Traders, Rubies and Thieves | Part 2

Brynmore

Bellowing again, his eyes trained on the red doe as she lept through the brush, before he looked at the small aging stag. Ears pinned back, he lowered his antlers and shaking them side to side, pawing at the ground as he heard the doe crash through the forest, as he watched the old stag stand his ground.

Snorting, he charged at the small stag, his legs pounding the ground, getting ready hold his own against the stag if it became a push and shove match. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, his heart racing to keep up with what was happening.


Huisha

Huisha eyed the bigger stag warily- surely he would charge, it was only a matter of when. As an older stag and small to begin with Huisha didn’t fool himself about being much of a threat.

He risked a glance backwards and saw that Scarlet had, thank goodness, taken off. He’d known that one had a sensible head on her.

Huisha began dancing lightly on his feet, feining quick lunges with his rack here and there as he circled around the darker stag, trying to draw him around until he faced away from the direction Scarlet had taken. He couldn’t keep this up forever, but he could keep it up long enough to let Scarlet get a safe distance away. He began to feel his throat burn with the exertion, and hoped he wasn’t as overmatched as he thought he was.


Brynmore

Most logical thought’s left Brynmore’s head as he took the old stag’s bait, joining in the deadly dance of antler against antler. Twisting and turning, his now larger frame from the good feed was encumbering him, slowing him down, but giving him that extra little bit of energy to keep going after the small, and light on his feet older stag.

Large antlers scraped against trees as he kept the circle dance going, cracking against them as he bellowed in frustration.

“STAND AND FIGHT!” he raged, finally stilling for a few seconds, cold angry eyes staring at the rival stag. Letting another bellow out, he rushed at the earth colored stag, trying to make contact with his sharp tines, swinging his head to try and damage him.


Huisha

Huisha almost laughed as the big buck bellowed, dancing to Huisha’s tune but two steps behind. He needed to be careful though; this buck could really do some damage if he managed to land a blow. Huisha twisted this way and that, weaving between saplings and staying just out of reach. For once he thanked the stars for his low-profile rack. It would never win him a doe or a fight, but it would never snag on the vegetation, either.

He could no longer ignore the creeping fatigue in his legs that invariably came with a fight. The adrenaline could keep it at bay for a time, but he needed a new strategy before he lost his lead.

His best bet was to run, while he still had the energy and the stag’s attention was still on him. With only a split second to decide, he chose a thin path that snaked through small, low growing trees. It wasn’t the fastest path, but with any luck it would slow down this buck more than it slowed him.

Huisha angled himself towards the path and made a run for it.


Brynmore

Cursing loudly, Brynmore followed after the old stag, having to carefully trot after him so he wouldn’t get entangled in the branches that weaved above and below him. Logic slowly came back to Bryn, as he watched the old stag’s form grow smaller and smaller as he got away. Snorting, he berated himself for taking the bait, and letting the red doe get away.

*Wait, what was that?* A crashing sound, far to his left caught his attention, snapping his neck and ears toward the sound. Half rearing, half turning, he trotted off in the direction of the sound, hoping and praying to Uir it was the red doe.

Leaping over fallen logs, twisting around saplings and huge trunks, ducking his head, he went as fast as he could, only slowing for when he tried to hear anything. Scanning the forest, he kept thinking he saw flashes of red, though most were too high for a fawnling. *Stupid red birds.* Taking a deep breath, he caught the faint scent of the doe, so he gathered his muscles and trotted off toward where the scent grew stronger.


Scarlet

With a soft thud the doe had landed in the leaves. Cursing herself half-way to Blackwood, she didn’t let herself rest a second, but started trying to find her hooves again. Agitated both by her mistake of falling and by the fact that she fled, her tail flicked over the ground, tossing leaves in every directing. It took little time for her to figure out that her mistake was more than just having fallen: she was stuck. No, no, no, NO! The word raced through her mind as she frantically tried to get her front-leg free, but it was beyond stuck between old roots. Come on, please, she thought, begging her magic to make the roots move. They didn’t even show the slightest sign of budging.

Crashing steps could be heard, closer and closer they came. No-no-no-no-no…! Again she flicked her tail, as her eyes darted, trying to pinpoint any sign of the stag’s arrival. Don’t do this to me..! For once just… work when I bloody ask you to! Her magic did not wish to listen, but she could feel the roots finally giving in. Just a bit more. Almost. Close. Free.

Or not… Under her other hoof twiggs caved in under the weight and she fell once more, although she was not stuck this time. The gods have to be laughing at me. As she pushed herself up, readying her body for another bolt, she found herself to not be alone anymore. Once more she found herself in the company of a Blackwood stag and the only positive thing she could come up with, was the fact that there was no blood. Huisha had to still be alive and that planted a seed of hope. At least someone knew she could be in trouble and that someone knew, could mean the difference between the various things this could lead to.


