Knocking On Wood (Ise)

[Loner]

In a way, the day was a good one. The weather - for the season - was lovely, and as such, it had drawn out a goodly number of mainly sedentary individuals. This included insect populations, disuaded from exiting their burrows by either too much hot, muggy air or too much freezing of similar.

But it being a nice, pleasant summer day in the jungles, everything and their brother was out and about and frolicking about. To the slender woman packing around seemingly everything she owned - plus a sturdy walking staff, today, which she hadn't had yesterday - this population included some unsavory blood-sucking little monsters, and while she relished the lovely glow of sunlight on the canopy overhead, the soft, cool breeze to cut the mugginess of the closed-in environment that such jungles produced, she generally wasn't smiling because the frown from slapping herself repeatedly was somewhat stuck on by the time she'd made it five feet from where she'd been before.

Oh, for the love of everything good, tasty, lovable, silken, soft, honest and all that posh!!

Amnixiel had gotten nice and close to that big, towering Weyr-place again last night, and it seemed a good thought shy of getting near it. What possessed her - surely they were addled! - brains that it might be a good idea to go where the Shield would find her and beat her to smithereens for being a Holdless, she couldn't easily figure.

On the flip side, the Weyr sometimes spat out people who had nifty things to trade out of their pockets for things she had in hers. So, being so close and not yet finding a Shield group, and perhaps feeling more lucky than she truly was, the woman chose her steps in the direction of the sun, treading softly, quiet as a wild feline, towards that looming wall that went over the tops of the tallest trees.

Surely some fool was outside today, and she might score a nice little something or other.

Perhaps gain a tidbit of information as well, if the individual in question was not too sly about their words.

[Ise]

While Amnixiel was walking as softly as a wild feline, she couldn't outdo the actual feline that followed a dozen paces behind her. He slunk along, his dark fur letting him blend in perfectly with the shadows that fell to the ground. In the tree branches above the feline, flying with the birds and other things was a brown flitt, keeping an eye on both the woman and the cat, relaying information back to Akroma.

The Shield woman was actually more worried that her feline was going to do something then she was of the woman. The woman appeared to be one of the Holdless but she was alone out here, her partner had already scouted out the area and there was no one else around. Akroma was curious as to what the woman was doing so far away from the rest of her kind, she had assumed they would all be celebrating right now after their attack on Haven Weyr. Instead here was one of them wandering out alone and much too close to the Weyr for Akroma's comfort.

So far, Akroma had been happy to use this as a chance to see just how far Shade's training had come along. One Holdless who was packed down with too much gear didn't seem like much of a threat to the Shield woman. Though as she had worked her way close to the Weyr, Akroma had decided to take action sooner rather then later. Though it was tempting to kill the woman before she even realized what was going on, Akroma decided to try and take her prisoner for now. She could be a deserter of the Holdless who might have useful information. She could also be full of information that lead to a trap. It would be up to Eriol to decide that.

A quick command was given to Nalaar and the fire lizard trilled loudly, his call not much different the many of the louder bird calls. But it was one that Shade had been trained for. The feline stopped, ears twitching as he listened for the trill to be repeated and once it was, Shade let out a loud roar. Even from where she was, Akroma could hear her feline. She watched what happened through Nalaar, as Shade stalked out from the under growth that had hidden him and started to go after Amnixiel. The woman would either be herded towards Akroma by her feline or Shade watch catch her and either seriously harm her or even kill her. The Shield woman hoped the Holdless was smart enough to run and drew her sword as she waited.

[Loner]

Amnixiel heard the calls of the birds, and was making notes mentally of each one, and what the calls meant each was doing. She even heard some wild flitters screaming at the tops of their lungs, though none of those really meant much. Just calling to one another.

One shriek stood out from the rest - it was closer, for one thing, and almost directly overhead, if a slight bit to the rear and left side. Had it spotted Amnixiel, and like a squirrel, decided to fuss about it? She looked up in time to hear the thing - but didn't immediately spot it - shriek again. Same call. Repeated twice. But... one-two-three, one-two-three... not a third time?

Then, roar! And if a flitter being right on top of her position was odd, then a feline jumping out of the brush from behind her certainly was worth noting! The Holdless woman spun right around, staff clutched in both hands in a defensive posture, her bright eyes stitching the brush as the feline came forward, to make his appearance. At first just the brush shook, but then the beast came out of them, and he was a big, burly black monster.

