Locked Away - Chapter II

[Killing Spree]

Pathris & Moralae

Moralae swallowed audibly, meeting Pathris's gaze uneasily. She then looked forward and took a deep breath, rolling her shoulders tensely. She turned her head to peer down each road, then muttered, "Eenie, meenie..." She looked back at Pathris and cringed, recoiling with a pleading countenance. "Only a joke, only a joke, don't hurt me!" She faced the direction Pathris had pointed out as potentially being north, which happened to lead down one of the roads. She then nudged the horse with her heels down the opposite path, heading what should have then been west, softly muttering, "Here goes nothing..."

The pair rode for several more hours, well into the morning. Yet dark clouds loomed overhead, blotting out the sun and making it exceedingly difficult to tell what time it was. The path had become sparse over the hills you traversed, and now had faded entirely. Moralae recalled that the road was supposed to be out on one stretch before the city, but doubt clung to the air as the path had yet to appear again...

A raindrop fell and slid down Moralae's arm, and her worried countenance instantly crumpled to utterly disheartened. Hesitantly she turned around in the saddle, gently suggesting, "We ought to find some shelter before the storm comes." She then stood up in the stirrups, surveying the surrounding wild for some sort of sanctuary. Only about a half mile on the horizon was the edge of a thick forest. Moralae shrugged, not looking for your opinion, and clucked the horse onward. "It'll work."

You managed to make it beneath the trees just before the sky split, the broad leaves shielding you from a soaking. Moralae shuddered and dismounted, tying the horse to a low hanging branch and offering her hand to help Pathris down. She then wrapped her cloak tightly around her shoulders, peering up at the slivers of silver sky through the full canopy. She sighed. "Well, on the up side, I do know where we are now." She offered Pathris an apologetic half smile before continuing. "As we crossed no water, this is definately the weeping wood. So we're not too bad off, directly north of Amon Falas as I recall. This isn't my home forest, so I've no clue what lives here, but..." She shrugged. "Weather permitting we could be there by nightfall, I think." She then shot Pathris the saddest, most heart-wrenching, tragically pitiful face she could possibly muster, frustrated tears coming to her wide, pleading amethyst eyes. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

Skye, Turgon, & Ryukari

Turgon found the bath he was looking for, stocked with anything he could have desired to accompany it. It seems you'd gotten quite a bargain. The rooms were exceptionally clean and warmly furnished. Turgon's room had a small window with optional thick drapings that if pulled back could alert him when the sun rose. Skye had nothing of the sort, so she'd have to rely on Turgon not to heinously oversleep, but at least there was plenty of room on the bed for both her and little Ryukari to curl up. (Which he did immediately, falling straight into a deep sleep as soon as his polymorphed head hit a soft pillow.)

Turgon awoke at a reasonable hour, around 9 o'clock in the morning. The ordeals of the days before had apparently taken more of a toll on Skye, and she would sleep til after noon if her companion didn't wake her. Ryukari seemed content to snooze just about forever, so long as nobody needed him.

Peering out the window, Turgon could see it was a lovely day outside, sunny with innocent white clouds and soft breezes swaying the limbs of the trees. Perfect traveling weather.

[Lord Starshadow]

Pathris sighed as Moralae attempted to figure out which path they should take. "Please don't get us totally lost" he pleaded silently. Although when he thought about it, it really shouldn't really matter to him, since he would've been lost anyway. "I'm not going to hurt you," he replied. "At least, not physically."

As they started off down the trail that Moralae had selected, Pathris patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. He really didn't have a reason to be upset with her, even though that never stopped him before. Besides, wasn't he in love? And lest he forget, didn't she save him from the utter boredom and general incompetence of his former companions?

He tried to pay attention to the path they were taking, but it was difficult. He hadn't a clue where they were, he hadn't a clue where they were going, and he hadn't a clue which direction they were heading in. With that in mind, he decided not to dwell on it, although he did curse his sense of direction for letting him down. Instead, he tried to concentrate on the form in front of him, closing his eyes in order to focus his other senses on Moralae.

When Moralae mentioned that they should find shelter, Pathris wiped his eyes and looked up at the sky, seeing the dark clouds for the first time. "Yup, it does look like it's going to rain." He followed her gaze toward the woods about a half mile ahead and nodded, silently agreeing with her choice. "Looks as good a place as any," he muttered to himself.

He sighed in relief as the rain started in earnest after they were under the leaves of the trees. "At least you figured out where we are now, and where we have to go," he answered Moralae after she informed him of their location. He yawned and laid his head on Moralae's lap. "I'm not mad at you," he said, closing his eyes. "But don't move around too much; I'd like to get a little rest. There's no way I was gonna fall asleep on that accursed beast. Besides," he grinned now, eyes still closed, "you're much more comfortable. Just wake me if something decides to attack us or something."

