Private Tales Where Am I??

[Kazar]

To say that Kazar was lost was an understatement. He had a flimsy map, a cloak that wasn’t warm enough, and little idea of where he was. He had finally found his way over to a portal stone in Amol Kalit and had managed to put enough distance between himself and the Empire. The problem was that he had no idea how to navigate this region.

Mountains extended for miles anywhere he saw, frost capped spires that sometimes disappeared beyond the clouds. The air was icy and his skin was lined with goosebumps, formerly used to the glaring sun in the desert.

To make matters worse, strange objects began to fall from the sky. Kazar had never seen snow before and he had to stop and marvel at the dandruff-like phenomenon. The sense of wonder quickly changed to bitterness as the winds picked up and a storm began to come in.

“Why the fuck is there a portal stone in this gods forsaken place?” He grumbled to himself as he kept plodding along the side of the mountain range, looking for some kind of shelter from the storm. Visibility was diminishing by the second and the air grew colder.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

As if answering his question a shrill cry came from high above. It was followed by some words in the human tongue so distant that he would never make them out.

"Why the fuck is he out there alone?" Fynaurie asked Vaxor in elven. Vaxor couldn't speak, but he understood elven perfectly well. When he wanted to. However, he didn't know any human words as far as Fynaurie could tell.

She wasn't out here to help anyone. They were on patrol, watching for any threats to their isolated towers and eyries. They were going to take the warm up drafts closing to the mountains to get up above the weather front to drift back home.

Spotting the pack of gnolls moving very quickly in the direction of the lone human she'd convinced Vaxor to drop low enough to shout a warning. She had overestimated how loud she was.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar, in the meantime, didn’t spot any gnolls just yet. He only saw the beginnings of a blizzard and the infernal white flakes that progressively grew more irritating. He brushed it off his hair and cloak, but more replaced it at once. His breath came out in a fog and the air felt as if a thousand daggers were biting into skin. Why would anyone live here by choice?

He glanced up and spotted a - what the fuck? It appeared to be a giant, oversized bird that had massive talons. Kazar had no intention of becoming lunch, and he quickly reached for his bow. That was when he heard some shouting coming from the eagle. He squinted his eyes to see, making out what appeared to be an...elf?

This day grew progressively worse, and he kept an arrow ready just in case. Gawking in confusion at the eagle rider cost him as, instead of heeding her warning, he was too busy debating whether or not to shoot her.

The gnolls, in the meantime, cut through the blizzard and spotted the tall man. Being part giant meant Kazar was exceptionally poor at being inconspicuous and he stood out like a sore thumb.

“Fuck,” He muttered quietly right as one of them hurled a spear at him. He only had enough time to launch himself to the side and barely avoid its trajectory.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"What a fucking idiot," Fynaurie muttered. "Come on, let's get out of this storm."

From this height everything was so plain and simple. The human had ignored her warning and the gnolls and now he was going to end up food. Reality was harsh. Observed from a distance, it was easy for Fynaurie to remain detached.

Vaxor slowly banked around instead of gaining altitude. He was slowly circling the scene.

"Oi! Come on, let's go."

Vaxor let out a shrill cry. Fynaurie knew that has stubborn dissent.

"Look we can't go..." She started to tell him. She was cut off when he tucked in his wings. Fynaurie held on tight as she went weightless and Vaxor angled into the dive.

Vaxor spread his wings and slowed his descent and shot across the heads of the gnolls, talons extended. He sent the pack scattering. One was tossed aside by his talons, another lifted from the ground. Fynaurie heard it cry out as it was punctured and discarded.

"Damn it Vaxor!"

He was already gaining altitude, beating his wings hard against the storm for another run.

 

[Kazar]

As Kazar ate a mouthful of the white and fluffy mush from his fall, he found himself longing for the days of the seediest districts of Annuakat or Maraan. The worst he ever had to worry about there was the burning sun and the occasional bandit that tried to shank him in an alley. But at least there was no slippery terrain, icy air, lack of visibility and mobs of gnolls.

The giant bird above was circling ominously and he couldn’t tell whether it intended to help or just take a massive shit on his head. Generally used to having to handle himself, the ex soldier quickly ran over to pick up the spear that nearly skewered him.

Taking aim, he launched it directly at one of the gnolls. To his delight, the spear pierced directly through one of the gnolls that were tossed up into the air, sending it hurtling and pinning it to the ground.