Amnixiel's eyes narrowed as the savage bore down on her, and she seated the butt of her staff in the dirt between her bare feet, and aimed the top right at the approaching feline. The staff was taller than she was, and as she braced it against a knee of a foreward leg, holding the staff forward like a seated spear, she crouched behind it, and waited. In the same moment that the feline would make contact with the staff - and likely be speared upon it, given his speed - she would leap away from it, and clear of any forward reaching claws or teeth.

But she knew better than to try to run from something with a muscle density six times her own. She was a cumbersome, slow, sluggish beast, a penalty for being a jack-of-all-trades, and he was a powerful specialist, designed for hunting down swifter, nimbler prey.

So her only true defense was her wit. She had to out-think the beast, as nowhere was not a feline's natural environment. They ran across the ground easily, climbed trees and could leap from tree to tree easily, could even swim better than most humans did. Amnixiel understood that her timing had to be absolutely flawless, but she had fought felines before, and she felt suitably practiced to handle this one. If she tried to run, she wouldn't even get far enough to die tired. She'd just die with her back turned, and that would be the end of that.

But oh, he was a shaggy, giant of a beast! Easily twice the size of the last feline she'd seen.

"Come and get me, you fang-faced oaf!" Amnixiel cried, matching the aim of her staff with the direction the feline came at her. He'd waver - all of them did. No predator worth its salt in brains would come straight at a prey animal. They circled. Always. But this one was going to find out just what it had done wrong this morning by deciding to try and dine on human flesh.

[Ise]

The feline growled and prowled around Amnixiel. He wasn’t fearful of her, clearly use to people already. Shade was in no rush to attack her either, the feline had been trained to not attack people unless they came after him first. No, the feline was just annoyed that she hadn’t run, he had been looking forward to a chase.

Looking through her flitts eyes, Akorma was a little disappointed that this Holdless was smart enough to not just run. Of course trying to take on her feline was a bad idea. Shade still had the wild insticts of a feline but also had training that forced him to stop and think a little more. Or stop and obey commands.

Since the Holdless wasn’t going to play the game Akorma wanted to her play, she started the short trek through the trees to get to the woman herself. The Shield woman was silent as she moved, the natural sounds of the forest along with her own roaring cat covering any sounds she would have made. She kept her eye on Shade and the Holdless, every so often having Nalaar make different trills and twitters. Some where just noise that the flitter was making, others were telling the feline what to do.

Shade stayed far enough away that he couldn’t get wacked by the staff but every so often he would dart in and out, making little feints against Amnixiel to keep her attention. His golden eyes followed the woman closely and any opening he saw he took to try and take a swip at her without getting hit by the hunk of wood she had in her hands.

[Loner]

Amnixiel kept both eyes on the feline feinting at her, no doubt; but she wasn't stupid, and she knew well the tricks felines would play with their prey. She kept wondering why this one's pride hadn't jumped out of the ferns yet, circling her and jumping from behind. Oh, she was prepared for that eventuality, but it just wasn't in feline character to wait around like that.

Did someone have a thorn in their paw today? This brute certainly wasn't going to wander off shortly. He was very interested in Amnixiel-flavorings, obviously, and the holdless woman was starting to get an ache behind her eyes - not to mention in all her bones - from being so tense and wound up ready to spring in any conceivable direction at any moment, for so very long. Spring at me already! she bemoaned, mentally, get this nonsense overwith, for flaking sake.

Seriously... this was the oddest feline attack she'd ever endured, to date! Likely a topper for anyone else's experiences with felines, too. Maybe, just maybe, this brute wasn't a wild nutjob, but rather a well-trained screw-up who was keeping her in a wall-less cage for an approaching, slow, stupid human from the Weyr.

Gah.

Right as the feline feinted an attack at her again, Amnixiel darted forward fast as lightning and gave the animal an adrenaline-inspiring swipe just a hair's breadth from the edges of his lips. "Get back, you mangy piece of betweened dragon-dren!" Amnixiel cried. "Let me alone to my own devices, I've done nothing to meddle in your uninteresting affairs! And take your brainless human with you!"

As soon as it was out, the holdless woman adopted a feral smirk, rather amused to think perhaps said human was somewhere about, within earshot, to have heard that. The thought made her laugh. But she was still prepared to dance with this idiot tom all day if need be. She'd fought felines far more forward than he in the past, and doubtless his patience would only make him an easier takedown given the comparison.

