Dark Crow Rising

"Why are you following me?" Vapooliar asks as she comes to a stop with a dangerous glint in her eye. Stopping and backing up, my hairs shiver and I clutch the aelenvari seed tighter. But, I do not go far as it is dark, unlike back in the hive, she's not as gracious with her powers. I did not just escape with them to be snatched back there in the darkness of night.

"I feel safer with you..." I answer and the three humans mutter in agreement. Turning away from me, Vapooliar narrows her gaze at them. The oldest of the three takes charge and steps up to meet her gaze with an unwavering one of his own.

"She's right..." the soldier starts to say before he stops himself.

"Vapooliar is fine." she growls, further warning them away from their trained formalities.

"She's right, Vapooliar. There's safety in numbers." he finishes with a nod. Words that mean all the more given our recent efforts.

"The other group is larger..." Vapooliar reminds him as she leans more heavily against her blade. Looking at it, the aged soldier seems to find comfort in the magic-rich steel as it slips into the earth.

"You heard our disagreements with them. But, regardless of it, someone like you makes it all far safer." he explains as his finger wiggles at her sword. Her sword leans forwards slightly.

Moving with heavy thrusts, Vapooliar presents her glare to him directly. Then, she looks away and her body subtly shakes. She turns around and hastily distances herself. I spot a slight shine near her eyes.

"Do not lie to me... I cannot protect anyone." she mutters before she stabs her makeshift cane into the ground in quick succession to get away. Watching her leave, I go and catch up to her.

"You've kept many of us safe." I quietly tell her, struggling to grasp the meaning of what she just said.

"The men are less than a fraction of what they once were. Despite me being the soldier, the powerful witch of our group... Nin gave up his chance to escape for my sake." she elaborates as she starts to lean against the trees we go by. Switching between them rather awkwardly, I offer to help, but she shakes her gaze at the aelenvari seed.

"That was his choice, Vapooliar." I say to her, but she just shakes her head with a snort. Leaving me behind once again, I wait for the three soldiers to catch up.

"Just like it was your choice to follow a failure like me and not the slavers..." Vapooliar mutters under her breath as the rattling of riveted rings becomes clearer.

"So, what ya have there?" the aged soldier asks as he tries to reach for it. Placing it out of his reach on my other side, I sneer at him.

"It's a seed." I explain as he retracts his thick-skinned hands. Sniffing the air, I pick up on the strong smell his body is rife with. It isn't the smell of the hive, mostly. This is a far more potent, bitter smell.

It reminds me of the campfire and the smoke barrier, too.

"What's it grow, then?" one of the soldiers asks.

"A damn big tree." the last of the three jokes.

"It's an aelenvari seed..." I correct with a roll of my eyes.

"An odd sight, alright. Tis rare to see something like that not in the hands of its mother." the aged soldier points out as we walk out of the shadowy tree cover. His sooty face is slightly lit up by the moonlight as am I.

"Can you keep your distance, Sootface?" I ask as I cover my nose. The other two soldiers chuckle and Sootface looks back at them bemusedly.

"This is how you treat your king?" he laughs back at them with an accusatory poke.

"One, not a battlefield. Two, you got no artillery." one says and his partner bursts into laughter with him. Hearing around with my ears, I try to pick up any other sounds just in case.

"Oh, if I could change history, Envo." Sootface remarks as he starts to tut.

"Yeah, you could have a bath!" Envo's partner laughs.

"Aarut, I'll cut and drop the big tree from that seed onto you when it finishes growing!" Sootface warns as his filthy hand motions at them.

"You will not be dropping anything from this seed..." I hiss as I tenderly tighten my grip on the unborn child. Unsure, I stroke the seed to try and comfort it.

"A thousand pards, your Fluffiness. Allow me to apologise by wiping my gunpowder-stained face on your tail!" he goes. Hearing that, I hide my tail away from him and I take a leaping step away from the trio.

"You keep the stench of ignition away from my fur!" I growl, displaying my teeth to the aged man as they calm down with the laughing.

"Or?" he posits, much to the entertainment of his colleagues and my detriment.

"Do such a thing and I'll claw your eyes out!" I threaten as I show off my longer, sharper-than-normal nails. I might not be able to fill them with magic or do anything fancy, but they are weapons in their own right.

"Oooo, the pup's got teeth." Sootface laughs dramatically.

"Now, now, Rohlant, don't start doing your sapping duties now. We still need to get somewhere safe." Envo tells him as he adjusts his mail-covered tricorn.

"I'm just flicking the match by her candle!" he complains as if it's not a big deal.

"You artillerymen and your slang... Matches light fuses!" Envo goes as he throws his free hand about. The other copies it, but with a gun in hand, it's slower and noisier.

"And a cannonball doesn't always break the walls it fires at." Sootface huffs. But, all three of us struggle to see his point. A fired cannonball is still a rocketing, killer ball!

"Thank the gods we don't have to be formal with you anymore, Battcomm Rohlant." Aarut sighs and his partner stares at him. Gently backhanding his nose, Envo, moves his head away.

