For the King (private RP)

[wingfeather]

Dair perceived the wolf even before it came from hiding and instinctively he unclasped his cloak and threw it back while at the same time grasping his sword hilt, pulling it out in one, swift, practiced motion. He noticed that Vokras though was already onto the huge animal and without even thinking about it moved to protect the rear where he could hear snarls coming from the undergrowth. A large and dark wolf leapt from beneath a spruce tree and bolted for them but teeth met with sword and it retreated with a bloody and gaping wound to the shoulder. Another jumped him from the side and whilst Dair was fending him off a smaller wolf crept up on his other side and grabbed him viciously with his teeth. It started shaking its head in attempt to throw Dair off balance, but after a swift thrust to the first he was able to deal with this one. Its ugly yellow eyes gleamed up at him, as if daring him to fight back. And Dair did, but just as he was raising his blade the wolf released and sprung away into the forest. There wasn't any time to check his ankle, the pack was still closing in. He moved quickly to protect the horse though his wound was bleeding profusely, he hadn't had an open moment yet to check how Casey was doing.

[mainehorse]

Casey's pupils narrow as she spots the wolves coming out from the tree. Reaching behind herself with her left arm, she quickly draws her longsword from the scabbard concealed beneath her cloak. She knocks a wolf aside with the pommel of her blade before it could grab onto her gelding's leg, causing a sharp pained whine to escape the animal as it hit the ground from the sheer force it had been knocked aside with. It seemed to be a whole pack after them... they had to be desperate to try going after them she mused as she knocks another wolf aside as her gelding reared up into the air, squealing in protest to the situation. "Easy" she says "easy boy. It's going to be alright" she says, getting the horse quickly back under control. He definitely needed work or that front, a warhorse couldn't spook so easily. But progress had to be made in small steps, she couldn't expect miracles overnight and she hadn't had him long. But he was still handling it better than she had thought he would. He hadn't bolted yet.

[Chloriosus]

Almost as quickly as they had appeared the wolves dispersed, disappearing deeply into the woods, their tails twitching in defeat but not complete obstruction. One could never tell wether or not they'd be back. Vokras turned towards Dair and Casey. The horse had dealt surprisingly well in this situation, if it had bolted it surely would have made the situation harder as the wolves would have probably pursued it, though it did rather surprise his the owl hadn't scared it. He suddenly remembered he had thrown his knife after the owl but his immediate attention was drawn to Dair, who seemed to have a rather serious wound in his ankle that one of the wolves had dealt out to him with relish. Vokras quickly approached him, sizing up the bite wound with rather wide eyes. "Well now, here we are, the hardest terrain still before us and here you are, seemingly determined to get yourself the first flesh wound of the season. I'm not going to have to carry your sorry self for the next few miles, do I now?", he asked, a genuinely worried undertone running through this seemingly callous question, as a grim expression and half a smirk played on his face.

[wingfeather]

Dair was breathing heavily by the time the wolf pack let up and he felt his leg was going to give out on him at any moment. When they finally dispersed he sat down and leaned gratefully against a conveniently nearby tree, resting his head back against it and closing his eyes for a moment. He suddenly heard Vokras's voice and opened his eyes, giving a wry smile, ''You call this a wound,'' he answered back, ''why this is a mere scratch! And no, I thank you, I do believe I shall be able to make it on my own without your generous assistance.'' He leaned forward and reached for his cloak which was by now quite trampled, ''just my luck,'' he muttered, but without further words he tarred the lower section and bound his leg tightly. He stood up but found he could not put too much weight upon his leg. But he supposed he was lucky to have the bow-staff with him. ''How did you fare, Casey,'' he asked once he was upright again.

[mainehorse]

Casey watches the exchange with one eyebrow lifted slightly as she slips her longsword back into it's scabbard. That bite certainly looked like more than a scratch, but they couldn't afford to stop for longer than strictly necessary until they made camp for the night. As long as he could walk, then they could carry on. If his leg did give out on him at some point though... carrying him might be the only option. Her gelding barely tolerated her on his back at this point. She highly doubted he would tolerate what to him was a complete stranger. Though she was quickly pulled from her reveries by the sound of her name being spoken. "All my blood is still where it belongs, so pretty well I suppose" she says. The wolves she had knocked away probably had suffered a few broken bones, but she was as of yet unharmed. Whether or not that would last, well that remained to be seen she mused. But if she was injured at some point... it wasn't as though she was unfamiliar with tending to her own hurts.