"Come on! Get this overwith. I don't have all flaking day."

[Ise]

Akroma was more concerned about her feline then she currently was of the Holdless woman. The woman was busy with Shade, unable to run away with the large cat there keeping her attention. Akroma wasn't sure though just how long Shade would be willing to play with his prey before he made a real attack on her. It would be disappointing to have to put the feline down for killing a Holdless but she had little interest in what happened to the Holdless women. She had to have known how close she was to the Weyr, and if she expected any mercy or kindness after what had happened to Haven Weyr, she would be sorely mistaken. Sure, if she was captured without much of a fight she would be brought back to the Weyr as a prisoner, maybe with a few more bruises then nessarsry but she would be alive.

Akroma hoped the woman would fight back. The Shield woman wouldn't mind getting rid of one more Holdless.

As she got closer to Amnixiel, Akroma slowed down. She could see the flashes of pale skin and the darker streak of a feline lunging at each other. She could also hear the other woman's yelled insults. They were easy to ignore since she wasn't the one fighting a feline. With her sword out and pointed at the back of the woman, Akroma slashed through the last few branches in her way and let out a loud whistle. Shade stopped his feints on Amnixiel, taking a few steps back and growling low in his throat.
"Put down the weapon. While you may have been able to keep the feline busy, you won't be able to stop both of us. Especially when he stops toying with you."
Her voice held a no-nonsense tone. Her threat was not an idle one, the woman didn't enjoy killing but she was more then willing to do it to keep the Holdless away from her home.

[Loner]

The sound of Akroma's voice earned the shield member a glance, only. Amnixiel was by far more wary of a feline than any human, and thus gave the feline superior attention.

But that was not at all to say the holdless woman had not heard the threat. "You're a blithe fool, woman." Amnixiel hissed, keeping one and a half eyes on the feline and the other half an eye on Akroma.

"If you think me born the morn before, you're sadly mistaken. Only those who trust implicitly or are of a wont to die horribly would take that advice. What do you take me for, truly? Stand where I do for a heart's beat, and consider my position. Your foul beast threatens to disembowel me, and I gather he isn't as tame as you like him to be, so he would disobey you and gut me anyway even if you told him no. As for you... what nomad would ever trust the word of a blade-wielding Shield?"

Amnixiel laughed at her, the sound coarse and low. "No, I'm afraid I'm keeping my staff. I don't trust felines, and I surely don't trust their handlers. Just state what you wish of me and get this overwith - as I have told your toothy beast, I don't have all sharding day."

[Ise]

Akorma chuckled a little and kept her sword pointed at the woman's back.
"You act as if I actually care what happens to you. If I had things my way I'd kill you, no one at the Weyr would care and since you're out here alone, it doesn't seem as if your own people care much either. Though I do hope it's not the feline that gets you, after all the work I've put into training him, I'd rather not put him down just yet. But really, if he wasn't as well trained as I think he is, what makes you think you'd still be standing here? He's been playing with you the whole time. He hasn't done anything worse then make a bunch of noise and swipe at your staff."

The Shield woman did have to take a moment to admire the training she had done with Shade. He was more wild then the rest of his siblings but he was behaving perfectly out here. Letting out a sharp whistle, Shade took a few steps back, moving out of Amnixiel's range but still close enough to be a threat in case the Holdless tried to attack.
"What I want is to make all of your kind pay for what you did to Haven. The Riders have more important things to do then chase after the mangy hides of you Holdless. So you have two choices, you can either return to the Weyr as a prisoner or you can die right here. And being a prisoner isn't going to be a nice thing, we do have some of Haven's people here and I'm sure they'd love to have a word or two with you..."

[Loner]

Seeing the cat back off, and well minding the haughty, arrogant words of his handler, Amnixiel spun about to put Akroma at her front, and smacked that sword outright with her staff. "I am no glowbug-brained scum for the scraping of your boots, wretch! You Hold-bound think you are so superior! So much better! Just because I see no point to paying some other holier-than-thou for what is rightfully mine, does not by any stretch make me a lesser being than you!"

