Interrupted Return, escape or kidnapping? (Open)

[Charlotte 100]

[FONT=Garamond][COLOR="#DAA520"]-Charlotte walked with all the dignity she could muster. Her once crisp blue suit had been dirtied by the harsh tackle she had been given, and her lovely dark hair, which had been previously braided back and away from her face, was rather disheveled now. Peeking from her hairline was a dark bruise, just now starting to show, from where the backend of a sword had knocked her unconscious. But where this bruise would surely last for days upon any other normal human being, for Charlotte the dark clotted blood was already showing signs of dissipating. By midday there would be nothing left but a dull yellowish outline, and by night it would be completely gone—so was the glorious virtue of her holy blood. But what her angelic blood could not heal was her wounded ego and growing frustrations. Fear had been replaced by such an instinctual sense of right and wrong that Charlotte felt compelled to fight against what she saw as a travesty. And it was not merely that she was so shortsighted that she could not believe a creature of “darkness” could be an agent of goodness, but it was that she knew Justus was no creature of goodness and would never be.

The truth of the matter however was quite different. She had been too close to the insult, she had in fact been the object of the abuse—and so she could not forgive, though it was within her very nature to do so. However, Charlotte was only half angelic, and every now and then it was her human side that took control, seemingly more so when it came to matters of forgiveness. Had it been any other individual who suffered the offense, Charlotte would have spoken about the goodness of granting others a second chance, of absolute perfection of pardon. But she was so young, still too young to truly self reflect and understand that what blinded her to Justus true change of heart and manner was her own anger and fear.

“Don’t be too nervous,” said the first guard, buckling under the power of Charlotte’s angelic presence. Whatever anger was felt previously had now melted away. Both men looked at the young woman and felt moved if not concerned that trouble might befall her. But they were also certain of their ruler, the Black Queen was just and more than anything understanding.

“I am not,” answered Charlotte, lifting her golden gaze to the man. “Once the Queen learns about what sort of man Sir Justus is, then I think she will side with me.”

The guards exchanged looks, but said nothing more. And so the trio continued moving through the forest path, back toward the DuGrace Castle.-[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Eternity 1695]

The forest was dense and dark, and the raw energy that filled it was something other worldly. The darkness had it's own intense feeling to it, like it was truly trying to hide something very dangerous. It was more than [URL="http://www.valucre.com/showthread.php/13517-Sithis-Raven"]Raven[/URL] had expected the undead was moving in around the forest, they seemed to have some sort of objective. The energy of necromancy was very familiar to him, it wasn't his first rodeo with the dead.

One thing was for sure Raven was very lost, though he knew a way to keep the dead from really getting close to him. IT was going to prove to be quite a draining night unless he could find some sort of town or open place in the woods till daylight. Gathering dead wood was a good choice as he continued through the trees, cautious about where to go with the undead lurking around. It was hard to tell where they were, but it was easier with the larger concentrations of negative energy. Finding a place in a circle of trees he dropped the wood suddenly into a pile, kneeling down he let his red eyes scan through the trees. "I can feel you out there.." he whispered to no one in particular.

Letting his attention fall back to the wood before him, he felt the great heat inside him build. Reaching down with his right hand to touch the wood a flame would spark, slowly it would eat through the wood engulfing it with it's light and warmth. Standing up to his full height Raven would find a place to sit, a place where he could keep a look out for anyone or one of the undead.

[Charlotte 100]

[FONT=Garamond][COLOR="#DAA520"]-For a short distance they continued to walk in silence. Charlotte accepted the fact that the men who had been sent to protect her, had now settled on being the ones to enslave her—yet again. But things had changed inside the young angelic girl, something had broken, or perhaps it had been put back together? It was a question worth exploring, but not at this particular moment. For now, all she knew with any amount of certainty was that she had to get away, and what she did know with perfect certainty was that she would rather die before being put back in a cage. And so they walked, and all the while the guards remained unaware that their charge was currently planning her escape.

