A Small Glade

[Asila]

Evening eyed Devon warily as he spoke. Such a calm deliverance of logic would usually sink through her tumultous thoughts as nothing else would. Except Devon had made one crucial mistake. When he had begun what he had meant to be a reassuring speech, he had voiced an unwise statement. We must all fight to survive.

Now, this was the last thing that someone as angry, as frightened, as she was at the moment wanted to hear. Such words seemed to dehumanise her condition, and besides that, they weren't true. At least, not in the way he had voiced it. Some people suffered far more than others, had to struggle through every day of their life, while others only met with the occasional challenge. It was only natural that she would assume Devon himself to be of this former group. He was wealthy. He was serene. He had allies, both animal and human, that were standing against her now. How could she overlook that statement? It seemed arrogant and insulting to her.

And so, she was already feeling dangerously defiant when Rojo chose to spit at her. She turned on him, nearly snarling. She was so offended by what she saw as a severly derogatory action that she could hardly think at all anymore. She was beyond logic. "How dare you!" She nearly yelled, the pitch of her voice rising with her fury. By some strange coincidence, the words echoed his earlier thoughts, though she, of course, could not realize this.

Her temper was so out of control that she didn't even notice that Rojo had begun to calm after his insulting action. She just kept thinking that she would not stand for this. She was Tallamous! She was better than that! When he asked that she return his money, she just threw it at his feet. She did the same for Devon, her pride no longer allowing her to keep it.

"You know what? I don't care about that stupid little weapon of yours. Use it, if doing so will please you." And, with that, she locked her eyes on his and took a single step backward, challenging him. She then turned away entirely and walked toward the tigers. That was it! She was done here. They could maul her for all she cared!

Defiance can be a deadly emotion.

[Rojo]

Rojo sighed. He picked up his money pouch and pocketed it. He lowered his flintlock and put it away.
"Let her go, Devon, she's done nothing wrong" he said, before turning and walking back into the carriage. Shadow sighed too, it was a small sigh, like the wind. But then he turned, feeling something drawing near.

Rojo frowned, something was up. He clambered out of the carriage and stood beside Shadow, whatever it was, it was something from the dark, and it was getting closer...
"Be on your guard" he murmmered.

Shadow was the only one who could see them, figures of darkest midnight black, all coming from the trees. Each held a blood red sword. He felt fear drain him. He knew these for who they were...minions of Her. He pulled a flail from his back where it was strapped, his hands were shaking.

Rojo definitely felt them now, he felt their feet move, felt their breathing. It was like seeing, but with your mind. The others would be able to feel them aswell, as Devon's magic had been boosted by a dark item, so he would be able to feel dark precences, and Evening would be able to feel them as she had felt Shadow.

"Shadow....Shadow...." they whispered "why are you friends with the humans, Shadow? You know She doesn't like humans" one laughed. To the others, all they would hear was speech, coming from a source. It was strange...disorted...hissing...echoey.

[Seven]

Devon had known that the use of his first sentence (we must all fight to survive) would have probably upset her, but he had been ready to back it up. It is true that the lots of fate were unfair, that some had to fight harder than others. But when it all boiled down to it, everything everyone was ever doing (with the occasional exception of altruism) was in order to ensure their survival. It wasn't arrogant, it was just a fact. Those who didn't take precautions would perish, those who did flourished.

He knew with a little time, patience, and empathy, he could get through to the young Tallamous. She didn't seem bad after all, and Devon had a very understanding character. But it hadn't helped though, when Rojo had been upset enough to spit at her; she was obviously offended to begin with, and now it would only be worse. Then again, it might just be for the best. On one hand, he might have been able to deal with her alone, but both Rojo and Evening had fiesty characters....the carriage would quickly turn into a war zone. Perhaps Rojo was right in telling him to let her go. Considering that she didn't like them, and if Rojo wasn't going to be patient in return (as he didn't quite notice yet that Rojo had calmed down), the whole thing would be pointless anyways.

