Glint sagged onto the ground behind the stranger Samanayr, content to have attention taken from him while he regained his composure, and his breath. It was very embarassing to be the first Sam - and only, as far as he could tell - to go down in the battle that he was supposed to be leading. It was a miracle that there hadn't been any more serious injuries, although judging from the Samanayrs who had fallen or lain down on right on the path, it had been an exhausting battle.
While the dragonet continued to load the grisly remnants of the bear onto the packs on the falcon, the stranger took a quick look around and then dipped his head briefly in greeting. "I, er, imagine you have some questions for us..."
"You speak as though you see this sort of thing every day. Pardon me for asking, but who are you, and what is this creature that we have killed to you? I have never seen a Samanayr with a... partner such as yours. Where do you come from?"
Rider threw back his head and laughed merrily. "Quite to the point, aren't you! Well, I am Rider of the Sharp Wind, the great lady is Halcyon, and the dragonet is Arrow." Halcyon opened her large beak and seemed to screech a greeting of her own. "We are not locals, as you may have guessed. Our travels have taken us to this land, and you are the first Samanayrs I have encountered here. I was not expecting to meet any others of my kind!
"As for the creature..." Rider trailed off, and heaved a sigh. "That's a long story. To make it a little shorter, that creature was once a bear, now magically altered to be - well, what you saw. Did it speak to you?"
There came nods from the group, and Glint said wearily, "Yes, it said some words in the Samanayr language."
Rider shuddered, tossing his head so that the fastenings on his hood jangled. "If what I was told was true, then that creature had the soul of what was once a Samanayr. I'm glad we were able to put it out of its misery - there was no help for it." He didn't elaborate further on how he knew this information.
"I am Ferocity of Flowing Lava, do you and your partners have name? ...Bounty?"
With a wide smile, the stallion introduced himself to Ferocity again. "We must make a living somehow. Although Arrow is able to assist me with many tasks, she cannot repair harness or our other equipment. It can also be hard for me to find sufficient food in the winter, as we're often on the wing. I've actually tracked the creature here from human lands - the village it was terrorizing will be pleased to know it is dead."
As the Elemental burst into laughter, Rider just tipped her a wink. Her presence didn't seem to phase him, nor did the exhausted Misery.
"It seems only fair to split the fee with you, as you all did assist us in taking the beast out." Halcyon made a loud shrieking noise, causing Arrow to jump in surprise. Rolling his eyes and smiling slightly, Rider turned to look at the falcon for a moment. "Yes, yes, we probably could have done it ourselves, but they did help." She made some noises that sounded distinctly like disgruntled muttering before settling again.
"We need to return to the village to collect the bounty," Rider continued, "but I promise we'll return here when we have it. Er, where is 'here,' anyway?"
"The Song of the Rainbow Hotsprings." Glint had managed to regain his feet again and stood beside the stallion, well out of range of the falcon's beak and claws. Even though Halcyon had saved him, and Rider didn't seem to fear the bird at all, there was just something.. unsettling about being too close to something that was so large, and with so many pointy bits. "I am Glint of the Ice Prism, stallion of the Song of the Rainbow."
"Never heard of it," Rider said cheerfully, "but it's nice to meet all of you. We really must chat when I return."
“Ayre we continuing on to make sure the foals we set out to yreascue have come to no harm? And if we ayre to move soon, what should we do about the Miseyry? He pyrobably just needs yrest to yrecoveyr fyrom the magic but we can’t just leave him heyre afteyr all he’s done to help.”
Rider glanced over at the Misery, who still hadn't stirred. "We could help to ferry some of you back to where you need to go, if it's not too far, although we can only take one at a time."
"And you're welcome to go on to check on the foals," Glint began, but was interrupted by a clatter of hooves further up the path. Shear appeared there - apparently they'd been closer to their hotspring than Glint had thought.
"Safe!" the Northern stallion cried, coming to a halt just outside the group. "All safe!"
Well, there was that answered. Glint just smiled wearily at the Northern as Rider shuffled his feet impatiently, clearly waiting for directions.
((I'm going to have one more post after this one that will include an epilogue! It's been a ton of fun RPing with all of you - I've definitely got the 'RP bug' again! I'll likely be hanging on to Rider for a while at least, since he'll be needed in the next plot RP, but I promise you that nobody will go home from this thread empty-handed
@Takaeji - I love that idea too! I find myself having to go back to the first page to remember who's playing what, so it's nice to have that reminder XD Maybe I'll make that a requirement for the next RP..
@Janalee - He's from years ago, but his name is Sliver of Broken Prism and he'll actually be making a comeback sometime soon XD Here's his original image, which I need to update:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/s ... nprism.jpg
He used to be a Mystic, but he went through some unpleasantness..))
))
