The Knights' Roleplay - War Ascending

[Kat]

"I do hope he does come back with Kit...or that Kit wishes to indeed return to the castle that exiled him," said Kat, shaking her head. She glanced at Shado and turned to Wolf. "If I may, I would like to keep an eye on his fox companion. You know, just in case."

[Cyborg]

(I guess I'll post) Midknight travelled until he reached a man of this Kit's description. " Excuse me I need you to come with me." he whispered returning to his kougra form, but staying hidden amidst the shadows. " King Wolf wishes for you to return. So please grab my hand and we will return to the kingdom, and more importantly the king, in a matter of seconds."

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Shado looked up at the mage then at the king and thought to himself, Why would my master put trust in these people? I don't think this is a good idea. They obviously don't trust me, I can see it on their faces

[Bacon]

Sir Bacon had zoned out again, in another place in his mind. More dire warnings, but little he hadn't heard before.

"WHY MUST YOU ALL BE SO CRYPTIC?!?!" Sir Bacon suddenly noticed he wasn't before the strange beings anymore, but again in his body in King Wolf's presence. "I-I apologize, milord. I haven't had much sleep this night, I fear it takes its toll now."

[Deleted]

((I'm a bit confused--is the truth spell still active?))

"Yes, Lady Kat," Wolf said. "I think it is wise for you keep an eye on his foux ((XD)) until he returns." He looked at SILE and hoped the same animosity between cats and dogs did not exist between human-sized pink cats and small shadowy fox-creatures.

Meanwhile, Bacon suddenly seemed conscious again, spewing words of a cryptic and equally as crazy nature. "Sir Bacon," Wolf said as he spun around, "what is wrong?"

((...totally the worst post I've ever made. ¬_¬))

[Kat]

((Let's assume it's over. XDDDDD I forgot about that.))

Kat watched as the glow emanating from her earring ebbed away, and clipped it back onto her ear. She sighed with relief; it wasn't easy keeping that spell going.

At Sir Bacon's exclamation, she raised an eyebrow. "Eh? Got anything more to share with us?"

[Deleted]

Wolf yawned, feeling like he'd been standing in the same place for days...months...years.... Who knew, maybe he had been. A housefly flew onscreen just then, and he followed it with his eyes until he'd dizzied himself sufficiently to know it was time to stop. He shifted his weight to his other foot, wondering how long it'd be till someone said something.

He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. Small talk was beneath him. Or else above him. He was uncertain the distinction of being too noble for an act and just not being able to do said act for lack of common conversational skills, of which group, he fell into the latter. But, hey, it wasn't his fault he was raised with wolves....

And on that very topic, one of those very Wolves was standing right across that very forum in which he stood, but since she hadn't spoken in a few posts, he had almost forgotten all about her.

She yawned, too, and shifter her weight to the other foot, too.

She, too, wondered when someone would speak next. She opened her mouth to do so, but bit her tongue, knowing anything she said here would be so laced with poison, she'd almost certainly be instantly apprehended and thrown in the dungeons.

However, the last time the RP had descended to the dungeons, it had been in good health, so maybe it's worthwhile to do so again....

And just then, in a fountain far, far away (or just around the castle), a young boy sat sunken and idle, blowing bubbles out of his nostrils and hoping he would not drown. And for the sake of creative irony, he felt suddenly like a fish out of water, but in this case, he was neither a fish nor out of water, but was more so a boy out of air.
 

[Bacon]

"Whilst I appreciate your concern and curiosity, I fear I have little to speak of at this time. Again, my apologies for the outburst." Sir Bacon bowed his head to the two, ashamed at his display. He often wondered if his visions were a form of madness, since although juxtaposed at critical intervals in his life, they also occured mainly when he was highly stressed, and it would also explain why he otherwise had no magic ability. He shook the thought away.

((Madness? This is Dunburrow!))

[Shadaras]

((Fine, fine. I'll revive the roleplay with a vengence. ^_^ ..literally.))

“No.. there isn’t.” Kit’s words just echoed Shade’s own, but even the confirmation of what she knew sent its own pinpricks of pain into her. Demons weren’t supposed to feel pain, of course. Looking at the crowd, where everyone was watching them, it just got more obvious what they thought. Knights, especially those of the council, especially those known to either be demons or deal with them, weren’t supposed to show their emotions like this. Shade didn’t care. She was just as human as they were. Even if she was half-demon.

