Forest Goddess 2 (Truth be told)
The sun was setting with an orange glare when Vesna finally returned to her hut from the days cooking duties, her guardian bid her a good eve before he turned and left, walking back to his patrol of the encampment. Vesna entered her small hut removing her white garment dirtied from the days work and sat down wearing only a cloth over her more female parts.
Vesna sighed it had been two weeks since Van was lost to the forest goddess and still the shaman insisted that all women be escorted to and from duties at all times of the day, never leaving them till they were safe in their huts for the night.
Vesna tried to fight back tears; she still missed him, even if he didn't know she did. She had always watched him from a distance never letting their gaze meet, she bent on her knees and wept openly..."Why...why was he taken" she cried softly out loud.
The shaman looked up from his book as the flaps of his tent were pulled apart and a women dressed in a tight green leather one piece outfit entered, the shaman grinned "How great it is that I can once again live with you milord Dractus" she bowed as she spoke "There have been rumors of something being in the forests at night" she said then returning to her original stance before him waiting for his reply,
"He will come soon, and it is your job to finish him before he contacts anyone within the camp. You know as well as I do what would come of it Priestess" the shaman spoke showing no emotions or even a change in voice, She nodded and turned to leave when a sudden useable force held her in place "And see to it that my true name never again slips your loose lips Human" he spat the last word as if to put her down she moved quickly and left the hut.
Van looked on though the dense forest near the Shamans hut; his new reptilian sight and hearing letting him hear and see everything around him. He sat back and watched the one who had betrayed him leave the hut, it took all his will power not to leap at her and tear her limp from limb "But I'll learn nothing from rage" he said to himself and with a quick movement he headed back into the forest.
Vesna tried her hardest to sleep, without any success and in the end she gave up, getting back on to her feet she felt around in the near darkness for her clean white robe in the corner of her hut ready for tomorrows duties. Quickly getting dressed she poked her head out of the hut flaps and looked for any signs of guards, once satisfied that none were nearby she headed of away from the camp, she needed time to herself. To mourn and to think.
Van stood watching as the guards, easily seen as the fires around the perimeter of the camp provided his reptilian eyes with more than the needed amount of light to make night seem like day to him. He looked for some way of getting within the camp and find someone, anyone who knew him, who might listen to him even if he had to make them. It was then that he spotted one of the women he knew worked in the cooking duty and hope sparked when he saw her sneak past the guards and into the forest with a look of inward thinking on her face. Van began to follow her; waiting for the right time to make his move...This was his only chance.
Vesna walked out into the forest without thinking of where she was going, her mind was filled with the events of the past few weeks and for the first time since then she began to think over the events. The hunter's returning from the search for Van bringing his dirty clothes and shouting that they had seen the Forest Goddess, the Shaman revealing of the new healer Shayla into the camp, his ruling that there was to be no search for Van's remains because it would anger the Goddess and that no female was to be allowed to be alone at anytime and must have a personal guard follow then during the daylight hours until they retired to their huts for the night.
Shayla stepped over to the crumpled body of the guard who had tried to stop her from leaving, she bent down to check his vitals he was still alive, she was pleased that the fragile human body had lived though her attack, he had never seen her blow coming and he could easily be convinced that he had merely fallen or been hit by a rock, a body though required more details and always left the others uneasy. After dragging him aside into the shadows she moved to retrieve his bow and his katana, after strapping these weapons to herself and sheathing the katana she looked out into the darkness of the forest, she knew it would be hard without her old powers of sight..."Hard but my job" she spoke softly before shouldering her bow and rushing into the darkness.
Feeling that there was no humans nearby Dractus shed his human shaman skin and stretched his wings out to their full size letting them click and crack as they opened..."I'm not as young as I was once...even in this flesh of man" he spoke to no' one as he looked into his reflection in the still water of his bath hole.
He turned his face from side to side looking at his black faded and age damaged muzzle with the odd missing scale, then at the torn brown membranes of his now useless wings, he grunted at the sight of them. He was so focused on them that his aged ear's never heard the guard coming up the path towards the hut until the last second, when he heard the distanced sound of a weapon being drawn from its sheath.
Ardyu began to draw his Katana as he approached the Shaman's hut, he had been sitting by the fire and drinking when he had heard a strange noise coming from the direction of the hut...He breathed slowly before he grabbed the flap and pulled it aside. He made a quick gargled sound before he was grabbed and ravished without sound or mercy...He never saw his attacker.
Two guards walked past the fire and sniggered looking at the empty bottles on the ground "looks like old Ardyu gone and had too many again" said the one on the left "Bet he's crashed out in his hut. Or someone else's...we'll whip him in the morning" they both laughed and were about to move on when they saw someone moving from the Shaman's hut towards them and drew their weapons "Who goes there" one called throwing a flaming stick down to light the path, the person stepped forward into the light "Ah Ardyu your still sober then" called the guard with a hint of humor, Ardyu merely nodded and returned to his post by the fire. Resheathing their weapons the guards nodded and returned to their patrol. He looked deep into the fire and smiled "Its good to feel young again"...
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Vesna walked for hours through the forest, at first because she was thinking but now because she was lost with know way of retracing her steps in the dark, she had begun to worry after she had began to believe that something was following her...not believe, she knew, because who' ever it was needed lessons on sneaking. She found a fallen tree and stopped to rest on it.
Vesna never went anywhere unarmed; even now she had brought with her a small silver dagger her father had made for her before his death over her clothes tided around her waist by a silk rope. She slowly began to draw it from its oiled sheath quietly; she would wait a little longer.
SNAP!! Van's tail knocked into and broke another twig. He began to curse himself, his tail and his whole form...it had only been a few weeks and he still was not sure how his body worked, he knew it had power and stealth if used well.
Van looked on from where he was, still following her and getting closer when he dared. Waiting for the right moment to confront her and now seemed to the best, he began to approach her.
As Van got within Vesna's arm reach she struck out in an unthinkable speed, ducking under his left side and bring her dagger to his throat, "wait" he said feeling the knife prick his hide-like skin on his neck. "I have something to tell you"
Shayla Cocked her bow and aimed "You may have been the best root ever...but you die here"