The Village of Fallen

[Sen]

Clutching a black cloak around his shoulders, the young stoat hurried into the parched meadow. The river at the edge of the land had flooded with the autumns rain and had overflowed its banks. Now a shallow lake shone in place of the rivers curve, and at the edge of this very small and rare wetland the stoat crouched down and began to pick his muddy way around the water. Birds rose and landed, calling to eachother across the pool of cold and muddy water. The sun was setting, so the night would cool the land. The stoat was slightly shivering by the time he reached the opposite bank of the lake. Quickly he slipped between the first dead and knotted tree he came to and made his way toward a cliff jutting over a large village. Tarrow lowered himself onto his stomach and peered over the cliff, breathing quietly. There was apparantly some kind of celebration or ritual going on.
He pushed himself over to the west side of the cliff and inched downward, the cape and hood of his cloak flowing limply behind him. Rocks crumbled and pebbles clicked across brimstone as they stumbled down the cliff. A giant wall circled the village. Over the cliff, he could see, was a vast desert. The cliff was higher than he had expected. A gigantuan dead tree was located at the far east side inside of the wall. It was massive. On top of the tree, a fire burned, a sign to a thirsty and parched travler that there was a city nearby. Giant rocks and mountains covered in sharp cliffs jutted out of the desert, some even higher than the cliff.
Tarrow started to slowly inch his way down the cliff again. A city in the middle of a desert wasn't very common.

[benon]

Bladwaithe was parched, she had lost all of her rations when the floods hit, she was stumbling down a well worn path when she noticed the rythmic beat of a drum. She figured that it was another small vermin band travelling down the path on a way of plunder and murder only to be crushed and killed by the inhabitants of the area they tried to control. But what it really was was a village, in the midst of a cellebration. She was astounded.

[Sen]

A rat guard stationed outside the wall was slumped up on the cold sand against the wall. He was sitting down, his worn bandana pulled over his eyes. Krylin snorted and looked up, woken by the sense of another creature. The small figure of a wildcat was wallking over the sand dunes, toward the gate on the worn path lined by tribal torches on each side. He bared his teeth and stood up, kicking his weasel companion beside him. "Grint! Woike up, mah friend. We gots comp'nay."
. . .
Unaware of what was going on at the east gate, the main south gate was what Tarrow was heading for. After making his rough way down the cliff, his footpaws sunk loosly into the sand. He shivered, pulling his cloak around him and grunting lightly, squinting his eyes shut for a while to block the cold, blowing sand.
The main gate was a while away, but close enough so that he could see it. Tarrow was an excellent stratigist; he knew that in the midst of this ritual there would probably be guards posted at the gate.
The gate was solid, not made of bars. It was made of black brimstone, two peices. On the side where it opened, morbid looking thorns of bones forbid entry. By the look of the gate, it was old but it excellent shape. Tarrow could tell that, when opened, the gate didn't swing inward. It disappeared into cracks in the wall.
As he got closer, Tarrow also noticed no guards were stationed. He placed his paw on the cold, hard gate. It can only be opened from the inside, he realized. He stepped back to assess this situation.

[Gyre]

A young vixen danced with joy and abandon. She wore a long, flowing skirt of sky blue. It was embosed with silver leaves, and it bloomed around her knees as she twirled. Dozens of braids bounced around her shoulders, decorated with forget-me-not and clover.
Grinning, she was lifted at the waist by her parter; another young fox, and tossed. She landed, laughing, her tail flowing along under the skirt.
"Indigo," her companion said, reaching aroud her narrow waist and dipping her, "Let's go outside where it's quiet." The vixen smiled shyly, then tugged on his ear, whispering something that made him blush as he lifted her again.
Indigo and her mate, Kahn, danced to the edge of the crush, where the drums' beat and the music was fainter. Leading Indigo by the wrist, Kahn looked to the left then the right, then pushed open the heavy, stone door...

[Sen]

Tarrow noticed that the doors were sliding into the cracks in the wall seperating the desert from the city. He gasped sharply but quietly, stepping back and unsheathing his blade halfway, waiting for a glimpse of the arriving creatures. A desert wind blew, ruffling his cape a bit.
Two foxes, flirting excessivly, had opened the gate. They hadn't noticed him behind the cover of a sand dune. He lowered his gaze to the sand, then walked out, smiling slightly from the sand dune. Time to see what these two love birds had to offer.
...

Krayclaw the fox fell onto the rock path covered with a slight layer of sand. He stumbled up and kept running, gasping heavily for breath. He came to the edge of the city. A dead end. Yes, a dead end...to those studying the wall too carefully or just glancing. For the "dead end" was an illusion. The place where a shadow and a light connected was actually a doorway. To a lazy creature, it would look like Krayclaw had just walked into the wall. He squeezed himself through the doorway, his footpaws pounding down a narrow rock hall. At the end of this hall, he stepped onto a wooden makeshift pulley elevator. Krayclaw caught his breath and tried to look decent and feirce as the wooden floor lifted up slowly below him as he travled up.
He came to a room. This room had small waterfalls everywhere, on the walls and in ponds that lined a narrow walkway to a throne. These waterfalls poured out into large cracks in the floor. Darkness filled them, and you had to listen extremely carefully to hear the water splash at the bottom. "L-Lord..." Krayclaw stammered to the wolverine on the throne. Damus Khrail bore his eyes down on his fox assistant. "Make your report." His voice was deep and smooth. "On the south wall, I-I spied a stoat. Its the one the troops spotted about four moons ago, sire." Damus smiled. "Excellent work, Krayclaw." He reached over and threw a roasted sand lizard leg at the slighty shaking fox. Krayclaw hesitated, the picked it up. "You've done a find job." "Th-thank you, lord!" Damus bared his teeth. "Capture him...and bring him to me. ...Alive."