Stamping the end of the staff into the ground for pronounced emphasis, Amnixiel stuck a finger up into Akroma's face, her own expression twisted and bitter. "As for whatever hells struck your wretched piss-hole... well I can well express that whatever it was, you arrogant shell-heads likely deserved it, but I was not among them, was not one of them, and certainly am not of them now! So depart your aggravating, snotty self and leave me be, as I've no debt to you, and I've no plans to allow your arrogance to dictate my fate!"

Clutching her staff in both hands again, the Holdless woman held it in front of her as if ready to parry any strike Akroma might offer, though the one-foot-behind-one-foot-ahead posture suggested she was well and truly capable of turning fast enough to parry or dodge from anything Shade might mete out.

"Take your petty woes and your ugly feline and that worthless cubit of steel and go your way, Hold-bound. I realize the shell-heads pay you to come and harrass me, but I've no patience for you, none for them, and I certainly should never stoop to obedience of any of the lot of you! Civilize that tongue, Hold-bound, and maybe I would accept whatever offer you chose to give, but until I see sign that you are anything akin to what you and your shellbrained kinsman claim to be, I would never believe you, nor take you at your worthless words. You are fire and passion and regail against the winds if you could. You waste water and spit upon any who are not like you, suffering all the same diseases as you." She curled her upper lip. "You are bigoted. And I do not see you as superior. You have a greatness to live up to that you fail to, every single day of your wretched life, Hold-bound, and more so in your actions here, in this forest without audience."

Sniffing reproachfully, Amnixiel cast a meaningful glance at Shade. "Even your beasts that you heel to your flanks understand this rot... but all you and your ilk ever do is deny, deny, deny... so what makes you so much the better, so by far the superior... and why must I pay for a crime that I did not commit, did not partake in, did not accessory to? Perhaps I am a child of they who might be... but if you Hold-bound are of the mind to butcher the children for the sins of their parentage, then why, I beg, are you still living? You look begotten of a criminally minded person, I think. Surely your father did something less than savory, or your mother, untoward. Are you not responsible for their deeds? Do you not think you should make penance for their crimes? Go then! Tell me your woes are not well-earned, your situation lent to by the deeds of your own forebears!"

"Tell me why I should even think of you as Human."

[Ise]

Akroma couldn’t help but laugh as Amnixiel went off on her rant.
“What’s ‘rightfully’ yours? Your kind steal, murder and take what you want from those who actually have to work for their livelihood. You people mooch off the hard work of everyone around you, that’s what makes you lesser. You could live in the forest and have all the freedom you want and no one would give a shard. You pillage and murder from others though, others who give to us and the Weyr in exchange for protection from the likes of you.”

The Shield woman did not care for the finger in her face nor for the Holdless to get into her personal space. She twisted the blade of her sword and used the flat edge of it to push the woman’s hand away from her face as she continued to throw her tantrum and insult her. Akroma resisted yawning, it wasn’t like she hadn’t heard these foulmouthed rants from the other small groups of Holdless the Shield had caught. “Dragon riders deserve to be killed? For what? And even if those riders had done something to deserve it, what about the women and other people that were slaughtered by your kind? I highly doubt those young men trying to protect their families did anything to deserve being murdered like heardbeasts. Of course the way you people reason, they all deserved to die just because they happened to make their home there. Of course logical like that means I’m perfertly free to kill you were you stand for treading on our land.”

She did raise one eyebrow up slightly though as Amnixiel denied being part of the group that had attacked Haven. Either the Holdless were splintering into small groups, which would be good news for the Shield, or this one was foolish enough to be trying to make it on her own out here. If anyone from the Holds suspected that she was Holdless, they would refuse to help her or trade with her. Of course her not being part of the main group of Holdless only decreased the value of her life in Akroma’s eyes, if she had no useful information for Enrol then there was no reason to keep her alive.

“You’re one to speak of ‘civilizing’ my tongue. I’ve seen teenage boys with a cleaner mouth then you Holdless.”
The women let out a snort of amusement, oh maybe she would have to bring this one back to the Weyr just so the other Shield members could get a laugh out of the crap that came from her mouth.
“Yes, I’m a bigot because I protect people from those who try to harm them. Shame on me for protecting those who can’t do it themselves. And to your standards I’m sure I fail at greatness, I actually work for everything I have instead of ripping it from the hands of someone else. What a terrible person I am.”
She mocked Amnixiel, not letting anything the other woman said get under her skin.