Having the bird to distract proved useful, and Kazar took the opportunity to call upon the magic he knew. The ground rumbled slightly beneath the gnolls before spikes of ice abruptly thrusted up into the air. They drove right through the gnolls standing above them and any that were prone from being tossed.

Kazar squinted to see if that was all of them.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"Now can we go?" She called down to Vaxor. The only two gnolls she could see left were running in the opposite direction.

The wind was picking up. Dark, snow laden clouds sitting low in the valley. Fynaurie was well wrapped up but Vaxor's feathers could take being soaked by heavy snowflakes.

Unfortunately the great Eagle wasn't in a listening move again. He started gliding down towards the lone man.

"Don't be an idiot. He'll probably throw a spear at you. Eugh."

The Eagle opened his wings and came to land only a dozen meters from the man. Fynaurie knew that Vaxor was just as proud as she was of making it to a full Dragoon. More than anything recently he liked being praised for doing a good job.

"Fine," she groaned before switching to the common human tongue. Vaxor couldn't tell the difference between men and elves. "Are you alright?" She called out.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar was, in fact, hastily looking for a spear to toss at the bird that made a very terrifying approach towards him. Now that the gnolls were dead, the oversized chicken likely sought to make a meal out of him. He began to rush over towards a spear and realized he didn’t know how to walk through this terrain.

The part giant unceremoniously tripped and fell face first into the snow with a loud thud as the bird landed. Kazar remained there for a second or two, marveling at his astonishingly awful luck. He peeled himself off the ground at last, dusting off the snow from his face. His skin suddenly felt numb and awful.

When he looked up, he was greeted with the delightful sight of the eagle and the grumpiest looking woman perched atop it. Kazar spat out some of the snowy slush before rising to his feet. If the woman asked if he was okay, perhaps she didn’t intend to kill him after all.

“Thanks, I'm fine,” He called out as he eyed her curiously. His gaze lingered on the pointy ears, guessing that she was an elf of some sort, “Er….where am I, exactly?”

On top of every other bit of rotten luck he had today, he now had to stop and ask for directions.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"Where are you?" She repeated incredulously.

Vaxor lifted his head and twisted it to cast a glance up at her.

"He said thanks," she said in elven. "Also he doesn't know where he is."

Vaxor probably didn't care about anything other than confirmation that the man was thankful.

If he was a man. That he was very, very tall did not go unnoticed by Fynaurie.

"Were you captured by the gnolls and escaped?" She asked. "Well...it doesn't matter. You need shelter or you'll die in the storm!"

The wind was whipping in fast now, ruffling Vaxor's feathers. If the snow came down soon it was going to keep them grounded.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar simply blinked when the woman repeated his question back incredulously. Maybe she didn’t understand him?

“I asked where-”

He stopped repeating his question when she began to blabber away in her elf language. Was she actually talking to the chicken? His eyes widened in mild surprise as he saw what appeared to be an actual exchange of conversation between the two. The part giant stood there awkwardly, arms crossed over his chest as he got progressively colder.

“No, I used a portal stone and ended up nearby,” He shrugged vaguely, noticing the biting chill as the winds picked up. Kazar gave the woman a bemused look as she helpfully pointed out his circumstances.

“Yeah I worked that much out for myself, funnily,” He said dryly, “Wouldn’t happen to have room for a passenger on your magnificent bird over there, would you?” He asked before flashing a charming smile. Though with how cold he was, it looked more like a teeth gritted cry for help.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

Vaxor wasn't always in favour of giving rides to strangers. Not that the opportunity came up. Their community was relatively isolated from the world. Her squadron were a tight knit group. Vaxor had known most of them for years.

Flying with someone who didn't know to fly in difficult conditions was going to be hard work.

He was going to die out here. He was also very tall. Two things working in his favour. Fynaurie probably gave those two things a far more even weighting than they deserved.

She looked to the laden clouds. They couldn't go far. Further up the rock faces to a cave made the most sense.

"He needs to be flown away from here," she said in elven.

Vaxor didn't look pleased.

"You were the one who wanted to rescue him. And he did say your feathers looked particularly nice," she lied.

"Come on then!" she called down as Vaxor bowed his head. She offered the blunt end of her glaive. "Grab straps, not feathers. If you pull out feathers he might bite off a hand. We're going to find somewhere to shelter under the snow storms pass."

 

[Kazar]

Kazar was both surprised and pleased that the woman was willing to offer him a ride. He had spent his entire life with feet firmly planted to the ground. The thought of going up in the air sounded awful, but he had little choice at this point.

