On the Hunt

[Ace]

Chmir

<sup>A flash of dull metallic blue was all that betrayed Chmir's intentions as he pulled back a crossbow bolt. All his bladed weapons were made of the same metal; blue dragon-metal was not cheap to buy, but he was good at mining and smithing so it was no issue. He did, on occasion, still break his pick's handle or the metal he was smithing, but that happened to even the very best. It was usually because he had chosen the wrong wood for the pick or the metal had been smelted incorrectly. The furnace was the only thing he hated in the weapon-making process.

Pressing himself lower to the ground, Chmir aimed his crossbow to his left, along the game trail. He could hear a deer making its way down to the waterhole where he had filled his canteen just minutes earlier. Before too long it would pass him by, and when that happened it would be dead.

Careful, keep your hands steady.

You think I'm not trying? You need to stop assuming, Chmir nodded, Else one day you'll assume wrong and we'll be in trouble.

The deer leapt into view. In the same instant, Chmir let the readied crossbow bolt loose.

Did you get it?

I don't know yet. I think - yes! Yes, its shoulder is broken I think, and the bolt seems to be lodged in its heart.

Has it gone down yet?

I'ts going down now. Okay, I think it's dead. Saphira, you wait where you are. I can handle it. It's not like it's a Morndu or anything.

Chmir sensed his dragon smirk and laughed. The last time he had come here hunting he had missed his target and hit a rather large Snow Morndu. His namesake could not have been more proud - Chmir meant fox in the old language - of how he had managed to talk his way out of trouble.

Up close, he realised the deer he had just killed was a large adult stag instead of the young stag he had thought it. It was too big and heavy for one elf to deal with, and being well enough alone, Chmir knew that without help he would have to leave it behind. And Saphira would never be able to get down between the trees. This part of the forest was just too thick.</sup>

[Avalon]

Rose

"You might want some help with that," Rose murmured, emerging from nearby bushes.

She was shrouded in leather, to avoid her highly reflective scales giving her away. Only her eyes, eyelids and nostrils were visible from beneath the mask; her mouth was covered with dense-looking, but highly breathable fabric, died a wood brown. Her strange-looking bow was half-drawn, and pointed at the ground to her left. There were two spare arrows gripped with the two small fingers on her right hand, ready to be nocked should she be ambushed.

Some of the elders had commented that her ability to hide, and stay hidden while moving, was, in their words, "just plain scary!"

Apollo? Where are you? Rose asked her dragon; the hatchling was a restless one, full of energy, and she had to ask him where he was every five minutes while he was awake and she wasn't around him. She didn't always get satisfactory answers that easily, either. This time was one example.

I'm hunting.

Where are you hunting?

Mont Milagros, the high slopes. I was attacked in the forest!

Alright, alright. Don't go into the dragonhold until I get there.

OK.

Rose removed the arrow from her bow, stored all three in her quiver, and slipped the bow into its tube, next to the quiver.

"Let me help you with that," she murmured into the elf's ear, "There are bandits nearby, so we must be careful." That said, she drew one of her daggers and gripped it in her left hand, ready to strike at any bandits that came at them. With her right, she gripped the stag by its neck and lifted it partially off the ground.

[Ace]

Chmir

<sup>"I can handle it, don't you worry about that. Heck, who am I kidding? It'll take two elves to get that thing off the ground," Chmir laughed, "Perhaps I should try to judge the size of what I'm about to kill better than I do."

His upper lip curled at the Dragonmaster's comment about the bandits, "You think I don't know that? They are why I dress so simply. And I sensed you speaking to your dragon. Before you ask," the elf showed his Ridermark, which was on his right shoulder, "I am a Rider myself. Huntsman Chmir, at your service," he inclined his head as though he were royalty addressing a commoner, "And you are?"

Saphira, wait for me where you are.

What? I never moved!

You were going to.

