Hide and Seek.

[Melantha]

Occ: its kind of hard to rp from a Childs perspective but it’s a fun challenge

Dubhan ran as fast as he could through the burning village “Daddy Daddy!” he cried out looking all around him as he ran hoping to find his daddy or his daddy’s dragon. He had been separated from his daddy when the fires and fighting had broken out in the village.

Dubhan ducked behind a cart that was sitting between two houses to catch his breath. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he coughed from the smoke trying to block out the screaming and yelling, dragon’s roars, fire cracking and explosions coming from all around him.
Just when he had begun to catch his breath he saw a solider round the corner. A shiver ran down his spine when he saw the solider had bright ruby red eyes grinning at him. Dubhan jumped out from behind the cart and ran for it not slowing down until he reached the outskirts of the village in fear he was being followed. Dubhan reached the tree line and kept running deeper and deeper into the forest only turning his head briefly to see if he was being followed but all he could see was the smoke rising into the sky above as the sun set.

Dubhan kept running his clothes singed and smelling of smoke. The frightening images of houses and people burning, the screams and cries of people being dragged away by the bad guys flashed in his mind especially the soldiers red eyes pushed him to keep running. He was scared, scared for his daddy and Abaddon and all the people who were still in the village being hurt, for himself and for his mommy and Andromeda, his grandma and scared the bad guys would catch him.

Dubhan couldn’t tell how long he had been running until the light in the sky had faded and the air cold night air blew in on a cold breeze. He stopped panting trying to catch his breath. He set himself down on the ground and began to cry as the full weight of what had happened settled in his mind. ‘I want mommy, I want daddy’ sobbed his tears streaming down his cheeks blackened by the ash and smoke from the fires. Shivering from the cold he pulled his knees up to his chest hugged himself.
The thought of creating a fire passed his mind. He knew how to do it with the magic his mother had taught him but he was scared it would attract the bad people. He wanted to scrying his mummy so he could tell him what had happened and so she could come and find him but he had nothing to scry with, no mirror or water he would have to wait till morning to find water.

Holding out his hand he whispered “Garjzla.” He a small amount of energy leave his body and form into a little light ball that hovered above his hand lighting up the near by area Duban got to his feet and walked on trying to find a place he could sleep until the morning came.

[Tismri]

Ruby scowled at the three Shades surrounding her. With quick thinking, she could likely kill one of them, but the other two would react too quickly for her to aim for their hearts. The least she could do would be to cause them to vanish. It was lucky for the villagers that she had been walking by; she quickly caught the attention of the rampant creatures, allowing the citizens enough time to escape. Most of them at least. Her eyes were met with the sight of a dozen bodies of men, women, and children, ruthlessly slaughters, some mangled beyond recognition. The very idea that this destruction was wrought burned her very soul, and she again renewed her vow to never let anyone suffer the loss she and her family went through.
With quick thinking, Ruby jumped out of the center of the circle, spinning as she did to slice the Shade in front of her in half, causing it to disappear in smoke. She landed hard on the second, and without hesitation sent a bolt straight through its heart before sliding over and dismembering the last one.
She panted for a moment, glad that she had managed to evade the three. She looked around the town, seeing the burning buildings that represented the end of life as this village knew it. The townspeople that escaped likely wouldn't be able to return and would have to find a new home elsewhere. And then there were those that didn't.
Ruby glanced around. It was entirely possible that those three had caused all this destruction themselves, but it was also possible that they were not the only ones on this excursion. She decided to search the area to make certain there was no more threat to the fleeing people. As the sun went down, she studied the ground for tracks. She spotted a small pair headed in the opposite direction as most of the town had run, and this pair was pursued by others. She immediately grew concerned and serious; she had seen enough dead children today. She refused to let another be killed if she could at all prevent it.