[Chloriosus]

Vokras smiled wryly at Casey's remark, and waited patiently for Dair, who was tying up his ankle. Well then, if it's nothing serious, I say we go on.", he suggested, gazing into the woods. "Although,", he noticed,", I have yet to find my knife..." He scanned the ground carefully, tracing the path it had probably taken when he had flung it after the large bird. His tracing skills proved accurate when he found the knife a few feet away in some brush, along with the large dark owl it had brought down. He carefully drew out the knife and cleaned it before sticking it back in his boot. "I got it.", he told the others. He wondered what kind of owl it was. He wasn't sure because he had never been that good with animals, but it occurred to them that Dair had from previous experience known a lot of them by name. "Hey Dair!" he called out, holding up the owl. "Do you chance to know which kind of owl this is?" It was large and dark in color, with a small whitish patch in the front and a long wingspan. Its sharp claws were still extended, as if trying to grope the air.

[wingfeather]

Dair nodded, “yes I agree with that. We should keep moving, a relief group will probably be sent soon anyway,” he said in agreement. He figured his leg would probably be fine until he was able to give it better treatment later. It wasn’t like anything was broken, and the bleeding had already gone down though the green cloth wrapped about his leg was already quickly turning red. He looked up at Vokras’s hail after adjusting the bandage once more. He squinted up at the uplifted bird. So that was the unearthly screech he heard earlier. He studied the bird for a moment, “wondrous head-tuscked owl,” he answered knowingly, testing his leg once more. He winced slightly at the first apply of pressure but found he could bear it. “Alright, let’s get going,” he said. He could already hear the subtle clinging of metal and the soft thump of horses hooves, along with an occasional voice. Needless to say, the band was gaining on them. He started walking and found he could get around with fair ease though he did have a pronounced limp.

[mainehorse]

"Wouldn't be a conventional dish... but if you save the bird then something could probably be make with it when we make camp for the night." Casey remarks, her mismatched gaze studying the limp owl. People ate chicken... so she figured that owl could be stewed just the same alongside whatever vegetables were provided as provisions for their journey. Though she wasn't much of a cook, so she supposed she could be mistaken. Though they couldn't exactly afford to be picky when on the road and food was food and the owl was already dead. "No sense in letting it go to waste" she says as she kicks her gelding back into a walk. Waste not want not and all that she mused. Perhaps it would get her some strange looks, but she figured it couldn't hurt to throw the idea out there.

[wingfeather]

Myles had been rattling off to the poor deaf soldier for half an hour by now, pausing only now and then to catch his breath. He would have continued for a much greater length of time had not the deaf man unceremoniously walk off. Myles stared after the man as if his eyes could bore holes into the other's back, ''these uncouth hobs,'' he muttered between his teeth. The deaf fellow didn't know he was interrupting the tirade, he had merely noticed a comrade up ahead and decided to march beside him. Myles slid off his golden stallion and gave it a break by walking beside it for a while. ''I cant believe my father signed me up for this job,'' he said irritably when he stepped into a puddle and dampened his boots, ''the pay is outrageously small for the services I offer. To think I fell for it. Joined in directly serving the king huh.'' Myles would have spit had it not been a nasty and primitive habit in his opinion. He felt back over his blue silk half cloak to be sure there weren't any leaves or wrinkles over it. ''Agh and a good cloak messed up too,'' though it really looked fine, perhaps even better than newly stitched.

[Chloriosus]

While Dair had given the explanation as to what kind of owl Vokras had stabbed down, Vokras had pulled out his bottle of questionable content and had began drinking from it. At Casey’s remark that one might use it for food he loudly and thoroughly spit it out in a most indignant fashion. “Eat it? Why on earth would we do that? What are we, Solkravians?! (Vokras seemed to have quite forgotten that his own father was a born and bred Solkravian, as was his mother’s father). However, he quickly composed himself. “My apologies madam.”, he muttered a lot quieter than he had spoken a few moments ago,”but trust me when I say my mother wouldn’t cook that even in desperate times, and believe me when I say that our times were desperate pretty much all the time.”