But then, the prescence of something very dark abruptly came like a gust of wind. Devon felt it strongly before he heard anything; his eyes widened slightly and some color drained from his face. 'Did something follow Rojo from the other world? ' he wondered silently as he felt the prescence drew closer every moment. The cats that had been surrounding Evening abandoned their position, leaping up and running over to Devon's side. They no longer looked feroucious, they cowered as close as they could to Devon as they did in their youth, like frightened pussy-cats.

Devon didn't know what this thing was, but it could only mean trouble. He looked over to where Evening stood, 'She's in danger too!' was his first thought. He's look turned into one of worry for her safety, and he quickly closed the distance quickly between them (before the thing began to speak), whispering hrriedly, "Don't be stubborn, right now we could all be in danger."

But it might have already been too late, for the thing began to speak. He shot Rojo a look, as he was not sure what was going on anymore. All he could was as he said, be on guard--courage returned to him as he narrowed his eyes. It was time to be serious.

[Asila]

Evening should have noticed sooner that something was wrong. The birds and insects had fallen silent, plunging the forest into a state of almost unheard of stillness. This alone should have frightened her. She had never seen such a thing happen on this scale before. At least, not beneath sunny skies. This was usually a pre-storm occurance, though the silences did occur in small pockets when a large predator was passing through. But for the entire forest to have fallen silent...at any other time, this alone would have chilled her blood with fear.

However, she happened to be very angry at the moment, and so did not notice this initial sign. Or even the dark presence, when it first began to emanate from the trees. She managed two more paces toward the tigers before they fled, a lot less distracted than her, apparently. She stopped when they broke their formation, frowning. The defiance that had led her this far faded abruptly, replaced by confusion. She just stood there for a moment, staring at the forest, wondering what the tigers could have heard or felt that would have frightened them so badly. She knew it wasn't her. Even if they had run away from her, not toward and around her, she would have turned to see what had startled them. She didn't scare animals. She was usually a calming influence, having developed a tendency to adjust her aura so that her mere presence would not seem a threatening one to them. If something ever seemed to run from her, it was usually because there was something frightening behind her.

So she looked to the forest...and did not have to search long before she felt the wave of darkness as well. She stiffened, unsure what to do now. She felt as though she were pinned between a rock and a hard place. Or rather, between a pair of insulting, infuriating humans and some really bad thing that she could not see. Curse her luck!

Then she heard Devons voice and nearly jumped. She had been so focused on the trees that she had not heard him approach. Don't be stubborn. She rolled her eyes at this, though Devon probably wouldn't catch it. To the last, she replied back in a soft voice "You wouldn't happen to know from what, would you?"

And then another voice, this one far more frightening than Devon's whisper, which had merely startled her. She took a few slow steps backward, toward the carriage, as though she thought a fast retreat would provoke whatever owned that voice into attacking sooner.

She found herself wondering what she was supposed to do now. Any elemental magic attack was out of the question. She had drained her energy supply for such things already. She could still shift, though. Perhaps that would be something, though she doubted that she'd be able to do any better as a tiger than she could as a Tallamous girl. The white ones didn't seem all that confident.

So she just focused on the task of remaining calm as she waited for she couldn't even guess what to happen.

[Rojo]

The Darklings came closer. Shadow could stand it no longer, and he leapt forward, swinging his flail madly. It was batted away by a sword, and the peace, collapsed. For each of them, there were two others.

Rojo held out his hands, they lit up with the blue glow again, but unlike earliar, he did not use magic, well, in the sense he did not cast a spell, instead, two midnight black katana appeared in his hands and he jumped forward, parrying a blade away. Then he felt another come dnagerously close. He felt the rush of a fight. Whenever a Darkling's other was in dire danger, the Darkling would become visible for a short time. Evening would be able to see Shadow now, well, for the duration of the battle, at least.

Shadow managed to land a blow on the back of the head of a Darkling, causing it to shriek that would have curdled a orc's blood. It wasn't exactly...bleeding, more...leaking. This looked strange, as black blood appeared to be leaking out of mid-air.

As for Evening and Devon, two were coming at Devon from either side, each grinning maliciously.

Another two were running at Evening side by side, silent as a mice.

They were so close now, all three of the visibility-disabled combatants would be able to sense every movement the opponents made.