Huisha

It took Huisha a moment of hasty trotting before he realized he’d lost the stag. Damn. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but he’d been banking on later.

The stag had either run off or, more likely given his frenzied charge, gone to find Scarlet. Which meant Huisha probably ought to go find her as well. More than likely she was out of harm’s way and halfway back to the herd by now but there was no sense in taking chances.

He relaxed slightly as he turned around and headed in the rough direction of Glenwood, where he assumed Scarlet would be heading. Their scents were too vivid and confused to follow their trails that way, at least for the moment. Scarlet would have a good head start on the buck, at least, and she could probably stick up for herself should it come down to it.


Brynmore

*There!* Giving a triumphant snort, he quickened his pace to the struggling doe. He watched her try to untangle herself from the roots, triumph and trip again. Puffing his chest out and raising his antlers high, he watched her stiffen at the sight of him, then relax a bit. *Interesting*

“Get up.” he said gruffly. Hopefully, she didn’t have a twisted hoof, or worse. If she didn’t he’d take her, if she did... Slightly shaking his head at the thought he wondered to himself *What is getting into me? Since when have I been trying to think of reasons to not bring does to Blackwood?*

Edging closer to her, he lowered his head, and repeated, “Get up.”


Scarlet

Her body felt tense, this time not only because of the action she was going to make, but because she feared. She had no idea why, but this time she just did. This wasn’t the meeting with Kira where she had had some sort of control. Giving in wasn’t a possibility though and for a second she closed her eyes. Prayed. And then she opened her eyes again, letting them settle on the stag as he came closer.

Please… Be with me, God of the Sky and Earth...

“As you wish.” The words came at the same time as she bolted. She placed all her energy in her behind, letting her back legs toss her forward like a loaded spring. While she could try and outrun him in a fair race, the red doe wasn’t exactly known for racing fair. Her prayer had not been about letting her escape, but about her magic working. She wasn’t sure exactly where they grew, but she felt them. Felt them grow, turn and twist around something. Her magic, her little climbers.

She didn’t turn her head to check, but just ran. Something felt wrong though. Pain. Despite it, she continued running, continue her flight through the forest until something felt too wrong. It was everything but graceful as she came to a sudden halt, her good legs sliding in the damp earth, her one bad back leg lifted slightly from the ground.

You just couldn’t be with me, could you?


Brynmore

“As you wish” he heard her say, though in the moments it took him to register what happened next, she was gone in a flash, leaving Bryn blinking at the floating leaves. Giving a roar of frustration, he bounded after her, crashing through the forest hitting trunks and getting his antlers caught in the upper branches to many times to count.

Ripping his head from a particularly nasty bit of thorny branches, he felt, something, crawling up his legs. Stilling, he looked down to see curling vines growing up him. Roaring again in frustration, he reared up, tearing the thin-but-growing-thicker vines from his legs, before rushing away, not noticing how many were growing around him.

Dashing through the leaves, he huffed and snorted, trying to find her scent amidst the aroma of fall. The scent was pleasing, and cleared his head a bit from the entanglement of rut. Stopping, he listened for her, as well as he could hear with his lungs screaming for air from the sprint and the blood pounding in his ears.

“I know you’re here. Best come out, Red Lady, before you hurt your slender legs.” He peered around the forest, looking for the flash of red.


Scarlet

He was noisy, like really, really noisy. Flicking her ears back, the red doe couldn’t help but feel a little relief by knowing that; at least he couldn’t just sneak up on her then. At the same time it feed her fear though, for he didn’t sound like some fawnling making it’s way through the dense forest. He sounded more like a beast, raging blindly.

Carefully Scarlet stepped back, making sure to put as little weight on her bad leg as possible. Why hadn’t it hurt in the start? Now, because she had ran, it would hurt for ages! Annoyance grew within her and as always it twisted and changed, before climbing towards it’s usual target. The Guard. Where were they? Why weren’t anyone around to help? Why weren’t anyone patrolling? Right.. Rut… it meant so much more than the safety of Glenmore!

The voice made her freeze on the spot. No muzzle moved, she didn’t even breath, before she realized that the stag had yet to find her. No sound left her, as she merely backed a few more steps, leaning her behind against a tree, while her gaze roamed the forest. She couldn’t see him, but she had heard him. Where was he?


Brynmore

Still gazing out among the trees, his ear twitched back as he heard a twig snap. “Oh Red Lady, you can’t hide from me.” he said with glee, before he bounded off toward the sound, adrenaline again coursing through him as he thought of his good luck.