He eyed the giant beak apprehensively as he stepped around it, extending a hand to do exactly what the woman quickly warned him about. Kazar retracted that hand and glanced up at the two before making some very quick decisions.

“Fuck that,” He said as he used the glaive to climb on but plopped himself behind her, “I’m grabbing onto you instead. I can reason with you,” It sounded far safer than risking the damn chicken getting suddenly pissed at him mid air and tossing him off.

Kazar would wrap his arms around the elf’s waist and wait for them to take off. He pointedly avoided looking towards the ground lest it made him nervous. For all his years spent in combat and battle, this was a fear he hadn’t thought he needed to face in his lifetime.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

Vaxor dipped. His feathers hid long legs made for striking, landing and taking off. The leap upwards was gut wrenching. He flapped his wings hard to give them some horizontal speed before spreading them and turning it into height. He had to expand more effort than necessary as there was no time to find a thermal for a graceful climb.

Fynaurie probably should have been shouting some instructions for the man to loosen up. Sitting so stiffly and gripping her tight made him a dead weight. Instead her brain was going: tall, tall, he's very very tall.

Vaxor only gain a hundred meters. The wind was coming too much, the snow settling on the saddle. His eyes spied a cave in the rock face long before Fynaurie. He took them down, the landing was bumpy.

Fynaurie looked at the wide opening ahead of them. It didn't look too deep but the light didn't reach into the depths.

"You can go first cos you made this mess," she said. Assuming he was going to let go at some point.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar regretted his decision the moment they took off. A million thoughts buzzed through his mind about how he could have taken his chances on the ground, but he was completely out of his element here. He squeezed the elf woman tight enough to make her start wheezing before he remembered his own strength. He decided right then that flying through the air was awful and he never wanted to try it again.

He was still desperately clinging to the woman when they landed poorly, and it took a few moments for him to realize they were on ground again. Kazar unceremoniously flopped over the side of the bird while attempting not to step on a wing.

He politely held up a finger to tell elf lady to pause in the middle of her command. He had urgent matters to attend to like vomiting over the edge of the cliff they landed on. All that jerking around in the air jostled everything he ate that morning and it would now decorate the Spine.

Kazar wiped off his mouth, looking a bit green as he looked back towards the cave. He was about to make a quip about ‘ladies first’ but decided he didn’t feel like being offered the other end of her glaive this time.

“Yeah all right, I suppose I owe you one heroic act,” He muttered as he rolled his eyes while walking into the entrance. The cave was quite dark and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. He had to hunch quite a bit to make his way through.

“Not sure how far this-”

He was cut off by what sounded suspiciously like a growl at the opposite end of the cave. Kazar blinked for a moment.

“Please tell me that was your stomach.”

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

Fynaurie crinkled up her nose. Chundering down a mountainside was a perfectly good way to dispel idle thoughts about how tall her passenger was. She waited quite patiently for him.

She was mostly patient. Fynaurie let out a small, petulent huff at having to wait for him. They had barely gained any altitude at all. It didn't seem worth losing your lunch over.

She was going to have to fly him back down later. That meant she was going to have to think about their seating arrangements. Otherwise it would be making a choice between getting thrown up on or just pushing him off Vaxor's back. A difficult decision.

"It wasn't," she snapped back at the sound. Fynaurie dropped low, anchoring the base of her spear against her foot and lowering the blade.

She could see eyes in the darkness. A growl was a warning, not an attack.

"Back out," she whispered harshly. There was no need to kill - or by killed by - whatever had claimed this cave unless necessary.

 

[Kazar]

“What?” He hissed in response, “Just like that? It’s probably just a small bear,” He grumbled, “No need to get your knickers in a knot, princess, I’ll go check it out.”

With that, he pointedly ignored the elf and casually strode in towards the cave. He had his blade at the ready and prepared to slay anything in their path. The growling grew louder, but he wasn’t afraid. He had no intention of throwing himself back out into the blizzard or flying on that damn turkey again. Whatever was in the cave could learn to share or have its head removed from its body.

The half giant had to crouch to make his way in, his ears picking up shuffling and scratching as the creature on the other end grew more agitated. Visibility was low, but he could still make out vague outlines. In the distance he could see glowing, red eyes and smell a rancid stench.

Kazar barely prepared his blade for attack when the creature inhaled deeply and sharply exhaled, sending a burst of flames out towards the half giant and the elf if she still joined him.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"Why would my knickers be twisted?" She asked, clearly irked by the expression she had never heard before. She kept her irritation in check as he advanced into the darkness. He has to have struck his head as a child or perhaps he had simply been born with plenty of braun and precious little sense.