It was time to fight. Or as they said back home, it was time to kick arse.

[Seven]

"No idea, Miss Evening," he responded to the Tallamous girl with his back to her. He was busy trying to scan the area, so you must forgive him if his usual poetic speech was cut down into something rather curt.

Though Devon couldn't see them, his rushing adrenaline heightened his sense. But he was still worrying about Evening, she was drained after all, she wouldn't be able to fight well now! He glanced back at her, before the darklings approached, "Listen Evening, take the tigers as protection and go hide, you are in no condition to be fighting..." he voice was calm and cool as always, though the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end. He had never had to fight such creatures before, making it difficult to form a strategy. His vision was of no use, as these creatures were invisible, so he closed his eyes to focus on his other senses.

Darklings...dark. Wouldn't their weakness be light then? He unsheathed his rapier, concentrating light magic into the vessel. The rapier gained a luminous off-white aura, it became an extension of himself. The battle had begun.

[Asila]

Funny, hiding had been just what she had been thinking of doing. She didn't owe these humans anything, after all. They had done nothing but trick her. And yet...she had meant to do the same to them, and they weren't about to run off and leave her alone with enemies that she couldn't even see.

In fact, Devon was even thinking of her safety. Oh no, now she felt guilty. She couldn't run now, even though the noble had so conveniantly given her an oppurtunity to do so and not even be thought less of for it.

Besides, she thought to herself, trying to build up some battle morale. Who needs magic? I'm stronger as a Talamous than I would be as a human. I can do this. So she pointedly ignored Devon's advice and prepared herself for the attack. She shifted both hands now into clawed weapons and...paused again, confused. What seemed to be some sort of shadow being had just materialized before her eyes. She stared at it, thinking. It didn't seem to be attacking them, but something that she could not see. So apparently it could see the beings whose presence she had felt. And this one was on their side.

However, the idea that they were now being attacked by creatures that she could not detect by sight was hardly a calming one. She closed her eyes quickly, focusing on her keen sense of hearing instead of her sight, and heard something rushing her...she gave a surprised yelp and dodged, slashing at the unseen creatures with her claws as she did so. The attack was purely reflexive, spurned only by instinct. She had been too startled to think of anything at all.

But perhaps her luck had chosen to come through for her, and she had managed to injure one of what had sounded like a pair...

[Rojo]

Rojo blocked one attack and puched for where he thought the face to be. He heard a hiss, but he didn't have time to finish it off, as the other came up behind him, slashing down. He battered that one away as well, and turned. The girl was ignoring Devon's advice...he wasn't going to complain, he didn't force women and children to not fight. If they could slash at a person and dodge a blade, they could fight, to some extent.

Shadow beat unrelentingly on the Darkling he had earlier wounded, beating its face into a mashed pulp. People said love was the most driving emotion, those people were wrong; fear was. Fear was the thing that caused a child to beat a man to death with a plank with a nail in it, what caused a spider to kill a bird. Fear made people do things.

The Darkling growled as Evening dodged its attack, and one of her slashes cut deep into one's face, it howled and jabbed at her stomach, whilst the other came up behind her, blade raised high.

As Devon lit his sword, the Darklings were momentarily blinded. But after the continued their walk towards Devon, each swung thier swords symetrically, hoping to decapitate him.

[Seven]

Well, as fascinating as psycho-analyzing the young Tallamous girl would have been, Devon unfortunately no longer has the time to do such a thing. Still, how infuriating--it was as though she was pointedly trying to defy him for defiance sake! 'No, this is NOT good time to be distracted by nonsense!' he chastised himself. He tried to reassure himself that the other three (Evening, Rojo, and Shadow) could take care of themselves just fine, and therefore, the best thing to do is to concentrate on his own battle so that it wouldn't have to be them helping him out.

Devon noted that the light must have blinded them when the stopped for a moment, but they still came foward, meaning to engage him in battle. Since they weren't afraid of the light, he figured that must not be their weakness.