So focused on the sound, he blundered past a flash of red that stood out at just the right angle was plain to see. Hooves hitting the leaves, crunching them under, he ran on and on for what seemed an eternity, chasing after the other, slower, crashing sound, a look of excitement and a job well done on his face. *This doe is as good as ours.*

His breathing labored a bit, and the smells of the forest overcast the scent of the one he tracked, though the other crashing made it hard to miss the direction.


Huisha

Huisha was just beginning to catch his breath when he felt a surge of earth magic, wild and desperate, flare behind him. That was Scarlet, he had no doubt. He’d overshot and passed them somewhere along the way.

Cursing his inattentiveness, he headed back in the direction of the magical flare, not bothering to sneak quietly. If he’d passed them, something must have prevented Scarlet from running on ahead. Had the Blackwood caught up with her? What was she doing with her earth magic at a time like this?

He heard leaves crunching and branches snapping up ahead- it must be the stag. There was no way Scarlet would make that much noise; she wasn’t heavy enough and she had no oversized rack to snag on the canopy.

What to do? The stag was closing in on him, and Huisha doubted he’d fall for the distraction ruse a second time.

Something called his mind back to what Scarlet had said earlier, about growing creepers to snare a competitor during a race. He’d never tried anything like that himself- he’d never even considered using his magic for such an aggressive purpose- but he imagined it wouldn’t be too difficult. It was just encouraging plants to grow, after all, and that was second nature to him.

Simple. He just needed to grow some plants. At a much faster rate than he’d ever practiced, certainly. And without the benefit of being calm and concentrating. And his legs and lungs still burned from the chase. But still, even if it wasn’t optimal, it should be doable.

Theoretically.

Huisha heard the stag let loose a triumphant cry before he crashed through the brush and caught sight of his quarry.

Before the stag could so much as register his disappointment, Huisha called out to the bramble bushes growing just underfoot. Faster than he’d imagined possible, the bushes surged upward, swarming over the stag’s back and thickening from brittle stems to thin, woody trunks.

Huisha felt a pang of shame that he’d had to use the bramble bushes rather than some less thorny species. The stag might be a raider, but he still didn’t envy him the amount of pricks and scratches he’d be subjected to after he’d fought his way out of that mess. With their woody trunks, the brambles should prove a much more effective prison than a mass of leafy vines.

Not daring to stop and admire his handiwork, Huisha again dashed off. He had to find Scarlet and make sure she was alright.


Scarlet

Scarlet held her breath. No sound left her, nothing moved. Time seemed to stand still, but snapped back into gear when a twig caved in under something’s weight. To the red doe the sound was unbelievably loud and she quickly looked down at her own hooves, despite having heard the sound far away. No. It wasn’t her. She was safe. He was raging away. Finally she sighed heavily, letting her shoulders fall. She wasn’t trembling, but she was a bit… she didn’t feel safe, not one bit. Shaking the feeling of herself, she straightened and in that movement placed her backhoof on the ground, only to jerk it up again. Right… she’d have to do something about that, but it would be at another time and place. Not here. Not now. Later.

Moments passed as the sound of the Raider grew distant until she couldn’t hear him anymore, leaving the forest in a strangling silence. It felt strange and unfamiliar; she had been in the forest without birds singing, but this was just unnerving. There were no sounds besides her own breath, which slowly came back to normal. There was nothing to keep her company...

Her ear twitched and she jerked her head up. What was that? She had sprung into high alert once more, now probably more than ever. Was the stag coming back? She wasn’t sure, but it didn’t sound like it. It didn’t sound like a raging beast, but more like someone who knew it’s way around the place.Someone who knew Glenmore. Someone she could trust. Someone she could find safety at, or at least help.

“Huisha…?”

It was little more than a whisper, but it was a sound in the strange silence.


Brynmore

As he crashed through the forest, Bryn caught sight of his quarry. His determined look and faint smile faded like a ghost from his face. The old stag had turned on his heels and was running away from him. *Good.*

Charging ahead, legs pumping to try and catch the small stag, he didn’t notice the growing brambles slightly ahead of him. Almost on cue, they shot up and around him, encircling him with a thorny embrace. Screaming, he tried to stop in time, though it was too late, he slammed into the wall of brambles as others grew around him.

Waving his head about, he tried to free himself, though the thorny prison held him tightly, growing over his back, around his neck, between his legs. The thorns, at first, just lay pressing against his skin, but as the branches grew, they became longer, sharper, piercing into his skin. Dozens of little pinpricks of blood dotted his coat.

Eyes rolling, he felt fear, real fear, at being trapped. Something like this had never happened. He’d rather take on a wolf pack, or an ice bear alone than be trapped in this thorny prison. Taking panting breaths, he stilled his thrashing legs and tail, noticing that the growth of the bramble had stopped.

Stilled, he waited until his breathing had returned to normal, thinking of ways to get out, thinking of home, thinking of stories, ANYTHING to keep his mind off the feeling of being trapped. *The doe must be to Glenwood by now* he thought depressingly. Another failed raid attempt.