She kept her eyes on the path ahead and narrowed her sights on a place where the path grew narrow between the woods. The trees were encroaching here; reaching out with long elegant branches, providing cool shadows, and with the added fog that floated about them it was all she needed. When they drew closer, she prepared herself by walking a bit faster, nothing to alarm the men but enough to give her the much needed five or six step head start that she would need. Once she felt the first brush of a twig against her hair she knew that she was close enough. With a burst of unforeseeable speed Charlotte darted to the right, straight into the trees, and the men who took just half a second too long to react had lost her to the dense fog. They yelled after her, they urged her to return—both sets of voices were filled with concern rather than anger.

They knew what waited beyond the trees.

[CENTER]~*~[/CENTER]

She had been walking for hours. Still remembering her first encounter with the dead, the first thing the angelic child had done was arm herself with a long thick stick. At the very least, should something attack her, she could give it a good few whacks before it ate her face off. Though it wasn’t much consolation, it did manage to give her some semblance of courage as she pushed deeper into the woods.

The fog never let up—it continued dense and muggy during the day. But now that it was night it was chilled and miserable. Lucky for her she was in better fitting clothes this time around, rather than some silly ballroom dress. She picked her way carefully over tree roots, along trenches, and every other obstacle she came across. However, when she caught the smell of smoke and finally saw the glow of a warm fire she broke into a run.

Appearing, seemingly out of nowhere, Charlotte would beat at the flames of the fire with her stick. She broke part the construction of it, separated the embers and stomped madly upon their angry hot coals. Her boots were of a good quality for she did not feel a thing. Only after she was done, breathing hard and with her hair in quite a bit of disarray did she look up at the man who would probably be quite shocked if not scared out of his mind thinking her one of the walking dead.

“Are you mad?! Fire attracts them,” she swallowed and quickly added, “Quinn taught me that.” Of course Quinn wasn’t here, and Raven had no idea who Quinn was, or who she was—and he was probably not very pleased to have had his fire destroyed.-[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Eternity 1695]

Startled by the sudden appearance of a young woman beating the hell out of his fire, Raven had jumped to his feet with his right hand on the hilt of his blade. The blade was pulled half way out of the scabbard his red eyes wide at the sight of the girl putting out his fire. Her words rang out to him scolding him for the fire, and pointing out the attraction the undead had to it.

Confusion washed over him along with a number of other emotions, not sure how to react at first to the girl. Who was Quinn? his mind was all over the place for that moment. Usually Raven was a man of action, quickly making decisions in a time of dire need. Now he was stricken with no action, questions flying in an array of ways through his mind. Almost rendered speechless to the act that just happened before him, he finally pulled himself back to the earth.

"Mad? I am not sure.." Sliding his blade back into the scabbard once more to rest at his left side completely, he felt the girl wasn't much of a threat unless she decided to turn her stick on him next. Staring at her he would bring his right hand through his long red hair, the uneven lengths falling around his face once more. "Fire also destroys them, but I do appreciate your concern. " His voice was thick with accent, a deep bass. "You know what else attracts them?" Dropping his hand from his hair to his side, he would just keep a serious look his lips pressed in a fine line. "Shouting.." Any loud noise really would bring their attention, a very unwanted attention at that. Folding his arms over his large chest, he would just keep his eyes on her.

[Charlotte 100]

[FONT=Garamond][COLOR="#DAA520"]“You know what else attracts them?—Shouting.”

Charlotte felt her cheeks flush with color, brightening in warm hues of rose and red at their centers. The color ran down her throat and disappeared into her shirt, where any wandering eye might take notice and wonder happily at the beautiful skin below. It was quite a sight, this bright girl—literally bright, specifically glowing like some firefly, so frazzled and frustrated. Closing her hands tighter around her branch she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from delivering a well deserved stinging whack to the strangers face. There was something smug and humiliating about the way he crossed his arms and peered at her as if he had just called out “check and mate!” It made the angelic girl grumpy, but regardless of her newly birthed courage and growing boldness, there was simply no refusing the truth of what he said.

“I am on edge—I apologize.” And with that she straightened herself, stood more like a lady and less like a wildling. Still keeping a firm grip upon her sole weapon, she took a better look at the stranger, from his head down to his feet before finally settling a nearly blinding golden gaze on his face. “This place is not safe, why would you even consider making camp here?” Her question, though asked in that melodic voice of hers, was a tad bit demanding for such a slight girl. But her body language spoke volumes as to how she perceived herself. With her shoulders drawn back and her head held high, chin pointed out defiantly as she waited for a response.

