Legend of Ransera

Glade 4, 122 following this

Several tense hours went by as Ruvaf rested. Norani stood vigilant, pacing in quiet, tight circles around their little space in the grass, keeping her eyes peering between the tall grasses, eyes opened for any rustling. It was moving into evening now, and she knew that dusk and nightfall would be the most dangerous time. Sliding in next to her partner, she whispered, "Do you think you can fly?"

He gave a small, weary squawk, and laid his head back down. She patted him on the shoulder. They would wait. However long it would take. She moved to turn away from him when a distant awoo broke through the land. And the world went silent. Where birds had been chirping and bugs had been skittering, all seemed to hold their breath.

And Norani held hers too.

Another awoo, far off in the distance, in the same direction as the first. The small packs were forming a hunting party. Eyes went wide, this was bad. Wild Dogs were some of the most dangerous creatures that lived around here. Night vision, excellent hearing, strong sense of smell, and pack coordination made them a successful type of predator.

Sense of smell.

Norani said a silent prayer to the gentle winds that were blowing around her, offering up her aether to appease them. She asked that they blow away from the dogs, to drive the scent of her and Ruvaf to safety. She felt the winds accept her offering, as the aether began to pull from her form, and she watched as the winds in the immediate area shifted. The grasses bowed toward her and away from the direction of the dogs.

She hoped it would be enough, as the distant awoos shifted to the yipping barks. They'd begun to move, the hunting party was formed. Ruvaf raised his head in concern, but she held out a hand to quiet and calm him as she continued to Influence those winds. Had she started too early? She wasn't sure if she had the strength to keep this up for long enough. Her magic was still new. She hadn't practiced it much.

The yips were closer now, off to the east of Norani. She eased a throwing chakram from its hook, keeping it in her left hand, as her right held the punching chakram from earlier. Sweat was dripping down the back of her neck and she could feel the itching beneath her skin as her stress increased.

Pass us by. Please.

If they kept going that way, they might move out past and beyond the waters of Nora and they would be safe. More yips, further that way. She sighed, closing her eyes. Relaxing just a moment. They were moving on. They hadn't smelled her.

A low grumble and Norani's eyes snapped open. There, before her, a few meters away, a single Wild Dog. One that hadn't joined the middle of the hunting party, stumbling upon them. It stepped closer. Norani knew it hadn't yipped yet. She had to stop it before it did. She relaxed her tight grip on the chakram in her left, as the beast took another step.

Her body began to tense, her muscles coiling, and she began to dip into a low crouch, just as she'd been taught to do when throwing her weapon. The growl grew louder and another step came closer. She watched it sniff at the air, then go to raise its head. She snapped the chakram forward toward it, interrupting the yip it was about to send, startling the beast.

However, the flying blade sunk into the soft ground before it.

Yip yip.

It called out to its brethren, and it stepped over her bony blade. She heard yips respond in the distance. It was over. They were coming. Norani thanked the winds for helping her and cut off her aether from them. Time to go on the attack. In her free hand, she extended her Orkhan claws, on her toes as well. She charged forward, snarling loudly, as the element of surprise was long since lost.

As she went, the draconic scales of her people formed on her body, the Gift of Jarkor, some called it, at least for those of the green dragon flight. The wild dog lunged at her, and she brought a scaly arm up. The powerful jaw bit down, piercing the unarmored flesh on the underside of her forearm, but getting stuck in the scales on top. Its leap carried the momentum forward, knocking Norani backwards into the soft soil.

The distant yips were closing in.

The dog tried to rip its upper fangs out, and in its confusion, Norani struck. She rolled just enough to the side to free her arm, then punched the chakram. Its blade bit into the dog, where neck met shoulder. There was a pained squeal against her flesh. She pulled the blade out and punched it in again. And again. And again, until the dog fell slack.

She ripped her burning and throbbing arm out of its dead maw, snarling in pain as she did. She scrambled to her feet, looked around wildly to get her bearings, only to realize that the world was quiet except for the heaving of her chest as she tried to regain her breath.

They went silent.

They'd found her.

Peering through the dark grasses, she saw the first pair of yellow eyes creeping forward. Then another set. And another. Soon, a few dozen. She entered a fighting stance, but she knew that she could not fight off this many. She would die here. She would die fighting, kicking and screaming, and the wine of suffering would leave her body once more, as it did with every Ork who died.

The first of the wild dogs broke through the perimeter, low growls all around as they closed in. She and Ruvaf were surrounded. Her body was fully scaled now, her tusks were longer and claws prominent. Then the leader of the wild dogs stepped through, and it stood on all fours as tall as she. It was claiming the kill for itself.

Norani coiled down once more, a defensive posture, to hold the ground as long as she could. She snarled loudly, issuing the challenge. And the leader growled back, closing in. It made a sudden movement, to start lunging forth when its gaze was drawn over Norani's shoulder. The dog paused. Norani turned slightly, just enough to side eye in that direction, seeing a soft, green-blue light.



A small creature, one she'd never seen before, was fluttering about, much like a butterfly. It looked similar to a hare, but with wings and a tail that were quite different. And it glowed. Norani could see sparkling powder falling from its wings. She watched as the powder touched some of the other dogs, and they began to lay down and fall asleep. The creature fluttered over Ruvaf and the power put the nervous Ci'uvan to sleep as well. The lead dog took a step back from the creature. Norani just watched and waited. One of the other dogs growled loudly, and the creature immediately changed color, now glowing a deep crimson. The powder it was dropping changed color to match and while Norani didn't know what it would do, she didn't trust it.

She reached into herself, pulling out her aether, and manifested her own winds. She pushed the powder, and the creature, away from her and Ruvaf, and toward the lead dog. The creature seemed unperturbed by the winds, just fluttering along with them, but the dog yelped and turned on tail. The rest of the hunting party turned to follow. One of the dogs ran through the red powder and fell to a skidding stop. Its body began to dissolve and melt into a pile of goo.

The creature fluttered down to drink from it the puddle that was forming.

Then there were startled yips, and the lead dog came back into view once more, running in a panic. A loud scream filled the air and a large velociraptor came crashing out of the upper reaches of the grasses, landing atop the dog, pinning it own, as the dinosaur bit into its neck. A quick shake, and the dog was dead.

And upon its back, a red Orkhan woman, a spear in hand, smiling own at Norani. "We are lucky to have found you."

All around them in the grasses, she heard the screams of velociraptors and the dying yips and whimpers of the wild dogs pack. The red Ork hopped off her partner, opening her hands to Norani, "Hello again, Norani. Let us guide you back to Ouno’uve."

Norani relaxed, nodding her head and hooking her chakrams away once more. She relaxed, as the Ork pulled a pouch from her belt, holding it beneath Ruvaf's nose and he woke up once more. Once he was awake, the Ork moved closer to Norani and the young woman rushed forward pulling her into a hug.

"There there, young one. Aunt Hijuka is here now."

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