue then white before small sparks radiate from it.

The air grew dry as static consumed the water causing the fog to lift. A bright flash followed instantly by an ear-shattering boom that left everyone momentarily blind and deaf. Luke was known for his electric attacks, they have been famed in the arena for years prior to being banned. While he had almost unlimited call of fire he did have a ten-strike limit with Lightening. He had used up five of these in the forest just minutes ago with Alec. Leaving him with four, but four was all he needed.

The fire elemental was clearly dead his body slumped on the ground. The smell of burnt flesh, hair and clothing wafted from him as his clothing smoldered on his blackened body. The water elemental has suffered a similar fate; the ice around Luke’s feet had melted. The unfortunate soul had been touching the water he was using to grow the crystals and so became a victim of Luke’s attack.

However two of three of the men lay stunned and burned but still alive. Alec must have shielded them, Luke thought. They were within range but he was sure Alec would not approve of killing even one of the attackers.

With the threat all but illuminated Luke pulled his attention back to the injured. The soldiers worked to steady their shaking hands as they wrapped their cold legs in cloth ripped from the carriage drapes. Luke knelt down next to the women; she lay with all four legs sprawled out. They were unable to retain her weight.

Luke worked quickly to stabilize her; Zacora had jumped back onto the main road and took her place next to her mother and two brothers. Fear and tears filled her eyes. Luke could tell that this needed attention and help that he was unable to provide, with no horses and little help Luke was left with one choice. He had to call attention from Faypine.

His eyes fell back to the edge of the swamp, to were he imagined Alec was. ‘Run and hide.’ He mouthed, hoping Alec understood. Standing he raised both hands to the sky and shot off a beam of fire, it rocketed up hundreds of feet before exploding into a bright flash of lightening followed instantly by an ear shattering blast of sound.

Luke paused; his eyes scanned the horizon for movement. Nothing, he had three more shots in him, it was a risk to use all. There could still be danger near by, but Alec was here. Even if hidden he could do a lot to protect them. Reluctantly Luke sent off two more blasts, still no movement. Closing his eyes he shot off his last blast, he felt the energy drain from his body. To do another would mean draining his very life energy, ending his existence.

He paused, seconds crawled by like years with still not indication that his calls for help had been seen. Desperate Luke sent up pillar after pillar of strobbing flame, changing the heat to alter the color in an attempt to call attention to them. His legs began to shake under his efforts; he hadn’t used this much of his power in one go in years. He was pushing his very ability, and in doing so was raising his body temperature to dangerous levels.

The pillars began to break into blasts of flame, bursts of energy. His vision was blurring and he struggled to stand under the weight of his body. A growing headache threatened his attention, voices and images of long past moment and friends danced in front of him.

The flap of bird wings, or was it just the buzz of a fly? A voice telling him he could stop, boomed. It was familiarly yet strange, female and male at the same time. He didn’t know if someone was really there, he didn’t know if he had successfully called attention to the group. But he did know that he needed to stop using his fire, his aim and control was fading fast. He was becoming dangerous to everyone, including himself.

Something hit him hard on his left side; it felt like a horse had kicked his legs from under him. Whatever had just struck him was moist and cold. The coolness was painful against his burning skin. He tried to pull himself away from it, distance the cold surface but all attempts failed and he felt the sting of its pain no matter how he moved.

He was pulled away from reality; his mind seemed to prefer memory and dreams. He found himself in the arena, he was eighteen again and there on the other side stood his worst fear. Jossan, looked so calm and collected. He was in complete control and he knew it. Luke struggled to throw flames at the man, to escape this fait.

The announcer cheering on Joss’s attacks, to Luke’s horror and dismay, how could anyone enjoy watching the brutal murder of another human? The air around him was a traitor. He lay in extreme pain, his firepower all but used up. There stood the man, the last man he would ever see. Calmly closing in for the kill. Luke could hear his heart pounding in his chest. Its rhythm suddenly slowed, it was calm, and it was strange.

It wasn’t his heartbeat, up until this moment Luke had had limited control over electricity. But in that instant, in that very moment Luke thought his life was over, everything changed. Luke would later find out that both had fallen unconscious at the same time. This caused a draw, and extreme confusion. Jossan had been winning; he was closing in for the kill. Then his face had turned pail and with a hand clutching his chest had fallen to the ground.

Luke counted himself lucky to be alive, but he probably was not the only one to be lucky that day. It had taken him months to recover and induced a fever so saver, he was expected to die within hours. Here he was again, in a low energy induced fever state.

Luke’s fever dream shifted to other arena moments, to any near death experience. They over lay with reality; he struggled to stay calm to not react to being touched or moved as faces overlaid with memories bombarded his field of view. Noises boomed and echoed. Then all at once the edges of his vision blurred and grew dark. The darkness closed in slowly making the center of his vision pin prick to a bright white spot. If flickered for a moment then the world left him.

From the horizon a group of falcons and eagles appeared, two upon seeing the damage turned tail and flew back to the main city for help. Two landed and shifted to human form. They took quick tally of the situation, one falcon with dark hair approached Luke. His voice was soothing as he worked to connect with the fire elemental. Luke seemed indifferent to the voice, his eyes out of focus he seemed to lose control of his balance slowly as he melted to the ground before finally giving out and smashing his left side down.

The falcon took a step back, keeping a safe distance form the out of control flames that would from time to time spark around them, his voice never changing from its calm demeanor as he spoke to Luke. Luke on the other hand seemed to be confused and distant. His body tensioned then relaxed just to spring back into a tense state.

When the fire died down around him the falcon worked quickly to dampen a large sheet of fabric before draping it over him. Steam raised off the sheet drying it almost completely, the falcon kept this up desperately trying to bring down the fever that so clearly threatened Luke’s life. Another carriage speed down the main road to gather the injured, Luke and the others were carefully lifted in and taken to Faypine.