A sound distracted her. It was weight of someone, or something, breaking a dry twig somewhere in the distance. Turning to look in the direction of the sound Charlotte nearly lost all composure. Once again she had taken up her branch, once more her knees had bent and her body had lowered, taking on a fighting stance without even knowing it. The wild look in her eyes, the tortured contours of her mouth—it all spoke of someone well acquainted with the horrors of the undead.

“They heard us,” she whimpered, her voice losing all of the sharpness it had once possessed. “Oh—they heard us.” Panic was building behind the pretty porcelain face, and the once endearing blush had turned into color that served only to add to her mounting anxiety.-
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[Trexasle 430]

It seemed that Marcus was unlucky again in his attempts at gaining himself a few coins, the failure however was beginning to frustrate him greatly.. Maybe he could get some sort of cash before heading back into the wild again, his stomach was beginning to grumble again. It had been a while since Marcus had eaten, he was becoming slightly bony and his skin was beginning to even get a bit pale. Something must be done about that, begging was certainly out of the question however. He’d never resort to that much lows to get something to eat, or some money to get something to eat. Even if he looked and smelled like a bum at this point, even he had standards.

Also he had an huge ego, that just wouldn’t allow help if he could avoid it.

However, strolling through the forest had seem to have gotten Marcus into a jam, he’d actually had been lost for a while, and his stomach grumbling was not getting any better as he strolled along. He heard sounds coming from various places, ones from the branches, another from in front of the path. Maybe he should’ve been more aware of what was beyond the path of the forest, which is what he was truly worried about. He wasn’t quite sure if the others had managed to capture and kill every zombie so there might still be a chance for him to make some coin.

Though it seemed he’d have to get his hand dirty to do so. At first, the make was hesitant at the thought, but the grumbling stomach, and the pain that came from it easily outmatched that though Intellegence giving way to desperation..

[Frosted 0]

"Things are darker than they appear." Zyre's old mans voice echoed in his head, the expression being his father's preferred advice. No matter what Zyre would ask, his father would reply with same line. Though now it seemed to be rather obvious, that on a night as dark as this, that things were darker. With each step he took, the moon managed to hide behind the foliage even more. Yet, the idea that someone could be in trouble worried him to the point where he had to make sure that if anyone was in the forest, that they were O.K. Asides from the obvious darkness, the pure stillness of the atmosphere made things even worse. Zyre was never a fan of the dark.

He understood to have darkness, light must be removed. And in a world where darkness could easily trample the light, Zyre tried his best to avoid the void of darkness.

Yet as soon as he could no longer see the path he had entered on, the voice that lured him in was no longer audible. His pace slowed, hoping he would be able to hear the voice again.

Zyre was human, and his father always told him that his curiosity would kill him-- but it was only now that he realized that it just might. He could have continued along the path, he might have been able to get back to civilization before the dark-dwellers came out... But now he had no choice. He would have to hope someone was here, because if he were alone, he stood no chance.

[Eternity 1695]

"I have been turned around in here for quite sometime, I was hoping to wait out till daylight.." His words would trail as he picked up the movement just beyond the camp site, his eyes would shift through the dark trees around them. Ravens eyes would move to the girl as she took up a stance with her stick, out of reflex he pulled the large dagger that rested on his lower back out.

"I think this will be of more use.." Shifting the blade into his hand holding the heavy dagger out to the girl hilt first, his left hand moved to hold the sheathe of the massive sword that remained on his belt. It was hard to tell if he really needed his sword, but he also knew that if he wasn't careful he could exhaust his own power if he used his pyrokinetics. Waiting for whatever dared to come closer, Raven felt the burning of the embers that remained from the fire the girl had stomped out.

Moving closer to the girl with the golden eyes, he too took up a fighting stance of sorts. With the glowing embers still alive it would take less energy for him to conjure when it came to using his natural gifts, giving him a better advantage to the zombies that threatened all those who would roam the forest of the DuGrace grounds.