Shade growled as the Holdless looked over at him, his form tense and ready attack but stilled only because of Akroma’s command. Akroma gave her feline a small smile, he had been the hardest to train and was still the most wild out of all his siblings. The fact that he hadn’t attacked this Holdless wench yet was a cause of great pride for her and made it easy to tune out half the babbling the women did.

Until she decided to insult her parents. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and her grip tightened on her sword. It was hard enough for her to not instantly strike out, no one made the mistake of dishonoring her family in front of her.
“You will shut that filthy little mouth of yours before I shut it for you scum. Say whatever lies you can think of to try and justify why you and your thieving kind are so much better then anyone else. You can even insult me as much as you like, maybe one day you’ll come up with something new. But if you say anything else about my family, my family who has worked hard to help others and do more then kill people for the fun of it, then I will cut your tongue out and feed it to my cat as a snack. All the freedom you rant about doesn’t make it any harder to kill you.”

[Loner]

Amnixiel saw plainly that the Shield woman wasn't listening to a sharding thing she'd said. She also saw plainly that no matter what she did say, she wouldn't listen to that, either.

"You wonder why we disagree? You do not hold the ability to listen, and learn, that is why." Amnixiel said, her brows still worked into an angry frown but her tone very suddenly quite soft and flat of tone. Let this Sheild woman boast.

"You have a big knife." Amnixiel informed her. "Since you think you are so righteous, and I am so despicable... either go your way and leave me be, or else slay me and leave me be! I have already informed you I don't have time for you or your bandying. Get this overwith and get out of my hair."

Amnixiel didn't expressly want to die... but she had no real reason to live, either, which made it rather easy to say what she had. The still-recent scar of losing her precious little gold baby throbbed in her mind like a fresh wound nearly every day, and high-energy encounters like this one only served to make it pound all the harder, like an impact-earned headache.

But she wouldn't cry in front of this arrogant Shield... that would only be misinterpreted as bald weakness, and make the Shield woman feel even more superior than she already supposed herself. Amnixiel wasn't about to hand her anything.

"Go on. I'm tired of waiting on you. Finish this."

[Ise]

“I don’t have the ability to listen? Have you ever heard yourself or that crap you spew? You and your ilk are the ones that believe you’re better then everyone else. You are the ones that attack others, we only defend ourselves. Neither the Shield, nor the riders, nor the dragons go out and attack people like your kind does.”
Her jaw clenched in anger, if they had gone and wiped out the Holdless when they had first started their attacks then Haven wouldn’t have been attacked. Akroma didn’t let herself think those thoughts for long though, if they had gone after the Holdless from the start then they would be the tyrants that the Holdless claimed they were.

Amnixiel’s decision to just let Akroma have her way was nice but it took some of the rage out of the Shield woman. She didn’t go around slaughtering people at random, she wouldn’t let herself get pulled down to the level of the Holdless.

Of course that didn’t mean she had to be nice to the women either. Akroma was unsure if she believed that Amnixiel really was innocent of the attack on Haven, if nothing else she was far too close to the Weyr for Akroma to feel safe in just letting her go. Besides, the wench had insulted her mother and that was one thing Akroma didn’t let go. She gave the Holdless a tight lipped smile and shifted the grip she had on her sword before she made a swing at her. Once Amnixiel moved her staff to block the sword, Akroma simply swung a fist at the other woman. Her punch connected solidly with Amnixiel’s jaw. The Holdless woman crumpled to the ground and Akroma pinned her there with her foot, just in case the hit hadn’t knocked her out. She shook her hand a bit before looking to make sure that she hadn’t split her fist open when hitting the girl. Aside from being a little sore, her hand was fine and Amnixiel was out cold.

Akroma went through Amnixiel’s things quickly, looking for any weapons and taking them before she summoned Nalaar down to her. She stroked the head of her brown fire lizard, giving it a message before sending him back to the Weyr. He would alert the other Shield members that she was coming back to the Weyr with a prisoner. She took a look at Amnixiel and bound her before grabbing her arms and yanking her along. She could have carried the woman, and probably would after awhile, but right now dragging her along was a nice bit of revenge. A few cuts, scraps and bruises never hurt anyone after all.

[Loner]

I'll let you start us a new thread in-Weyr with this pair, ok Ise? We can do the whole prisoner-vs-captor conversation there. Also, Amnixiel has one skinning knife, a pair of sewing needles, a whole bunch of salvaged junk, her staff (which was left behind?) and a couple changes of clothing but not a lot else.