thewriter
04-25-08, 11:53 PM
Fog had cleared out. Narida did not like this - she had hoped to go to her home village in peaceful cover, where none would recognize her. Alas, in a sea of blue and green and gold eyes, her gray pair brought uneasy glances from mothers, who clutched children to their sides protectively as she passed. Narida simply scratched behind Neoku's ear as his large wolf paws padded close to her. She forgot to change into her village attire before entering, and many disliked the boiled leather and chain mail that the outside warriors wore. To them it felt like they were at a disadvantage, but instead of advancing, they hid. And now, as the banished one returned as she did every decade to keep her wolf, those unsettling eyes looked at her again.
"Ryah, leave this place immediately!" The leader of the village guard commanded her. "This is the eighth decade in which you have returned under banishment! How many more times will this be broken before you are?"
Narida stopped in her tracks and Neoku sat calmly next to her. She turned to man who so denied her the right to her wolf and said in a distant tone, "My name is Narida. Not Ryah." The way she looked at him with her eyes lulled could make anyone understand why she had been named the Banished Ghost. The man challenged with his own glare, but stepped aside. "Make it quick," He said. "If you are still here when the sunlight touches the eastern tree leaves, then you will be killed."
Narida's short fuse became shorter as she casually walked towards him, but with each step closer the leaves seemed to shudder under her feet. "If any harm befalls me, or Neoku before I leave my home of birth, You will know what Black Ice really feels like." He was puzzled until he glanced down to the stiletto at her hip. Sharpened steel enameled black save a single bright blue enamel at the tip of the blade. "I have a pact with my Gods. The wrath of the Gods when that pact is broken is unheard of, and perhaps I will not be the only one to suffer." She pressed passed the guard, and Neoku followed, keeping his golden eyes fixed on the guard until he had to catch up with Narida.
She came to the basin of a small pool in front of a milk white tree and stopped. She knelt by the basin, and donned her assassination mask, made from the same wood of that tree. Neoku obeyed the tacit agreement and swam into the pool. Narida opened her pack and pulled from it a sack that was full of soft material - like a small pillow - and raised her head, calling in a voice to confident and loud to feel like her own: "Gods of Elves, Animals, Skies and Trees! Hither we have come under thy leaves! Bless this wolf with vitality and strength!I require his life another decade in length! Here I offer, the locks of the corrupt, so that the life of my companion need no interrupt!" With that said, she emptied the contents of the bag and many different locks of hair in many different shades and thickness and softness spilled into the water. Then she waited, as the outer coat of fur on her wolf died and floated to the top of the pool, while the hair made uniform its color and thickness and softness and coated his body once more. When the deed was done, he swam from the pool and shook the water from his new fur. Neoku nuzzled Narida, asking her to scratch his back where the fur was still itching from only just joining with the skin.
"No," she told him. "If I scratch it, it will come off. And then where will you be?" She patted his head, removed the mask and stood. "Time to go back. A table in the corner of the tavern doesn't look so bad now."
Just as she stepped foot outside the village and towards the next under the same awkward and stern stares, the eastern leaves glowed in sunlight.
"Ryah, leave this place immediately!" The leader of the village guard commanded her. "This is the eighth decade in which you have returned under banishment! How many more times will this be broken before you are?"
Narida stopped in her tracks and Neoku sat calmly next to her. She turned to man who so denied her the right to her wolf and said in a distant tone, "My name is Narida. Not Ryah." The way she looked at him with her eyes lulled could make anyone understand why she had been named the Banished Ghost. The man challenged with his own glare, but stepped aside. "Make it quick," He said. "If you are still here when the sunlight touches the eastern tree leaves, then you will be killed."
Narida's short fuse became shorter as she casually walked towards him, but with each step closer the leaves seemed to shudder under her feet. "If any harm befalls me, or Neoku before I leave my home of birth, You will know what Black Ice really feels like." He was puzzled until he glanced down to the stiletto at her hip. Sharpened steel enameled black save a single bright blue enamel at the tip of the blade. "I have a pact with my Gods. The wrath of the Gods when that pact is broken is unheard of, and perhaps I will not be the only one to suffer." She pressed passed the guard, and Neoku followed, keeping his golden eyes fixed on the guard until he had to catch up with Narida.
She came to the basin of a small pool in front of a milk white tree and stopped. She knelt by the basin, and donned her assassination mask, made from the same wood of that tree. Neoku obeyed the tacit agreement and swam into the pool. Narida opened her pack and pulled from it a sack that was full of soft material - like a small pillow - and raised her head, calling in a voice to confident and loud to feel like her own: "Gods of Elves, Animals, Skies and Trees! Hither we have come under thy leaves! Bless this wolf with vitality and strength!I require his life another decade in length! Here I offer, the locks of the corrupt, so that the life of my companion need no interrupt!" With that said, she emptied the contents of the bag and many different locks of hair in many different shades and thickness and softness spilled into the water. Then she waited, as the outer coat of fur on her wolf died and floated to the top of the pool, while the hair made uniform its color and thickness and softness and coated his body once more. When the deed was done, he swam from the pool and shook the water from his new fur. Neoku nuzzled Narida, asking her to scratch his back where the fur was still itching from only just joining with the skin.
"No," she told him. "If I scratch it, it will come off. And then where will you be?" She patted his head, removed the mask and stood. "Time to go back. A table in the corner of the tavern doesn't look so bad now."
Just as she stepped foot outside the village and towards the next under the same awkward and stern stares, the eastern leaves glowed in sunlight.