Twitching his skin, he felt for where the woody vines were weakest. Kicking his right hind hoof, he tried dislodging the loose vine there, to no avail. The surrounding wall of thorns kept him from extending his leg out more than a few hooves. Grinding his teeth, he looked ahead, clenching his muscles together, bellowing in pain as he launched himself against the wall, the thorns tearing into him. Pulling against the one caught around him, pushing against the wall in front, he struggled, hundreds of little scratches and thorns digging into him.

*THERE!* with one last lunge, he was away from the wall, though a few vines still clung to him. Shaking and kicking them off, his legs crumpled under him in exhaustion. Looking up to where he had seen the old stag run off, his mind confused about what to do. His body screamed for rest, while his sense of duty said to go after the doe. At a loss, he laid his head down and closed his eyes for a rest.


Huisha

Huisha was stumbling now, heaving deep unsatisfying breaths and forcing himself onward at a pace he hadn’t had to sustain for many years. He was already drained from the earlier running and the massive bramble growth. It made sense that such an expenditure of energy would tire him out, of course, but he hadn’t anticipated the severity of it.

And now he didn’t know where Scarlet was. He’d assumed that he’d passed her earlier, but that path had only taken him back to the raider buck. Where had she gone from there?

He slowed to an ambling trot and began a methodical search, weaving back and forth in wider and wider switchbacks. At each turn he called her name loudly, hoping she could hear him and was in a state to respond. The buck could probably hear him too, but Huisha doubted the raider would be coming to bother them in the next few minutes.

Finally he heard a small whisper, “Huisha?” and whipped around looking for the source. There wasn’t much cover over here, but there was a large tree-

Huisha craned his neck around the tree and sure enough there was Scarlet, looking rather worse for wear. She must be hurt, or she probably would have started toward for the herd by now.

Looking her over for injuries, he said “Scarlet! Are you okay? Can you walk?”


Scarlet

She’d been worse, right? She’d been in more danger and more pain? Right? Right…?! Last year… the race… yes… that had hurt more than now, but she’d felt safe none the less. There were none there who’d hurt her, only those who’d help her and it made the situation less frightening; made it something she could deal with easily. This… this was not that way. She had been alone in the silence, hurt and unknowing, something even she found unnerving; something that even she feared.

The old stags voice made relief fill her, but still the nerves lingered around, tugging every little place where fear grew. Tugged all the right, or perhaps wrong, places and not until he’d arrived did she understand why she’d found herself to be scared this time around. Why this had frightened, when the meeting with Kira hadn’t. It was the hunt. The surprise. The memories.

“I’m… fine… well, as good as I-I can be at least…” she said, voice low for a second before the usual brave tone move in and took over. “Walking though…. depends on what kind of walking you want.” Lifting her backleg a bit to emphasize, she even gave it a look herself. It was more swollen that she’d thought, looking dangerously large with a few scratches here and there. Shaking her head, not feeling too well looking at it for too long, she turned her eyes back towards his figure. “I should be able to get back though… I wasn’t laying around all the time last time, you know.”

In reality she was probably more beaten up that she allowed herself to act and be. She had taken a bad tumble and her side and front would, without a doubt, be sore when given a little time. For now, she paid little notice.

Flicking her tail, she let her eyes wander over Huisha, trying to figure out if he was alright. He seemed to be tired, exhausted, but she couldn’t quite spot any direct injury. Was he better than most believed or had he simply been lucky? “How ‘bout you…? Are you alright? And… thank you for everything...”


Huisha

Huisha winced a bit in sympathy looking at her leg, swollen and scratched. It could have been a lot worse, but Huisha still didn’t envy her the next few days. She seemed to be putting on a brave face, so he didn’t press the issue.

“I’m okay, just winded,” said Huisha. “I may not be good in a fight but I can still run. If that stag had actually managed to land a blow on me it would have been a different story entirely.”

Huisha gave a nervous look back over his shoulder. “I ran him into a bramble patch and he got lodged in there. I think it’ll be a while before he fights free and I doubt he’ll have the energy to come after us once he does. Still, we should get moving.”

Huisha glossed over his involvement in the sudden expansion of the brambles with his typical combination of humility and self preservation. He didn’t see how anyone really needed to know how extensive his powers had gotten, and being surrounded by brambles could be obstacle enough to swamp a stag in unfamiliar territory even without needing any magical help. Huisha felt an additional pang of guilt about his violent use of his magic, but tried to remind himself it was done in self defense and in defense of a wounded doe.

With a few more nervous glances in that direction, Huisha and Scarlet headed back towards the herd and safety. Even proceeding at a three-legged hobble, they managed to return to Glenwood without meeting the raider buck again