[Zerstorung]

Akeradies hid behind a sand dune, watching the stoat approach the two lovebirds flirting in the sand. He turned and looked back to the small group he'd brought with him. Normally, he and his followers never travelled during the day, but this time, they were making an exception. They were beginning to hear some funny things about this town. It usually took a couple of days to get this far on foot, but Akeradies had improvised. He had the Wyrms bring them out here across the desert. Making a deal with a Wyrm was usually very risky and dangerous, but not so with him because they owed him a blood debt, and he brought them easy meals. He knew that they helped him more for the food than for the debt, but he didn't mind, as long as they helped. He motioned to the others, a collection of desert animals, to remain hidden under their sand colored cloaks. He then turned back to the stoat and pair of foxes, making a noise like a desert hawk with a special whistle he had carved from snakebone.

OOC: Just to let everyone know ahead of time, a Wyrm isn't a dragon. It's what Akeradies and his Freiel wanders call desert rattlesnakes. Just getting that out of the way. More on why the snakes help in a while.

[Sen]

OOC: Btw...its nightime. ;D

Tarrow stopped in his tracks just as he was about to speak to the flirting foxes. He fell back and leaped behind a sand dune, crouching low, his eyes wide. That whistle had a familier sound to it. It wasn't natural. Of course, being here in the desert, it would sound like the everyday hawk.
Tarrow knew about special calls, as he and his friends would use them when they would hunt back home. His eyes darted around as a feirce wind blew. Nothing. No one. He slowly and silently drew his sword, his eyes hardening.
There was no way he could sneak into the city with all these creatures around him so suddenly.
...
Krayclaw scrambled up the wall and drew his bow, fumbling with an arrow. "Where is he, where is the blaggard...oh!" The fox snickered and drew back his arrow as his aim settled on the stoat, who was walking out from a sand dune. Suddenly, a hawk cry peirced the night and the stoat dropped to the ground. Startled, Krayclaw unpurpously let go of his arrow. It ricoched off of a sand covered boulder and flew straight... straight toward Akeradies.

[benon]

Bladwithe saw everything, the fox shoot the arrow right at the stoat, she watched it bounce off the dune and head right for the creature in the cloak. She acted quickly, using natural agility as a cat, she sprinted over and threw a flying tackle at the creature with the cloak. She hit him just as the arrow thudded into the ground right behind her footpaw, right where the the cloaked figure had just been croutching. She was completely winded, she rolled off of the creature, and croaked hoarsly,"I saved your life, wretch." she adjusted her cloak and slunk off in the direction of the archer fox, with her long skinning knife drawn.

[Zerstorung]

OOC: My mistake...n.n;

Akeradies was about to step forward, but fell over as something came crashing into him. When he stopped rolling, he looked up to see what it was, only to watch a Bladwithe slink off in another direction. He quickly dashed back to where he was, hoping to not have gained attention..."That was a dumb move...Sure, it made a good distraction, but if it wasn't for that stranger, I'd either be a living pincushion or dead. Still, why'd they have to call me a wretch..?" This last question is asked in a sort of comical way. He felt around for his knife, and then he saw it laying on the sand, not too far away, but out in the open. He growled, then crawled over to it, snatching into his mouth, then dashing back. When he made it back to his small group, he looked at them. They had watched him with a sort of blank humor, not really laughing but grinning ocasionally. "Well, at least you're all optimistic." He turns, watching the stoat he saw approaching the fox couple earlier.

[Sen]

(We should probably wat for Gyre to post...)

[benon]

Baldwithe was in high bad humor. She remembered exactly the spot where the fox shot the arrow. She hated snipers. At least she showed herself when she shot at her victims. She would have shot the fox dead if her bow hadn't been ruined by the flood at the begining of the season. She pounded over to the wall and leapt. Her long feling limbs shot her over the wall and onto a nearby roof. Her pupils contracted, it was darker in the leeside of the cliff. She could tell that the fox had made a hasty retreat, his plans being foiled. She could see the swish marks made by his tail in the sand, he was nervous, she could tell. As with all foxes, when they get nervous their tails swish side to side. The same with cats. For a moment she felt an odd kinnship, but it soon faded. The swishmark trail stopped at a wall. Bladwithe flexed her long claws, she dug in and launched herself up and over the wall into a narrow passageway leading to a shaft that dissappeared upward. She slunk over to it. She was amazed at what she found.......

[Sen]

(G-modding...)

[benon]

pardon me i forgot. ;D

[Sen]

( Okay, so...in a post a while ago, two rats noticed you. What to do about this?)

[benon]

(I'm gonna have the rats chasing me is that ok?)