[Charlotte 100]

[FONT=Garamond][COLOR="#DAA520"]-Funny how possible enemies could turn to possible friends in the drop of a dime. The man, whom she was certain would do her harm had produced a dagger and had in the same fluid motion, flipped it to deliver the handle in her direction. Without a second thought she plucked the dagger from his hold, and squeezed the handle with a new sense of confidence. The branch, however, was not abandoned and instead was settled under her arm and pointed downward. But it was obviously ready to be heaved up and shoved out into whatever came out of the mist. Fear, it coursed through her veins thick as blood, but steadied her in a way she had never before experienced. Where she was certain she would tremble, her right hand was steady as it settled into a more comfortable grip around the daggers hilt. There was added comfort from the stranger taking up a position at her side, his sword drawn and also prepared.

It seemed as if they should consider moving—after all it was better to lose ground than to lose life, but then again with the fog so thick they wouldn’t know where they were going and could easily end up in a worse position. Golden eyes flickered to the man, brows pinching as her eyes grew hard—trying perhaps in vain to hide her terror.

“They’re coming,” she said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. Still, there was harshness to it as if she were still accusing him. After all, if he had never started that fire, then maybe she would have never come screeching at him like a banshee. Half a step in his direction, Charlotte closed in and settled her smaller frame perhaps an inch or two behind his—cowardly, perhaps, but she was no warrior. At the very least she would kick and punch, and would not go quietly into death.

A snap of a twig echoed somewhere behind them causing Charlotte to cry out. Her brave façade faltered, but only for a moment. She turned, pressed close again to the stranger who had given her the dagger and felt her other arm strain as she hauled up the branch into the air ready to strike whoever or whatever came from the fog. “We’re surrounded,” she whimpered feeling her shoulders sink in defeat, “they’re going to eat us alive!”-[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Eternity 1695]

The girl had moved closer to him as she heard twigs snapping in the trees around them, in that instant she had the branch up pointing it outwards. Another branch snapped out in the darkness, the fog hiding anything that could be in the trees. Pulling out his large red bladed sword, Raven would hold out his left arm somewhat out in front of Charlotte. Staring towards the trees where the sounds came from, Raven would feel the heat deep down inside of him rising to the surface.

He knew that he could probably light every tree in the forest up, but one thing was for sure his fire was meant for the undead that threatened him and the girl. "Let them come, I'll show them some[I] warm[/I] welcome.." Not sure she would get the underlining meaning behind his words, one thing was for sure he wouldn't let them get any where near the two of them.

With the blade of his sword pointing outwards, he would give a good swing of the blade in the open air with a twist of his wrist. Holding the blade steady once more, he would smile to the weight of the massive blade in his right hand.

[Trexasle 430]

Marcus had begun his trench through the forest and through the path he caught the sight of a wandering male. His first thought was to pickpocket him of course, certainly he’d have some money or supplies that he could obtain. It was dark enough that the male couldn’t see him, and while he could barely see the male himself, he knew he had somewhat of a chance if everything was to work in his favor. As of that moment the male seemed more attentive of looking for something and being scared of the dark rather than actually paying attention to what was around him. Marcus began his slow tread toward the male, mostly in hopes that the male would be too busy to pay attention to him, and rather pay attention to whatever he attempted to look for.

However, as Marcus stepped closer to the male, the moon was beginning to hide behind the tress of the forest. Suddenly it was completely dark and even Marcus who was used to the dark more than others could not exactly find his way through. He would call for help, however his voice never seemed to carry that far, nor did anyone truly attempt to pay attention to it. So instead he merely continued forward, no real direction, only the sense of fear going through his entire body. There was a certain shiver that the homeless thief that he could connect to fear. Fear was something that as a bum, he was used to, it just never crept up to his stomach as it did now.

Marcus twirled his head in every direction, trying to find some sort of light, but found himself instead crashing into Zyre, the man he had attempted to rob.