Turning his attention back to the Dragonmaster, he sighed, "Dragons sometimes. Especially adolescent blue dragon-metal dragons. Although Aerynne does say cobalts are just as bad."</sup>

[Avalon]

Rose

Rose gave a quiet sigh, then hefted the stag, lifting it completely off the ground and slinging it over one shoulder.

"I'll want a share of your kill for this," she warned, "And since I'm carrying this one, you can get another if you like."

She looked around, something was making her edgy, and it wasn't the time of day.

"My name's Rose, I'm a huntswoman. My dragon is Apollo. I have to tell you, I'm rather surprised you didn't run the moment you saw me."

She then registered the angle of his head, "And you might do better to adress me differently... I'm half Shadowmaster. At least, I have their powers, although I only use them in emergencies."

She shifted her weight and blade subtly, she could sense the bandit behind her, he was a bright patch of life force amid the general clutter of a forest. She could pick him out only because his human life-energy was rather different to that of plants and animals.

To Chmir, she muttered, "Bandit, right behind me. I'll handle him; I'm twice as tall as he is, and I don't think he's wearing much metal."

The bandit broke cover, yelling, "SHADOWMASTER!"

Rose whipped around, her tail slamming into the bandit's midsection, driving the wind from him.

Rose bent over him: "Goodnight," she quipped, grinning beneath her mask, as she brought the handle of her dagger crashing down on the bandit's skull, knocking him unconcious.

Standing upright, and slinging the dead stag over her shoulder again, she turned to Chmir, "I let him live, but he's going to seriously rethink his life, and have a splitting headache when he wakes up. Still, I don't like having to make something painful, whether it's death, or a lesson. And, as I'm wearing a mask..." She left the sentence hanging and laughed, "We'd best get out of here before more arrive. That yell drew the attention of everything within a sizeable radius."

I should be on my way soon Apollo, but I've picked up what I think is an elfin prince.

Typical. First other Dragonmasters, now a prince! What next? The golden Noble Breed male I just saw?

Noble Breed? Rose asked sharply, How do you know?

A female elf startled him, and he breathed fire. Far more intense than normal Dragonmasters.

Interesting, but I didn't make a kill, Rose admitted, the elf did, though. The reason I'm not going after one myself is because we've attracted too much attention. I was attacked by a bandit, but I foiled his plans.

In typical Rose style, I should think!

Right you are!

Rose turned her attention beck to Chmir, and at that precise moment the back of her neck prickled.

"Burning Shards! No! A true Shadowmaster is aware of us!"

She then realized, despite her rising fear, she'd used an unconventional oath, one she'd learned from the people who'd taught her the skills she used, her stealth, silent movement, trap-laying, archery, and fighting with daggers, among others.

"We have to go, now, Chmir!" she managed to squeak. Her eyes conveyed her terror well enough as it was; they'd turned stark white.

The stag slipped from her nervless hands; the dagger was held in a grip so tight that the scales on her hand had stretched almost to their limit. White smoke coiled from her nostrils; a fight or flight response. Angry Dragonmasters released dark smoke or steam.

Instinctively, she drew her second dagger, and gripped it with the same tightness.

Apollo tried to contact her, but her overwhelming, if not unfounded, terror prevented the link from establishing itself.

[Ace]

Chmir

<sup>"You might do better to not assume," Chmir snarled.

What's going on in there?

Nothing for you to worry about, Saphira, just a little issue with a Dragonmaster.

Don't get cocky. Just because you outclassed one in a duel doesn't mean you can outclass another.

I think I am more experienced in dueling than you are. I know what I'm doing.

Whatever.

I would tell you to shut your face, but doubtlessly it already is.

"Just to remind you, I killed it, so therefore it's my choice whether or not I share. And I'm not in a sharing kind of mood at the moment. It'll barely be enough for a snack if you take Saphira into account. Saphira, will you shut up? Sorry about her, she's just hungry. As am I. SAPHIRA!"

I wish I could help you with that stag.

Yeah, so you could eat it on your way back to Order HQ.

Would I ever do such a thing?