He felt their prescence lunge at him. Blast! He couldn't very well just step aside, since either direction he'd go to, a horizontal blade would be there to meet him. Instead, he ducked and tumbled, rolling a few feet away before springing to his feet again. As wonderful as it would have been if the two darklings had managed to decapitate each other because of their symmetrical action (like in all good movies), he sincerely doubted that he would have such luck.

Fighting invisible enemies was indeed such a pain! If only he could mark them some how...
'That's IT!!!' he inwardly exclaimed. Devon leapt back another foot, so that he might have more time before the next attack. He wasn't fantastic with earth powers yet (though this might have changed since he touched Rojo's stone), but fortunately, there was plenty of earth laying around to spare, and he WAS excellent with water. He lifted his hads, concentrating on an incantation. He formed water from the dampness of the air, letting it fall to the ground and mix with the earth. Mudd. He then felt for where the darklings would be, and redirected the water (which now brought the mudd with it) to the darklings.

As unpleasant as it is to be covered in mudd, it wouldn't be painful. they might go through minor shock as they would not expected a cheap trick like that, and they might be distracted for a moment, but the TRUE purpose of the trick was to line their forms. Now that they could see what they were fighting, they would be on equal terms. It would be much easier now, in the very least.

~Meanwhile~

For all of those of you that have been wondering what ever became of Jenri, the grumpy old driver, he is currently hiding inside and on the floor of the carriage, cowering and sniffing with his hands folded over his heads, crying for his life. He downs a bottle of the expensive wine, figuring this is the end for them all anyways. He hiccups. Invisible shadowy monsters are bad....
But honestly Jenri, you should really know our heroes by now--everything will be alright! (possibly...)

[Asila]

Evening stared for a second too long at the black fluid that seemed to be floating in midair. Apparantly she had managed to injure one of them after all! Unfortunately, her thoughts of self-congratulation were short-lived. The unexpected appearance of the unusually hued blood distracted her enough that she did not sense the movement of the injured Darkling. In her defense, even if she'd been focused it would have been a very difficult thing to avoid. The thing's retaliation was very swift and came without a sound...except for an outraged howl, which was more distracting than anything.

It managed to score a nasty slice in her stomach. She bared her teeth in a feral expression of pain and sprang away from the creature that had hurt her, moving so quickly that she was even able to avoid the second Darkling's attack from behind. This last was pure luck, for she hadn't even known that the creature was behind her.

She stood a fair distance away from them now, having bought herself a few seconds as she tried to stop the world from reeling. She braced an arm against the cut and refused to look at it, knowing she'd become completely incoherent and worthless if she caught sight of the crimson liquid. Feeling the sticky fluid wasn't much better, but at least she was able to think.

She narrowed her eyes against the sunlight, which suddenly seemed too bright. If it were night instead of day, she'd be so much stronger! However, she lacked the ability to advance the hours and so had to make do with the mess she had found herself in now.

Narrowing her eyes slightly with the effort, for it had become more difficult to think, she focused on what she could hear, trying to keep track of the second Darkling even as her gaze fixated on the first. She would know when they came for her again. She had too. She couldn't afford to mess up again.

[Rojo]

The Darklings hissed with joy when Evening took a hit. The one with a slashed face went frenzied now, slashing and hacking, not paying attention to where his blade went, aiming for her, whilst the other had moved on to take the placed of his comrade Shadow had taken down earliar.

Rojo jumped and somersaulted as he felt the air move down on him, meaning he was about to be sliced. As he landed behind the surprised Darkling, he grinned, he couldn't help showing off. He drove the swords throw the Darkling's back, feeling a satisfying crack of rib and spine. With it's last movement, it half-turned and dug a knife into Rojo's shoulder. Instantly it went numb. He let go of one katana. It lay in the Darkling's back, before the Darkling itself fell forward, hitting the road with a thump.

Shadow saw Rojo injured, and felt a diluted stab of pain in his shoulder, but the trickle of blood down his friend's cuiraiss was egnough. He swung the flail as hard as he could into the new opponent's face, causing the head to spatter the three (Evening, Rojo and Devon) in black blood. Shadow, however, was practically drentched in it: it was all over his face and clothes, and on his weapon too.