[Frosted 0]

The world was pitch black. No sense of protection, just the aimless steps of a young man who wanted to help. He should have never left home. He could be helping people there. Making sure their homes never came crashing down onto them. But now, he was left facing the world. A world with no light. Nothing could help him now. Zyre could feel eyes staring daggers into his skull, but he could see none. He panicked. His careful steps turning into reckless running.

He paused, hearing steps. The eyes. They must have found him. He gave out a silent prayer, before the world came crashing down.

He hadn't been expecting this. Never in his wildest dreams. He would die now. Zyre fell to the ground as a body crashed on top of him. Zyre gave into his first reaction, to kick and scream. Frantically he kicked and swung his arms hoping to get the creature or person off of him.

[Charlotte 100]

[FONT=Garamond][COLOR="#DAA520"]-Startled as Raven held his arm out, Charlotte drew back a step. She could feel the heat radiating from his flesh and it made her shift her attention onto him completely. However, this was not the time or place to ask questions, regardless of how they burned upon the tip of her tongue. All she knew was that there was more to his comment about giving them a warm welcome than the mere superficial meaning. When his great sword was lifted and brought across the air before them she literally saw the fog cut in half and melt away under the heat. It provided a somewhat better view, one that Charlotte tried to peer into as she rose to her tip toes and tried to see over Raven’s shoulder.

Then she heard it—the desperate screams for help and the obvious noise of a fight. Ducking under Raven’s protective arm, Charlotte darted into the cleared path of fog and rushed toward the sound. It was foolish and utterly mad, but her very blood demanded that she do something, ANYTHING to help. Doing good was not second nature to an angelic being, it was all of their nature—and she, being only half angelic, could not resist the urge to provide some form of aid.

She jumped over a fallen tree and stumbled down a small hill and stopped only when the darkness seemed to grow and become more oppressive. Still, her bright golden eyes seemed to create their own light, which allowed her to see the scene unfolding before her. There was a man upon the ground, and then there was another atop of him grabbling for the screaming and fighting man. Oddly enough, neither one of them was one of the wretched dead creatures, but it all still seemed like some sort of attack.

“HEY!” she yelled, “get off him!” And then her branch was brandished, lifted into the air and brought down with all her might atop of Marcus’ back. “Get off him! Get off!” She continued to cry as she banged away with her long heavy branch. The poor weakened Marcus, half-starved and exhausted would prove an easy first enemy for the young angelic girl.-[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Eternity 1695]

With the swipe of his sword clearing the fog before them, he could feel Charlotte trying to peer over his broad shoulder. A scream then was heard from the clearing just before them, and before Raven could react the girl went into the clearing at full speed. Blinking in Wow to the girls sudden advancement Raven followed quickly after her. No words would leave his lips to stop her, but it was a shock to see what they stumbled upon.

Shouting at them the girl beat one man with the stick, while the other laid upon the ground. Shaking his head lightly Raven sheathed his massive sword, letting his arms fold lightly over his armored covered chest. It was all chaos with Charlotte shouting at the one to get off the other, it almost brought a chuckle out of Raven.

"Girl, back off so they can untangle one another.." With that Raven fell silent, his red orbs moving between the three of them.

[Trexasle 430]

Before he could even react to the Zyre kicking his body away, he was suddenly bombareded with an attack to his back. A Heavy branch was being smashed onto his back and a aggressively high impact. It was quite hard for him to get out of the situation, due to this. One person was kicking him away and the other was attacking his back pushing him back down to the Zyre. He winched, but didn't scream, instead only the tiniest of whimpers could be heard, from his breath hitting the back of his throat. In order to avoid any more abuse, Marcus rolled to the side when another voice decided that they needed to be untangled.

Marcus relieved to finally not being attacked anymore dusted himself off and stared blankly as the two newcomers. His eyes were getting used to the darkness of the forest, but not by much, he could only see the face of Charlotte since he was close to him. Marcus pushed himself off of the ground, his right hand rubbing his sore back which was probably covered in welts now. Because of his lack of bones she was literally smashing across bone, weak bones, which probably had broken without him realizing it. He ignored his pain however and attempted to bow as some for of greeting, only from a crack to be heard near his ribs.

He winched again, and tried to scream only for nothing to come out of his mouth. Edited December 11, 2012 by Trexasle