"You are such a fucking..." she started to hiss before a gout of flame froze an image of the cave in her mind. A beast with several heads, low to the ground and ready to pounce. "...idiot."

She darted forwards, moving purely on memory as she tried to blink away the burned in image. Vaxor reared up, spreading his wings but unable to follow them in much deeper. Unable, or perhaps unwilling. His instincts were strong.

Fynaurie stepped past the man, thrusting the spear forwards. She felt more than saw the beast lunge out. The tip of the glaive struck something, but she held fast.

The chimera, lightly cut across the neck by the blade backed up. Fynaurie heard it draw in breath.

"Get down!"

 

[Kazar]

Kazar gritted his teeth as the small elf told him to get down, “I’m a half giant inside a cave!” He hissed at her before trying to awkwardly crouch down. Not only was this largely uncomfortable, but it was entirely useless. Luckily there was a large protrusion from the side of the wall for him to duck behind. The fire blazed past him and he felt searing heat against his arm. Kazar grunted in pain but ignored it for now.

“Keep it distracted!” He shouted at the elf, praying she would actually listen. He was shocked to see her even in here still.

He rapidly began to call upon the innate abilities he knew, his skin beginning to take on a rough surface. Within moments, his skin would turn into the texture of earth and stone, though the weakness on his arm remained. Without waiting, Kazar charged in towards the chimera while it was in between exhales, barreling right into it. As it was thrown back, it whirled its tail up in an attempt to slam into the elf.

Kazar’s tackle pinned the beast against the wall behind it and he brought up his blade in an attempt to ram it towards the same neck that the elf attacked, hoping to sever one of the heads.

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"Fucking noticed you were in a cave," she muttered under her breath. She skipped the despite me telling you to get out of the cave...

Fynaurie dove to the floor and covered the her face. She was in full riding leathers which had been thoroughly soaked by the snow. It kept her from being set on fire as the intense heat washed over her.

“Keep it distracted!”

He sounded so confident that this might make a difference that she actually helped. She could have gone back to Vaxor and forced him to fly a little further into the storm to find a safe landing. It would make everything they had one a waste of time and the chimera might have taken to the sky to follow, not that she doubted Vaxor could deal with it in the air.

"Fine."

She squeezed the haft of the aether glaive, touching the magic within. A bright beam of light lanced through the cave, scattering the shadows.

The beast flinched away from the beam of light, Fynaurie drew it down to cut into its wing. This was how they fought in battle. The eagles would dive an enemy lines and their aether glaives would lance through enemy formations. Not that they had been seen in battle for a thousand years.

As he hacked at the chimera's neck she charged in, during her spear for its flank.

 

[Kazar]

Kazar was privately thrilled to see the elf actually helping. She was light on her feet and could bounce around inside the cave far easier than he could. As she sprang to the side with her spear, Kazar kept his intended trajectory. His blade cut through the neck, hot blood draining onto his arm as he severed through the neck. He didn’t stop to inspect the aftermath, the elf providing the perfect distraction with the strike to the flank.

The beast’s last head reared towards the elf from where she had struck. It paused as it wailed from the pain of having a neck severed. The pause in confusion allowed Kazar to rush in and grab the beast by the neck. He applied the strength of his blood as a giant, but also the earthen weight of his magic to slam its head down. His blade came in to make a clean cut as if he were slaughtering a chicken.

The beast barely had a chance to screech before it died. Kazar exhaled slowly, stepping back from the monster. He quietly stared at it, considering the warnings the elf had given. He looked at the pools of blood. Kazar slowly gazed up towards the elf.

“You came back….” He muttered quietly, unable to keep the wonder out of his tone. It was dark and he could only make out most of her outline. He wasn’t even quite sure if he was meeting her gaze at that point.

“Thank you,” He said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. It was closest she would get to him admitting he had been wrong.

Kazar jutted his chin towards the back of the cave, “It goes in further,” He paused there, “But we go only if you say so.”

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

She was breathing hard and fast. Adrenaline left to slowly ebb away. She could still feel the warmth permeating through her leathers across her back.

Fynaurie was, in fact, facing him. Chin held high she was planning some kind of sharp admonishment for his reckless behaviour. The simple 'thank you' gave her pause. The admission that he would listen to her before taking any further action completely derailed her train of thought.

"Well...fine," she replied, clearly having some directionless anger left over.