[wingfeather]

Dair watched this exchange with a half smile half wince as his bandage was uncomfortably tight, ''indeed,'' he said after Vokras's uncommonly long speech, he also raised an eyebrow at the quite suddenly procured bottle, ''tis also a king's bird,'' he said in an offhanded manner, but with emphases on the king, ''which the killing of one technically would be a crime punishable by death, or, if his majesty happens to be in a good mood, life imprisonment.'' He glanced sidelong at Vokras, his half smile never leaving. He looked up at Casey, ''care to tell how you joined the band,'' he asked. Dair knew he had seen her around a few times but just had never been able to properly meet her but he thought this quite the perfect opportunity as the three of them were after all thrown together on a scouting mission.

[mainehorse]

Casey simply quirks an eyebrow as she takes in Vokras' outburst... for lack of a better term. She had been expecting a few odd looks, but that was certainly something else. Why should it be any different that chicken? Food was food as far as she was concerned, but maybe that was something that had stuck with her from her time as a poor orphaned child before the captain took her in. She had spent a year or two in the orphanage before he adopted her, and they had needed to just eat whatever gruel was served. "Well... crime or not, the bird is dead. Nothing we can do about that. Shame to let it go to waste, even if most people would have to apparently be beyond desperate to eat it. But I'll leave the decision to the two of you. Makes no real difference to me if we have to subsist on mostly hardtack and whatever dry rations were provided" she says. It truly didn't, she'd eat just about anything. She was far from picky. She turns her gaze over to Dair upon hearing his question. "I don't see any reason why not. I was taken in the captain of the guard when I was just a little thing, maybe five or six. I grew up a soldier more or less... I think that's the only way he knew how to raise a child. Anyway, I thought joining this band would be a good way to prove my worth. And that brings us to present day" she says.

[Chloriosus]

Vokras looked at Dair and shrugged. “I know that’s illegal. That’s not the point.” He motioned towards Casey. “She asked why not to eat that. It’s because they eat rabid things.” , he elaborated, trying to keep his voice level. “One might as well kill a hedgehog and get some toothpicks out of the deal.” He walked over to the side of the path and began excavating a hole with his boot, intending on burying the bird in there. “Soup indeed.”, he muttered under his breath as he dug. His family had always been short on money and even more short on anything edible, in fact for most of his life his siblings and him had been living on grasshoppers, and more than half the time they were still alive. In short, they’d eaten a whole lot of things which wouldn’t even be considered food. Owls however, carried rabies, and there was no way that his parents would have wasted their time in trying to get rid of it. If the house medicine didn’t work, then nothing would. Better to save the money for the good of the others. While Casey was talking, the cat, the one he had come across twice already, turned up out of literally nowhere. It eyed him and the owl hungrily, which of the two it intended on eating remained questionable. “Oi you raggabond, what do you want?” He held the owl towards the hideous cat, which jumped towards it with a spring that looked more like a frogs jump than a cats leap and disappear in the bushes, owl in tow. Vokras stood up and dusted himself off. “Well, it didn’t go to waste.”, he said, tightening his eyepatch.

[wingfeather]

Dair nodded to Casey, though he thought the answer rather vague, he glanced back at Volkras when a cat jumped suddenly from out of utterly no where and expertly snatched the upheld bird straight from Volkras’s hands. At least he assumed it was a cat, or something related to one. Had it not been for its coloration (or rather discoloration) he would have thought it a rabid raccoon or something. “Well that’s that, I suppose,” was his only comment on the occurrence. He thought for a moment if whether or not he had seen the unearthly creature before but decided probably not, one would never forget such a face. He straightened his already dilapidated cloak, they had only been out a couple of ours and it was already quite ragged he mused. Suddenly he turned and looked at Volkras, “so what about you? How did you wind up with this band of rag tags?” He knew Volkras from before but never really asked how he had come to join.

[mainehorse]

"Well... I suppose that cat will make a good meal of it. Strange creature... but at least the bird won't go to waste." Casey says, turning her attention back to her horse. She certainly would have her work cut out for her with keeping him under control during this journey. But so far, so good. He was reasonably responsive towards her considering that not all that long ago, he was a wild stallion. And it would do him good to be trained a bit on the road, that way he could acclimate to being out on the road for long periods of time, and he could adjust to having more people around without being around so many people that it was overwhelming for the animal. He was doing well at the moment, so she reaches into her pocket for a sugar cube. Little rewards could go a long way towards encouraging good behavior. Leaning forward in the saddle slightly, she reaches over to offer him a sugar cube on a flat gloved palm. "That's a good boy" she whispers as she the horse carefully takes the sugar cube from her hand. She straightens back up in the saddle afterwards, patting his neck lightly with one hand.