He stepped towards her, and the words he spoke were the best Shade could have hoped for. “I’ll be back someday, I promise.” Closing her eyes as Kit touched her cheek, Shade wished that this didn’t need to happen. But it did, and life would go on, one way or another. “I'll see you soon,” he said, passing her. Shade opened her eyes and watched him walk out the gate, for all the world acting just as he always did, as if none of this was happening and he was just going for a walk and would come back as night fell.

But he wouldn’t. Shade turned away, making her way through the silent crowd, left hand resting on the hilt of her sword, the warm bronze a comforting feeling beneath her hand. No, Kit would go away, become a prisoner. Maybe his skills as a diviner had prompted his last words to her. Maybe they would see each other soon. But Shade doubted it, and the way she moved, her face expressionless as she held silent council with herself, showed that doubt.

Her hand tightened on Savucu. She wanted to just draw the sword and attack something, use up the anger that her grief had turned into. But not in the middle of the crowd. She couldn’t do that to them. Their Royal Envoy was supposed to be calm, collected, diplomatic. Shade didn’t feel like any of those. She felt more like the demon that rumors named her, a wrathful demon summoned to destroy all in its path. Or all that opposed her, at least. And at the moment, her king was among those.

Rounding a corner onto the broad boulevard that led towards the center of the city, Shade stopped, Savucu half-drawn and in her right hand before she even thought about it. A scowling General Alec, his clothes damp, was riding beside Casandra, just as perfect and arrogant as she had been in the Council Chambers when she accused Kit of being a murderer. Shade stood there, wanting to finish drawing her sword and cut them down. But that wouldn’t do at all, not with all the people of Falcorum around them.

“General Alec,” Shade said, shoving Savucu back into its sheath. “I did not expect to see you here.” With excessive formality, she bowed to him. “And Casandra.” It took an effort not to spit her name out as if it were a curse. “You will be pleased to know that Kit Winterstone is, if not at your camp, on his way there. King Wolf, despite what he said in the Council Chambers, has agreed to give you your prisoner. As of when I left him, he had not said anything about the food and gold you demanded.”

Casandra sat up even straighter, and Shade thought she glimpsed a smile on the woman’s face. But she wasn’t the one who spoke. “Tell your boy-king that I will speak with him on the morrow,” General Alec said, the scowl on his face becoming a rather more pleasant expression. “We will discuss further terms then.” He glanced at Casandra. “She has her prisoner, and I will have my supplies, one way or another.”

“As you say,” Shade said, bowing once more. She stood there as the rode past her, then began to run, trying to retrace Alec and Casandra’s path. Swearing under her breath, she held Savucu tightly, this time drawing on its power to focus her efforts at following the blue-brown and gray-red auras of Alec and Casandra at high speed without running into anyone or anything. Swerving through the streets, Shade wanted desperately to take to the air, but her trust in her ability to concentrate on her wings at this point was almost nil.

At the fountain where she ended up, Shade’s soft curses became much louder, and entirely directed at the general and his mage. Letting go of Savucu, Shade leapt up, wings flaring to either side. Someone in the crowd screamed, but Shade barely noted that as she landed, crouched, on the edge of the fountain’s top rim. “What did you do to deserve this?” Shade muttered, looking at the boy that lay there. Jonathan looked like he was asleep, but Shade didn’t trust that. Pulling him up, Shade didn’t bother trying to untie his arms or legs.

She did, however, get rid of the gag in his mouth. Only then, picking up the limp boy in her arms, did Shade take off again, flying towards the Council Chambers. Wolf would almost certainly still be there, dealing with the rest of the Knights. And if he wasn’t, then someone else would be there who could help her. As she flew over the buildings, wings aching with every beat, Shade hoped that Jonathan was simply pale, not that he was dead, as he had looked and now felt like.

The pristine white buildings of the Council Chambers were below her, and Wolf’s distinctive green clothing stood outside them. Shade wanted to dive down there, but didn’t want to risk it, not with Wolf’s ward in her arms. She settled for a tight, downwards spiral, landing in front of Wolf. “My lord,” she said, “Kit is in Alec’s camp by now.” Gently placing Jonathan on the ground, Shade continued. “And I found Jonathan in a fountain outside our castle. Alec and Casandra placed him there.”