"Any reason to go further back?" she asked. "Now we have a cave that smells."

The soft thud of Vaxor approaching caught her attention. He would not normally come this deep into the rock face. He came slowly at first, dropping his head to investigate.

Without warning he grasped the chimera by the leg and dragged it back into the light. He spread his wings and mantled over it.

"Oh come on!" she called out in elven. "Hiding for the fight but happy to eat it afterwards. You weren't even hungry."

 

[Kazar]

Kazar wasn’t surprised at her huffy tone. However, he couldn’t help the eyeroll that came as a result of her complaint about the smell. Wasn’t she an elf? Elves were used to living in terrible conditions on virtually any continent. The half giant bit his tongue, however, standing there for a moment.

“Well for one there’s a big fucking blizzard going on outside. Maybe you can see something with your magic elf eyes, but I can't see shit,” He said after a while. There was no visibility beyond the entrance, and he didn’t like their chances out there.

Kazar stared in her direction for another beat before speaking quietly, “You came back in,” He stated after a moment, “Why?”

It was a profound moment, and he was genuinely curious. Naturally, that was exactly when the oversized bird stuck its head in to casually sweep the dead chimera out. Kazar just barely jumped out of the way, blinking in the direction. He then looked back at the elf, now standing there with two severed heads for company. The situation couldn't get any more bizarre.

“So…” He cleared his throat, “Got a name?”

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"Fynaurie," she said curtly as she tried to word a reply. It was hard when most of her faculties were devoted to drawing fresh air into her lungs and coming down from the adrenaline high.

"Why? Because after saving you from the gnolls I didn't want to let you die of your own stupidity."

Fynaurie took a step back and sighed.

"Still..." she nudged the head with her foot. "You can swing pretty hard. If you're still cold I've got a blanket..."

She looked to Vaxor, still mantling over the chimera.

"Well I'm not getting that off him just yet."

 

[Kazar]

“Kazar,” He muttered in response even though she hadn’t asked. The half giant’s lips curled just the slightest at her blunt quip about his stupidity, but he let it slide. She had already saved his skin once, and he didn’t need to keep pushing it.

Kazar quirked an eyebrow and looked at her as she commented on his swing, prodding absentmindedly at the head. The half giant cracked a grin, “You’re pretty damn swift yourself. I wouldn’t have been able to take that thing down by myself,” He said. Internally he was entirely too full of himself to believe that. Of course he could take on all the heads by himself.

Kazar looked around and collected some twigs and wood he found growing in cracks. It wasn’t the best, but it was dry. He crouched down and began to focus, calling upon his inherent magic. He was able to manipulate the texture of some of the rocks around him, his own hand molding into a smooth surfaced material. After a few moments, he began to graze the surfaces together, striking a few times until a spark was formed.

Within minutes, there was a small fire in the cave. He gestured for Fynaurie to join him as he warmed his hands.

“I used a portal stone to get here,” He explained quietly as he stared at the flame, “I made an ass of myself because I don’t know where I am,” He looked up and pointed at the blizzard outside, “And I’ve never seen that before.”

Fynaurie

 

[Fynaurie]

"I was just helping," Fynaurie replied with a shrug. Her anger started to dissipate at the very tall man paying her a complement. She silent chastised herself for this too.

Anger was easily replaced by incredulous wonder. She looked to the storm and then back at Kazar. She has sortied far and wide from their tower, but these mountainous lands were home to regular blizzards.

"You've never...seen snow..."

Her expression revealed how alien this concept was to her. Maybe her grasp of the trade tongue had led to a misunderstanding.

"Where do you even come from?"

 

[Kazar]

“Snow..” He repeated quietly. He had heard the term before, but only in tales told by some of the merchants he escorted across the desert. They spoke of their past lives and trekking through biting cold and wind that felt like daggers against the skin. Being here certainly proved all those stories true, and he found his teeth chattering slightly as he began to warm himself up by the fire.

“I’m from Amol Kalit,” He explained, figuring that she wouldn’t know the nuances of that continent, “More specifically the city of Ragash. It’s hot there. Very, very hot. The air feels like fire burning close to your skin at all times.”

Kazar didn’t miss the series of expressions cycling through her face. She looked annoyed a few times, followed by wonder. The man quirked a brow as he vacantly stared at her.

“You can stop being grumpy, you know,” He said dryly, “We’re probably going to have to be here together until the...snow,” He looked out again, “Stops.”

Kazar looked over towards the giant bird, wondering if it was preparing for a nap after such a filling meal.

Fynaurie