Private Tales A Druid's Prayer

[Petrus Ritus Iskandar]

Petrus did not pursue her, did not try and force her, as she shook her head and pulled away. He could tell that her walls were returning, that she like himself had allowed herself to be weak and now regretted it. His voice would be low, pointed, but not insulting as he murmured.

"I know. You will never have to."

Both a reassurance to her and a chastisement of himself he would nod at her request for time.

"Of course. I was never offering a trade, a transaction, only empathy. For whatever it is worth to you."

He would turn and walk to the edge of the grove and begin to once again weave soft and subtle enchantments to ward away intrusion. He had no control of his magic alluring and coaxing at Elinyra's senses but that was not his intent by returning to his task. Merely to create some distance for both their benefits.

Elinyra Derwinthir​

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

Elinyra crossed her arms over herself as she hurried away. She had decided to walk it off once she'd checked in on Fielynn and Fwysog. Seeing that both were resting peacefully, she continued into the woods beyond the grove, merely following the direction her feet chose.

The stillness of Petrus's grove was replaced by the barest chill of an early autumn breeze. The undergrowth was black as pitch beneath a moonless sky. It proved no hindrance to the blightborn's vision, though the vibrant hues she could see in the daylight dulled into the glow of life energy; a dim vapor rising from a nearby rotting log, a solid white light in a mouse that scurried across her path.

"Of course. I was never offering a trade, a transaction, only empathy. For whatever it is worth to you."

As she glanced up at the patches of starlight that shone through the thick canopy, she thought about Petrus's words with a flush of embarrassment. Reflexively, she had snapped at the man in self-defense instead of showing gratitude for what was obviously very difficult for him. A situation she would have to rectify on her return, if sleep didn't claim her first.

She yawned. Now that her storm of emotions had passed, exhaustion was beginning to creep into her weary muscles. The decision on whether they would stay longer was one best made tomorrow, when sleep wasn't making her mind so groggy.

She was about to turn back around when something strange caught her eye. Six somethings, brighter than the surrounding forest, were moving through the underbrush in near-perfect silence -- in her direction.

Elinyra darted back to a nearby pine and pressed her back against it, her skin and bark-flesh taking on the tones of the surrounding wood. Thus camouflaged, she waited for the creatures to pass by. She noted with concern that at least four more were moving as a group towards the grove.

The group of six stopped in a circle around the tree Elinyra was hiding under. It was too dark to make out any physical features beyond the fact that they were short and had backwards-facing knees like some sort of beast. They chattered to each other in a language Elinyra recognized as some Sylvan dialect.

"She thinks she can hide from us," snickered one.

"Let's all stab her at once!" said another.

"No, me first!" wailed a third, leaping forward with a thin dagger in its hand.

Before any of them could get to her, the old pine shot upwards, its bark groaning as it split to make room for the new growth that exploded from its roots. Standing now on the tree's crown, Elinyra shouted as loudly as she could into the night,

"We're under attack!"

Petrus Ritus Iskandar

 

[Petrus Ritus Iskandar]

No sooner had the words of Elinyra's warning reached Petrus's ears than he noticed six entities of his own enter the clearing. It had taken them some extra time, the enchantments and obscuring rituals he had laden upon the place making it hard for many beings to truly locate the grove. He began to wonder to himself how the creatures had located it at all when he saw where their eyes trailed.... right to Fielynn. In fact they were so intent on their sleeping quarry that they did not even seem to notice him until he walked, in great strides to stand before the little child, between her and the would-be assailants. Pausing for only a moment, as the creatures were more than a little surprised by his appearance, Petrus would fill the silence by speaking to... someone or something else.

"Maintain your distance, no need to involve yourself in this battle, creatures such as this deserve my personal attention."

The last two words were bitten out as a threat while the creatures sniggered to one another and began to fan out, blades in hand, while Petrus swept his amber eyes across them before channeling a subtle spell to carry a warning to Elinyra on the wind.

'Danger. Fielynn. Target. Enemies. Protect. Safety.'

With that done Petrus would slowly turn to Fwysog and instruct the little hillock.

"Continue rocking the child, they won't bring her any ha-....."

A knife, thrown from the assailants, would whizz toward Petrus before he finished speaking and flick of his hand would conjure a gust of wind to blow it away, causing it to land with a faint THUNK in the grass. Returning his attention to the six of them he would exhale slowly, his voice a low, smoldering thing of restrained anger.

"No one will ever find your bodies."

He stated simply before dropping to one knee with surprising swiftness, a surge of magic met the charge of the creatures and with terrifying quickness the very earth beneath them would split, rending apart, and swallowing them before just as quickly slamming shut and burying the assailants as if they had never existed. Save for the lone dagger still stuck in the grass some feet from Petrus.

Elinyra Derwinthir​