She had been running for some time until she spotted the source of the larger pair of tracks. It was another Shade. It seemed to have caught up with a young boy.
"There you are," it said, cackling. "You run fast for such a pathetic little thing. If you didn't make that light, I probably never would have found you. Now come here." The thing lunged for the boy, but before it made contact, Ruby shot a bolt, perfectly aimed for its heart. It immediately dropped dead. It must have been the weakest one of the bunch for her to be able to take it down so easily; likely not the brightest either.
As the captured spirits violently released themselves from the body of the dead Shade, Ruby retracted her weapon and placed it at her side again, then took quiet, gentle steps toward the child.
"You shouldn't be wandering out here alone," she told him, kneeling down. "It's dangerous out here." She was about a foot away from the boy, cautious just in case he was afraid of her. "I'm Ruby. What's your name?"

[Melantha]

Dubhan walked through the forest shivering from the cold. He yawned and rubbed his eyes he was tired from running.
He listened to the sounds of all sorts of animals that lived in the forest the sounds that may have scared other children. He was familiar with the sounds they made and their minds from the many afternoons he had spent meditating in the forest with his parents near their home. He knew they meant him no harm in fact the sounds helped to sooth his fears.

He focused on the owls hooting near by, they seemed distressed. All of a sudden he heard a rush of wings as they flew off leaving he forest eerily silent. But it wasn’t long

Dubhan whirled around at the sound laughter behind him. Fear rose up in is stomach as he set his eyes on the solider with the red eyes. He backed away as the man approached with his arm out.
“Jierda.” Dubhan Cried out trying to break the shades arm. He heard the bone crack on queue, he turned ran. He didn’t get far before he tripped on a tree root and found himself falling to his hands and knees. He rushed to his feet only to find the shade standing in front of him still laughing.
He backed away and shouted “No!” His mind was racing trying to think of another spell he could use to get away from the bad man. Just when he was about to summon fire the man just dropped to the ground with a flash of light.

Dubhan heard a voice and backed off holding his little ball of light up so he could see the source of the voice. At first he could only make out a silhouette but as the person approached he could make out more of their appearance a girl at least twice his age. She didn’t look threatening so he decided not to run away. “D-d-ubhan my name is Dubhan.” He said still shaken from the events that had just passed. “I was running away from the bad men, i got separated from my daddy and then I ran into the forest and got lost.” He paused for a moment then continued holding his hand out to see the girls face better “You don’t have red eyes do you?” he questioned trying to see if she did.

[Tismri]

Ruby frowned slightly when the boy explained that he was seperated from his father. She wondered if he was back with the rest of the fleeing townsfolk, or if he was wandering the woods, searching for his lost child. A third possibility crossed her mind, but she tried not to think of it.
"Well, Duban, let's see if we can find your daddy," she said. In truth, she was a little uncomfortable taking care of this child. Weiss was more suitable to handle this situation. Ruby wanted to focus more on making sure that there were no more Shades in the area about to attack more innocents, or anything else that might harm them.
She finally smiled at the boy's question, understanding his fear and wanting to relieve him of it. "No, I don't have red eyes," she promised him, stepping closer so she was in his light, allowing him to see her light gray eyes. "I make the red-eyed men go away. You see, one of them took my mom away from me." She was trying hard to be sensitive to the child, not knowing if he understood the concepts of death and killing. She stood and held out a hand to him. "Come on. Let's go find some place safe until morning, and then we'll look for your daddy, okay? I'll keep the red-eyed men away from you."

[Melantha]

When Dubhan saw the girls eyes he felt better that he wasn’t alone and that the girl wasn’t bad like the men that had attacked the village and had set all the fires and hurt people.
“Thank you Ruby.” He said with a small smile showing his gratitude after all she had saved him from the man that was trying to hurt him.

Dubhan yawned coving his mouth and then spoke “My Daddy and his Dragon made a lot of the bad men go away too.” He said worry clear in his voice, he knew his daddy was strong but he had seen what the shades had done.

He nodded “Okay” as he stepping closer to ruby ready to follow her. When she mentioned morning it reminded him of something he felt important to tell her. “Do you have a Mirror? Because my mummy promised she was going scry for me and my daddy tomorrow. Mummy went to see the queen because the queen wants my mummy and daddy to help fight the bad people.” Dubhan frowned worried for his parents.