Stepping back, Shade looked at Wolf with a focused gaze. “My lord, what shall we do with them now? War will destroy us. You know that as well as I do. But I refuse to tolerate them, and if I must leave your service to deal with them, I will.”

[Kat]

"He was in a fountain?" Kat couldn't help exclaiming. She placed her hand on the boy's head. "Should I check for any injuries and such? And as for the topic of war..."

Her voice trailed off. Ending conflicts by force, by war, seemed so dramatically ironic. Yet, if peaceful means couldn't do the trick, there was no choice. War was not a pretty thing, but if it was the only way to restore order...

"If there is no other way, I too will deal with them."

[Cyborg]

( Should I just give up on waiting for Kit?)

Shado looked at the boy, he seemed young, unconcious, important to the knights. Shado walked over to the boy, nudged him with is paw and began to lick his face. The poor thing, apparently he was in a fountain.

[Vyt: Down, but Not Out]

"Jonathan!" exclaimed SILE as Shade descended from the air to let the boy on the ground. The cat took her time to examine the boy's physical status; his tied limbs gave her the idea that the helpless human was captured along the way. The poor boy did not deserve this kind of harsh treatment, she thought.

Just seeing Jonathan jumped SILE out of her fatigue. She quickly knelt down and held out her hand. A faint glow of light shimmered around her palm, and promptly reached for the boy's forehead. "... I shall handle this, Lady Kat... Our king needs your powers... more than he does to mine," she spoke out.

But just because SILE had accepted to take a look at young Jonathan did not mean she was about to heal him yet. An image from her vision was of Jonathan talking to an unknown person, and she needed to know if he had really gone off to meet a total stranger. Curiosity brought the cat to see what the boy underwent through.

After bringing herself in contact with Jonathan's mind, SILE brought her own mind in the same wavelength as his.

----------------------

"What's wrong?"

"Many, many things, so it seems. It seems the King has come to meet with other conspirators of his. They seek to further desecrate our people."

"And my mum? My dad?"

"Still nowhere to be found. But, perhaps, if you can assist...."

"I'll do anything. What do you need?"

"Stop the meeting. No matter what, you mustn't allow it to come to a peaceful conclusion. ~sion. ~sion..."

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"I...I... I want you to kill King Wolf! ~Wolf! ~Wolf!..."

----------------------

Forcing herself to cut her connection with Jonathan, SILE snapped out of her telepathic reading. Gasping for breath, she could not believe what she had seen. Jonathan wished to kill the King, and he exclaimed so in a very serious tone. She glanced at King Wolf for a while; what if she exposed Jonathan to him as a traitor? He would not trust her at all. She had yet to prove herself, and there she will be telling him about the boy's intentions.

SILE was mum. She was clearly in a dilemma.

"Ahh- Err, yes. The healing," the cat proceeded to heal Jonathan with the same method, only that she really did try to lift the boy's spirit up. However, for the first time, she began to get reluctant on healing him.

[Deleted]

((Shade. You are incredible. And, Vyt, didn't curiosity kill the cat...?))

Wolf was still when Shade landed, a limp body in her arms. He didn't recognise it at first, but as soon as she lay it down, he instantly recognised it as Jonathan's. And he looked dead. Wolf recoiled, staring at him, unable to move towards him, to grab him, to lift him, to hold him.

Kat's voice was calm when she spoke. Something about a fountain. Shade had said he'd been in a fountain? But--but how? He'd been safe in their chambers, no fountains near.... And Alec and Casandra? No, they had left.... Pyro--Pyro had warned him. She'd been right. He should've believed her.

"Jonathan!" SILE exclaimed and rushed to his side, setting her hand atop the boy's forehead as soft light undulated around her fur. Wolf just watched--and just as soon as she'd pounced on Jonathan, she turned on him, glancing up at him for a single second, light flashing through her eyes. Light the kind of which he knew well. All too well.

Betrayal.

He'd seen it in his own eyes once, not long after he'd fled his kingdom. And he'd seen it again in her eyes. In Makeo's.

But that was to be expected. No matter why she had returned, she no doubt believed he had betrayed them all, his kingdom. And he had. Wolf lifted his head, stared at Makeo across the courtyard. She stood as taken aback as he felt. Perhaps...she could become an ally, in time.