Rojo parried a blow, jarring the Darkling away. In this time, he used what little strength there was left in his right arm to pull his pistol from his belt and fire at the Darkling. There was a puff of smoke that erupted from the barrel, and he turned to Devon
"Cool finish, eh?" he said with a weak grin.

Speaking of Devon, his mud attack had made his enemies much easier to see and fight. They both hissed at him and came at him again, trying their decapitation run, this time with a slight tweak: one was holding it's sword low, so he couldn't roll away again.

[Seven]

The shot of Rojo's gun gave him a little surprise as he watched the Darkling fall. He nodded a little wide-eyed with appreciation, impressed by the strange item, "Yes, very nice Rojo..."
He saw the injury in his arm, "...but are you alright?" he finished the statement. But Devon didn't have time to wait for a response.

Devon smiled, seeing that his trick had worked. They were now as clear as daylight. Of course, persistant as ever, but not very bright, hm? After all, couldn't they tell that he had magic now that he already used it against them? The little run wouldn't even come close to working. The symmetrical tactic could only work if Devon stayed right in the center of the two, and that certainly wasn't something he was intending to do! He charged towards the Darkling with the sword held down; its position left it's torso vunerable. It was time to test out what sort of strange "awakening" he went through earlier today. This time, he fired up a fireball that he flung at the Darkling, still keeping mind of the one that would be 'chasing' him. The low-sworded one's view of him would be blocked by the fireball. Even if the dodged the spell, he would be right there, ready to pounce and finish him off. Once one was gone, he could handle the other one on one.

[Asila]

The Darkling she had injured was coming for her again. If the whistling air was any clue, it wasn't very happy with her. Which was just fine, as far as she was concerned. The feeling was mutual.

She took a fighting stance, bracing her one free arm for another attack. The second was practically glued to her abdomen at the moment. There was no way she was moving it.

She listened intently, having trouble keeping up with the rapid gusts of air that told her the creature was slashing at her like something frenzied by madness. She was careful to keep herself just out of range as she calculated her next attack. She wanted to bring him down now. Drawing this out any longer would just increase her chances of picking up another injury.

She could hear nothing of the second Darkling, and decided that it must have moved on to torment someone else. That was good news for her. As for the one that was attacking her now, she waited for a particulary strong gust of wind. This would mean it had just launched into a wild blow, and should be off balance. As soon as she heard it, she darted around her opponent, quick enough that she nearly dissapeared from view. Behind him now, she reached for what she guessed to be his throat and raked her claws across it with enough force to decapitate him if he didn't have the sense or spead to dodge. The talons of her hands were very sharp, so this really wasn't the extreme act of muscle that it seemed.

She then leaped out of his range, so that he would not be able to land another blow should he live to retaliate. She hoped he didn't. She really wanted him dead.

[Rojo]

Evening's slashing succeeded in raking three large deep jagged cuts down the Darkling's neck. It gurglued, black blood spewing out from the cuts. It slashed desperately, but the blade had no chance of hitting her. It fell over, still gurgling feebly. The other Darkling was trying to sneak up on Evening, but no doubt her adept hearing would alert her to it.

The fireball hurtled towards the lowering Darkling, it tried to turn, but this caused it to collide with the other one, then the fireball hit, setting both on fire. They screamed and ran off into the forest, and fell into the small brook Rojo had appeared near. Dead or not, they were gone.

Rojo unsummoned his sword and put away his pistol. He looked at the dagger, and decided it best to leave it in for the moment, and he didn't feel like wasting what little magical power he had left from guiding the bullet and sustaining himself from unconciousness. Shadow catiously strapped his flail back to his back and looked at Evening and Devon, then at Rojo. He sighed.

[Seven]

Devon couldn't help but snicker a little at the Darkling's stupidity. 'Good riddance to you both!' he thought to himself with much satisfaction.

He looked over at his comrades, trying to see if either of them needed help. It seemed that Rojo was doing just fine, but he sensed that one was sneaking up on Evening. Since he wasn't sure if she had noticed (or would notice in time), he 'cut' in ((pun intended, because I'm just corney like that...)), slashing at with the rapier. "How are you doing?" he quickly asks her.