[Tismri]

Ruby was rather intrigued while the child spoke of his parents. His father was a Rider, and it seemed his mother was of some importance as well if she left to speak with Nasuada directly. The possiblity crossed her mind that they might very well have been the reason the village was attacked. It was always a silent concern to her whenever seasoned veterans from previous wars would settle down and have families. Remnents of their old foes would always lurk, and likely seek revenge. In Ruby's mind, it seemed safer to travel alone and always be on the move. She would be less likely to bring harm to loved ones and strangers alike.
She paused to a moment when Duban asked for a mirror. She was rather amazed that at such a young age he was able to perform spells such as scrying.
"No, I'm sorry," she told him. "Let's keep an eye out for some water that you can use. But I think we should mostly be thinking about finding some place to hide and sleep for a while." She was rather worried about any child being up so late at night, not just because of the dangers, but because it was simply unhealthy. Young ones needed sleep, and she wanted to make sure Duban got what he needed.

[Melantha]

Dubhan frowned when ruby told him she didn’t have a mirror. If they didn’t find water in the morning he knew his mother would become worried when he didn’t answer her call and he didn't want wan't her to worry too much. “Yeah I guess so.” He said covering his mouth as he yawned, all the running he had done had tired him out.
He followed ruby through the forest, his little ball of light dimmed as walked on his feet dragged through the dirt and foliage. Dubhan was thinking about the day’s events and he didn’t quiet understand what was going on. His parents had told him that there were bad people hurting innocent people and that eventually they would both have to go fight the bad people to make things safe for everyone but that didn’t answer the new question he had brought on by all the horrible things he had seen. “Why are they bad people hurting everyone?” he asked curiously.

[Tismri]

Ruby kept a sharp eye out as she walked, tensed and prepared at any moment for an ambush. Now that she had a child under her charge, she felt she had to be even more responsible. Despite her precautions, it seemed the Shades had either retreated or been killed.
She was brought out of her watchful, silent thoughts by the child's question. She thought carefully about it for several moments.
"There are always bad people in the world," she told him. "For whatever their own reasons, they want to hurt the poor and helpless, and cause trouble wherever they can. These bad men, the ones with the red eyes, most of them were made by a really mean lady, and this lady is mean because the queen, Nasuada, killed her king; this was a bad king who became very angry and sad when his own dragon was killed and he blamed innocent people." She sighed, trying to unwind her own twisting explaination in her mind. She would be amazed if he was following her at all. "I think people do bad things because bad things happen to them, and they want someone to blame. And if there is no one they can see right away, then they will blame and hurt whoever is closest." She stared down at the ground and stopped overflowing her thoughts. It was probably too much for the young one to really understand right now anyway. Instead, she changed the subject.
"Hey, Duban, can you climb trees?" she asked him. At the moment, hiding in the thick branches overhead seemed like the safest place, since she was unable to find a decently concealed clearing at the moment.

[Melantha]

Dubhan nodded as ruby answered his question. His parents and grandmother had told him many stories about the bad king and life during the war but he they hadn’t told him much about the new war. After what he had seen he still couldn’t understand how people could be so bad that they would hurt people but he had seen it with his own eyes and it had impacted him deeply. Rubys answer made some sense to him but he was too tired to properly understand.
He was silent until ruby mentioned climbing trees his mood instantly brightened up. A broad grin stretched across his face and he nodded he loved climbing trees. His mother didn’t like him doing it but his father would let him climb trees when he was supervised. “Are we going to sleep in the trees? What if we fall out while sleeping?” he liked her idea trees were great hiding places but he didn’t think it would work if they fell asleep.

[Tismri]

Ruby smile, glad to hear he knew how to climb. "Yes, we're going to sleep in the trees. Don't worry, I'll fix it to where you won't fall out." She quickly pulled herself up the branches, wishing again that her sister was here. Weiss was a much better spellcaster than she was, but she would make do. Once she reached a branch of suitable height and size, she sang a soft elven song, forming a small, dark depression in the branch. Then she had a number of leaves sprout out from within, essentially creating a soft bed inside a bowl in the branch, deep enough that he shouldn't have to worry about falling out.
"All right, Duban," she called to him, "You should get to sleep now." She retreated to the end of the branch to keep a lookout for the night.