Wolf looked back at Jonathan. SILE seemed to be healing him, and a fox, sleek and shadowy, walked up around him. The assassin's fox. Wolf knew the Kougra had passed Kat's truth spell, but he still didn't trust him. Not now. Now, he wanted to kick the fox away.

But he held himself firm and looked up to Shade instead. For a brief moment, as he felt the coldness in his flesh, he wondered if he had any color left in his face. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered now was what he was about to say.

"Kit needs to know."

[Kat]

"Which is more reason to find Kit," Kat sighed. She stood beside the boy and let SILE handle things; there may come a time when Kat would need her magic, and not for truth spells or healing. "I wish I knew where he was...if he's too far away, tracking his aura would simply not be enough."

SILE's face told Kat everything she needed to know about the boy.

He was not to be trusted.

[Vyt: Down, but Not Out]

((Wolf: I tend not to lean on over-used phrases. ))

Half a minute had probably passed, and SILE just shook her head when she was about to finish her healing spell. The look on her face was a look of discouragement; a rather different outlook from her usual optimism. "I do not wish for young Jonathan to be dead, but my healing only situates those still living," she spoke out, partially irritated that her healing powers had been severely nerfed while she was in that world. "If he stands to be alive, he shall recover... and if not..."

But SILE's facial expression while telling that was something not a mourner would do in a funeral. No, she was absolutely neutral upon saying Jonathan's state. The cat was still confused on the boy's course of action, and surely his intentions were something unforgivable by ancient human law. However, Jonathan was still the King's boy. He had loved him wholeheartedly.

SILE took a glance at King Wolf and Lady Kat, reading what their expressions were. Somehow, her face revealed them everything.

Somewhat gasping for air, SILE took the awkward liberty to remain knelt near Jonathan. However, fatigue and cluelessness would not let the cat away from her knightly duties. She listened intently to what the others would say, knowing that she did not even know Sir Kit had gone missing.

[Shadaras]

((I try, Wolf. I try.))

Wolf’s first reaction was to back away, face pale. Shade kept gazing at him steadily, even as one of the newer knights, SILE, knelt next to Jonathan, placing her hands on his forehead. She registered SILE’s glance at Wolf, but couldn’t see in them what Wolf did. Not that she cared overly much, as Wolf’s own reactions were what she was waiting for. She heard Kat’s words and SILE’s, but they weren’t necessary to any of this. Not yet, at least. Perhaps later they would be.

Wolf looked away, towards a woman that Shade hadn’t recognized or paid much attention to. When he looked back, any emotions that had been in his face were gone, though he was still pale. “Kit needs to know.”

He said the words quietly. He probably had no idea how hard the words hit her. But hit her they did, and Shade held herself steady, trying not to react to the words. Closing her eyes for a moment, Shade let Kat’s words wash over her. She knew where Kit was. If he made up his mind to do something, he would do it. He was in Alec’s camp. The enemy’s camp. And when Casandra got there, Shade didn’t know what would happen. Hopefully nothing bad. Because if something did happen, she wasn’t sure who she’d lay the blame on.

When SILE spoke, Shade pulled herself out of her daze, opening her eyes and speaking as calmly as she could. “He should be alive. If they’d wanted to kill him, they could have done any number of things.” Like simply drowning him and not giving him a spell to stay alive with. “He wasn’t breathing much as I carried him here, but he was breathing.” The feeling of the boy in her arms, limp and unconscious, his wet body cold in her arms as she flew, was clear in her mind.

“I don’t know what their goal was with doing this.” Shade ran a hand through her hair, messing it up even more than the flight already had. “But I doubt it was good.” She was rambling, avoiding Wolf’s words. She knew that. That didn’t make her want to reply to him any more than she already did.

Taking a deep breath, she spoke once more, forcing any signs of emotion out of her voice. “Kit is in their camp, my lord. If you wish to inform him of this, use magic or send multiple people. I fear for the safety of a single person.” Or rather, she feared for herself, if she went back there alone. “But before we do that, my lord, you need to decide what you wish to do about Alec and Casandra. I doubt that we will be allowed into their camp again without speaking to them.”

Shade stepped closer to Wolf, speaking quietly enough that she doubted anyone else heard her final words. “You are the king, no matter how unsuited you may be for the role. And as a king, while you may ask for advice, these decisions are for you alone to make.”