[Killing Spree]

Pathris & Moralae

Moralae had to catch herself from laughing out loud, a single snicker managing to escape her defenses accompanied by her torso lurching forward slightly. Then, her mouth curled gently in amusement, she nodded and addressed Pathris's request. "Ah, right, right!"

As Pathris snoozed, Moralae played fondly with strands of his hair, her eyes routinely shifting from her companion to the surrounding woods to the sky. This scenery becoming quite dull she inevitably dozed off herself, waking a fitfully short time later to find the storm had passed. The sky was still warily overcast, but there was no thunder to be heard nor lightning streaking through the gray. With a small yawn Moralae nudged Pathris's shoulder, groggily muttering, "C'mon, get up, we've got to get moving..."

[Sir Exxon]

Turgon woke up completely refreshed, and his mood became even better when he looked out the window. "A day like this can't be wasted," he thought as he close to jumped out of the bed. He immediatly went over to the bath and washed his face, before he dressed in a hurry. When he was as eager as this, he really could behave like a child sometimes.
Before the sorcerer packed up his stuff, which really wasn't much of a job, he strode out of his room, and over to Skye's door. "Skye, wake up," he said through the door while knocking on it. He didn't wait for her to respond, though, but went back inside his own room, and prepared to leave.
Two minutes later, he again stood outside his room, but was now all packed up, and ready to get back out on the road. And again he knocked on Skye's door, only now he tried opening it as well, expecting the bard and the shapeshifted dragon to be as ready as he was.

[Lord Starshadow]

When Moralae nudged Pathris, he quickly jumped up and reached for his bow, head swiveling as he looked for a threat. But he was relieved to find nothing amiss. He smiled sheepishly at Moralae and softly said, "I guess I was just fully expecting to be ambushed by something. It's just the way things have been going lately."

He gazed around the surroundings. "Ah, the storm has passed." He looked back at Moralae. "You said something about getting moving again, didn't you?" he asked, the words she had spoken finally registering in his mind. "I agree, I agree."

He quickly gathered his things (not that he had much anyway) and prepared to ride again, still a bit nervous about the idea. "What's the plan once we hit town? I take it you are at least familiar with the place, right?"

[Skydracgrrl]

ooc- impatient, are we Sir Exxon? [img]tongue.gif[/img] can't i at least recover from traveling in a car for 20 hours with my three younger siblings? [img]graemlins/uhoh1.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

ic- When Turgon opened the door he was greeted by a frisky little dragon. Skye, on the otherhand, was dressed in only a rumpled longish shirt and was lying sideways on the bed, her feet dangling off to the floor. It seems she made it half-way out of bed, but hadn't gathered herself to actually get out if it. "Mmm.. morning already?" she said groggily, flopping an arm over her closed eyes.

[ 08-20-2003, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: Skydracgrrl ]

[Sir Exxon]

OOC: Not impatient, just not very keen on let this thread drown in the mass. [img]tongue.gif[/img] I do feel with you, though, travelling with younger siblings isn't funny. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

IC:
Turgon sighed as he saw Skye still laying half way in bed. He shook his head, before he looked down at Ryukari. "Atleast one of you are up," he said while rolling his eyes. "Care to help me get your mother up from the sheets?"
He walked over to the bed, and grabbed the bard in the arm. "Rise and shine," the sorcerer said, and tried pulling the bard up. "I really wish I was stronger sometimes," he sighed, as his attempt didn't go overly well.

[Skydracgrrl]

After his third attempt, Turgon was finally able to get Skye to stop imitating jello and stand up on her own. Rubbing her eyes, she yawned hugely. "AAaaaaahhh. Okay, okay, I'm up. Lemme get dressed and stuff..." she ushered him out the door. 15 minutes later, she came out with her things all packed and herself properly dressed in traveling attire, Ryukari in humanoid form at her elbow. Skye hid another yawn. "Let's get something to wake me up and thank the innkeeper for letting us stay, and then we'll go. That sound okay with you?" she beamed a sleepy eyed smile in Turgon's direction.

ooc- nite nite all *yawn* goin to bed.. going to D.C. tmrw :/

[Sir Exxon]

"About time," Turgon said as Skye finally came out, fully dressed and packed up. He agreed on her plan to get something to eat and drink, before they would continue. "We also need to find out which direction we're going," he said as they were on their way down to the counter. "We should give a closer look to the maps we bought yesterday."
Turgon took off his backpack and placed it on a chair next to a free table. He then went over to the counter, and delivered his room key."Excellent inn you have here," he said to the innkeeper, and smiled. "We would like something to eat before we continue our travel. Just give us what you regularily serve for breakfast here, and something to drink. Water will be fine." He smiled again, and went back to their table.

OOC: Have a nice trip, Skye. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Skydracgrrl]

ooc- what's happened to k-spree? I've been back for quite awhile... and i wanna meet some poptarts!