[Melantha]

Dubhan curiously watched Ruby climb the tree they had stopped in front of. He wondered how she was going to make it so they wouldn’t fall out. He listened to his new friend chanting in the ancient language, Dubhan was too tired to even attempt to comprehend what the spell was he heard many words he didn’t understand.
When he heard ruby call him his mood perked up a bit. Dubhan approached the tree, jumped up and grabbed hold of one of the lower bearing branches with both his hand then brought legs up and over the branch. He pulled his body up and then continued to climb the tree until he reached the branch ruby was sitting on. “It’s a bed.” he said surprised by how Ruby had turned the thick branch and leaves into a bed. Dubhan climbed into the bowl, it was fairly comfortable and as he lay down and tried to get comfortable he found the sides stopped him from rolling out and falling. Duban muttered a word in the ancient language and the ball of light that was hovering over his hand disappeared. He laid his head down and shut his eyes “Thank you Ruby, Goodnight” he said falling asleep almost instantly.


**********************************
Melantha rolled over and kicked off the blankets, she hated sleeping in her armour.

Andromeda sensed her rider’s unease “what are you doing?” she asked bothered that she herself couldn’t sleep.

Melantha sat up “I can’t sleep, I’ve never been away from Dubhan this long not since… never and the last time I was away from Seth…” She said remembering when he had gone missing, she looking around the sleeping the campsite.

“Mel don’t think like that, we will be reunited with them tomorrow, sleep now.” Andromeda could feel her riders anxiety growing and there was not much else she could do to calm her than talk to her.

Melantha keeled next to her saddlebags and rummaged through them. “I’m going to scry Seth if I can’t sleep I doubt he will be able to.” She said carefully pulling out her mirror.

****
Melantha scryed Seth several times before scrying Duban but each time she jus got darkness. “Andromeda…”

Andromeda sat up concerned “I know get on lets go”

***

Melantha gazed out at the light that appeared across the sunrise watching as the sky brightened from black to dark blue to orange, red and light blue. it was a beautiful sight but Melantha's mind was elsewhere.

Andromeda quickened her speed when keen eyes spotted the black smoke rising in the distance "Something’s not right"

Melantha noticed the smoke too "Hurry" she said her body tensing

**********

Andromeda landed just outside the once thriving village that had been reduced to ashes.

Melantha jumped down from Andromeda’s back and withdrew her sword. An ire silence hung in the air as she surveyed the area fear and dread of what she was about to find.

From the first look she knew the village had been attacked and burnt to the ground, the smell of smoke and the stench of burnt bodies hung in the air. "I’m going in to search for survivors circle overhead, cover me " she felt numb among other feelings that came in like ocean waves crashing into the shore then being pulled back out to sea.

'be careful.' Andromeda said before taking off into the cool morning sky. She circled high above through the rising smoke surveying the area


Walking slowly she cleared all the horrible thoughts of what could have happened to her family out of her head and pushed on. Steadying her breathing she reminded herself ‘They’ll be okay.’ By repeating it in her head.

Andromeda launched her self into the sky again and circled back around to the village she did several circles of the village coming in closer and closer. “It looks clear from here, but I don’t think they are here, are you sure you still want to do this?” she said continuing her circle.


“I have to.” She said simply walking into the village.
She was apprehensive in her movements knowing that the enemy could still be lurking close by. That though made her much more careful and aware of her surroundings but it didn’t stop her from taking a risk.

Most of the houses had been burnt to the ground and others left only parts of the frame still burning. She put out the fires with her magic and continued checking buildings and bodies in the hope that she would find at least one person alive, but most were so badly burnt or had been so mutilated behold recognition that her hopes faded rapidly.

Cringing she turned from one sight to another, she was familiar with the death and destruction of war but this was different, the site of dead children was an uncommon site in war at least in a battle with honourable men. Melantha couldn’t hold back her tears, families had been torn apart, Defenceless women and children had been slaughtered, it was all too much. “They’re all dead, He’s not here Andromeda.” She felt defeated.

Andromeda shared in her rider’s feelings but as she circled she had noticed many tracks in the dirt leading from the village to the forest “The survivors probably fled into the forest, Maybe Duban ran into the forest, he’s so quick even a shade would have trouble keeping up with him.” Andromeda spiralled down landing on the outskirts of the village to meet her rider.