I think we both know the answer to that. Now shut up or I'll make you fight in the dragon arena.

...

Much better.

Chmir drew his sword and whipped around, slicing a vampire in two, "They're getting worse and worse, these darned blood-sucking devils. They used to not venture this close to the village in daylight, but now you're lucky if you don't see at least one."

He pulled a rag from a pouch on his belt, cleaned his blade, and stuffed the rag back in its pouch. It was a rather undignified motion for one such as himself, but quite essential for the sword. If the blade's integrity was reduced in any way, it could put its user at risk of serious injury and even death should it break. It was a lesson Chmir had learned the hard way when his previous sword had shattered in a mock duel against his father.

------------------

I keep thinking this is a bit of a fluff post, but that's life...</sup>

[Avalon]

Rose

Rose inexplicably calmed down, allowing her dragon access to her. He blanched at what he found, Rose! You're nowhere near strong enough to take him on!

This blasted prince has left me with no other choice, Apollo. Besides, he's here now.

Her half-brother, Jared, melded out of the shadows, an ability only their bloodline possessed.

"Jared," Rose growled, her daggers' bright blades hidden by her legs, "How fitting. You allways followed me around, bullying me at every chance."

"Rose! I wasn't expecting to find you here. I had other things on my list ahead of finding you."

Rose snarled, her hands straining as she struggled to keep from lashing out at him, "World domenation, perchance?"

Jared laughed, "You make it sound unatainable, half-sister. True, Blackwing never managed, but then, that world was ready for him. This one most likely never will be."

"You'll never recruit me, you know that, Jared."

"Not alive, no. But dead? That's a different story."

"The arts of necromancy are forbidden, even to Shadowmasters like yourself. You know that, Jared." Rose recoiled from her brother in shock at his statement, and its implications.

"Forbidden only because the magi feared what a Dragonmaster or Shadowmaster would be able to do with it. Enough of this. Arise, my servants!"

Skeletons, cadavers, zombies, and other undead broke the surface all around her.

Rose stared at her half-brother, and a single tear slid down her cheek; now that Jared had used necromancy, there was no hope of ever redeeming him. And he would eventually destroy himself, like so many other necromancers had done.

"Chmir," she murmured, "My half-brother, here, has broken one of the most important laws of Dragonmasters, and even their Shadowmaster opposites: Never, under any circumstances, use necromancy."

She stood tall, then seemed to melt into the forest around her, "You'll regret this, Jared. By my hand, by you own, or by the hand of another, you will be destroyed. No more tears! The Day of our Reckoning is now!"

[Ace]

Chmir

<sup>Saphira, you need to get in here as soon as you can. We have a necromancer on our hands, and I do not wish to be added to his army of undead. Now is the time we fight a real enemy for the first time this week.

As you wish. Be careful, I'm going to have to do a bit of damage to get in there. Even this close to the village, the canopy is extremely thick.

Godspeed.

His sword still drawn, Chmir vanished again. Moments later, a crossbow bolt punched through a zombie's head and stuck itself in a tree a few metres behind the new threat. He had missed by half a millimetre. The elf knew not to fire again from that same position, and he also knew not to stay put.

Saphira dived through the canopy, then shot straight up to get above the trees again. From her higher vantage point, she could see the sheer numbers of undead. Not allowing the necromancer much time to realise what had just smashed a lot of the branches above, she doused the undead with flames. Her breath weapons were undoubtedly her deadliest. Even next to adult dragons she was an impressive sight, especially when she used her fire.

'I am here. Be afraid. Be very afraid.'

The laughter in Saphira's telepathic voice was clear and sounded like music, or perhaps trickling water. Few could tell exactly.

--------------------------------

Italics in between the following: '

mean open telepathy (ie talking to everyone, but not out loud).

However, italics between full quotation marks (") mean talking out loud at the same time as closed telepathy (ie talking to one person or thing, usually a dragon or Rider)</sup>

[Avalon]

Rose

Rose, hidden by a tree, muttered a more conventional oath than the one before as Jared shouted mockingly, "Anything you try, I'll just absorb the energy. You can't touch me."