"To be honest," Sootface sighs as he rubs his eyes, "I'm just glad that I can finally retire. A little different to how I had planned. But, it's here."

"It's hard to believe your age sometimes, Battcomm." Aarut comments as Sootface looks ahead at Vapooliar. Matching his gaze, I frown as Vapooliar shows more and more signs of her struggle to walk. If I wasn't fearful about her state and the vulnerability that comes with it, I'd be curious. She's not been doing well since we left the destroyed mountain back when daylight was a thing.

She's only gotten worse even with the young slaver's efforts...

"Mm, younger than the youngest Valkinvar right there. But I don't look the part at all." he laughs quietly.

"Should've taken the earned retirement a long time ago." Envo scoffs as he shakes his head gently.

"War still needs fighting." Sootface tells him as his expression hardens.

"Then why did you come with us?" I ask him as his reasoning for staying on doesn't match now...

"We were lucky to survive that battle. We might have been captured by 'sibins after, but I'll take what I can get. Now, I'm not going to argue the theology behind how we have survived this long... Especially not after seeing what I did before it all went into the shell craters. The battle may have been a moment, but escaping that event gave me pause. It still does." he explains solemnly.

"Artilleryman in his little bunker gets pause from being attacked..." Aarut bitterly remarks, sparking up an inferno of tension between the three. The opinions and memories of two against one.

"Those orbs came for us first." Sootface reminds him as the two step close to one another. Fists form and their faces remain set in their heated, determined glares.

"You survived in rubble, we survived running in the open valley." Aarut tells him as his eyes start to make me uncomfortable.

"That's enough, the pair of you!" Envo goes as he forcefully steps between them and pries them apart with his arms. Shoving him away, Aarut steps around and heads into the shadowy edge of the trees.

"We all survived that battle, that's all that matters." Sootface murmurs as he aggressively snaps his uniform into order.

"We're both... Were, formal troops, Battcomm. You might hear the screams as we go down. But it's a little different when the formation stops existing right next to you." Envo says to him before he breaks off to go after his friend.

"I am not belittling you two. Brave pikemen, forward marching pikemen." Sootface comments under his breath before he starts to recite a war song.

"When did the osibindah get to you lot?" I ask Sootface as he sighs at all the darkened sights about us.

"It's hard to say." he shrugs as we come up on a cliff of some kind.

"Vapooliar?" I ask as I spot the injured woman as she rests against a tree. Seeing her remaining armour glint in the moonlight, I rush over to her. She's pointing at something and I follow the direction to see what it is she wants me to see. Though, I dread that it might be something bad...

"Can you see them?" she asks weakly. At first, I don't spot anything in the dark, even with the unhindered moonlight, but then I hear the sounds of falling trees. From the forested valley down there at the far edge of the plains-surrounded lake comes light. Little, bright pairs that keep growing in quantity.

Smiling, I bounce the seed slightly as if it became solid gold, "Are they?"

"An aelenvari caravan... Yes." Vapooliar nods as her hand drops down to her side. But, looking down at the seed once again. I start to worry.

"W-What do we do?" I ask, we have a seed on us, but, well, that is the problem. The aelenvari treat their children with the utmost care, the unborn ones, anyway. If they see it, we might get an army at our throats!

Emerald light fills Vapooliar's hand and she weakly tosses it into the night sky, "They'll come to us."

"It's nice to know we maybe have found somewhere safe..." I remark as I collapse to my knees. Bringing my tail around, I wrap up the seed and look out at the massive caravan. More and more of them are coming into view and the land down there lights up alongside them. So many different colours of varying purities.

And, like something divine, Vapooliar's magic outshines them all like a lure of hope. Finally, there is somewhere safe for us to be. We go down there when we can and I no longer have to worry about there maybe being bugs behind us. The monsters in the dark will stay away indefinitely!

"Can someone help me up? We should make use of our time and meet them in the middle." Vapooliar asks as she tries to stand up. But, against her injury, she is forced to stay down.

"You should rest, Vapooliar." I tell her as I uncomfortably look at the dried blood around her burnt gut.

"I don't need rest, I need magic..." she explains as she gives it another go. Putting the seed down, I rush to help her up seeing as she insists on overcoming the pain.

"One of you two help her!" I bark as I watch the seed. Struggling with Vapooliar's strength and weight as the three bicker amongst themselves. One of them is shoved forwards and he takes over.

"Easy on my shoulders now... Vapooliar." Envo cautions as he struggles to adjust himself to the situation. Relieved it's not my back feeling the weight, I pick the seed up and start to walk down the ramp-like slope.

"Come on now, warm beds, full meals..." I say, getting a bit dreamy towards the end. And, looking at the waterfall-fed lake on our right, I smile a bit. I finally have an opportunity to clean my fur and tail!

"Look at it go." Aarut remarks bemusedly as he watches it swish from side to side.

"Try not to linger, you lot!" I nearly giggle as I start to speed up down the natural ramp.