Rose, completely unaware as to what she was doing, shadow-melded for the first time, popping up behind Jared.

He was completely unprepared for the light-charged dagger slash she delivered: this was the weakness of a true Shadowmaster; they couldn't stop pure light energy. Even if Rose's dagger was stopped, a wavefront of light energy would whip out to strike her target. And Jared, as a true Shadowmaster, could do nothing to stop it. Quite unlike Rose, who could absorb anything Jared or his undead minions threw at her, if she had time to react to them.

Jared whipped around to strike her with his scythe, but she'd already dissappeared.

Jared brought the blade to an awkward halt and paused, confused. Rose could quite well have snuck up on him, but the strike she'd just delivered wasn't possible from anything but her traditional striking stance, at which his scythe would have plunged into her heart. Then he caught on.

"She's melding... Impossible."

Rose laughed, still in a shadow state; the result was eerie, as her voice came from everywhere at once, even the inside of the person's ear, "Oh it's quite possible, half-brother. You see, our father was redeemed after he met my mother. The mating between him and your mother was strictly a matter of convenience at the time. Even after he was redeemed, he still had his shadow-melding ability, and could still pass it on to the next generation. And here you were, assuming that it was your mother that passed down your ability to you."

She melded right in front of him, twirling her twin daggers, "I have the strong points of both light and shadow, and none of your weaknesses. Anything you do in attempt to hamper me will only make me stronger, while I, on the other hand..." She blinded him temporarily with a well-placed clump of loam, "can do a lot of harm to you."

Swearing, Jared attempted to clear his eyes as Rose destroyed many of his surviving minions with a burst of magical power, power which she'd kept hidden up until this point.

Rose cast her attention quickly to Chmir and the dragon, "Stay out of this. It's personal."

With a yell, Jared cleared his eyes and leapt at her, only to have her meld, and deliver a gash to his face, melding back out again lightning-fast.

Why isn't he melding?Rose wondered for a moment, then caught on, He's larger than I am, it takes time for the shadows to recover from one of his melds. Which means I have the upper hand.

Jared was getting progressively angrier as the fight continued, so he let loose with a eruption of shadow focussed solely on one target, which blasted Rose out of the air as she attempted to avoid it, forgetting, for an instant, about her ability to shadow-meld.

Rose struggled to rise for a moment, then passed out.

Jared stepped up to her, knelt, and brushed her forehead, "She won't wake anytime soon. Before I finish her, though, I must deal with the elf and the dragon."

Twirling his scythe, he rose and roared to the heavens, "Rise, ancient bones of-. What the Shadow Flame-?"

Rose came flying out of nowhere and smashed Jared's breastplate with a flying kick, massively charged with light energy.

Jared staggered, regained his balance, and examined the breastplate.

"My instructor made that," he exclaimed hotly, "For teaching him a new spell. You'll p-. Dragon Bones..."

He'd looked up and seen Rose, who now had sigles running all across her face. they were golden in colouration, and her eyes flashed, literally, between blood red, and brilliant orange.

She crossed her arms, "Hmph. Not so much of a danger now, are we?"

Jared swore viciously, "You've just moved up my list, Rose. To second place."

"Who's in first," Rose asked, a hint of amusement creeping into her tone, "A Noble Breed?"

"A gold Dragonmaster male. I don't know why, but I know I have to kill him if I'm going to achieve my goals. Until we next meet, Dragonmaster."

He melded, dissappearing.

Rose chuckled, "You can come out now, young elf. He's gone."

She allowed the power that had overcome her to drain away, then turned, and started to laugh, pointing, "I don't believe it! The stag's right where I left it! Have your dragon land. She can eat here." Apollo! Have you eaten?

Yes. And I found some rare stones, you can trade them for money, which you can by food and supplies with. I'd say that you've had more than a day full!

You can say that again!

OK. I'd say-.

Not literally!