The Chronicles of Narnia: A Sword and a Cup | IC

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

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"It's sad to see you two go," the taller of the two Telmarine guards, who didn't look particularly sad, spoke after his two former colleagues. The soles of their armor made a metallic clicking against the cobbles. As the four passed through the castle's main gate and over the main bridge, winds from the valleys around the castle tossing around the four. Nonetheless the two in the rear stood firm, trained in keeping their feet steady at all times.

"I hope you both can understand," the same guard broke the awkward silence with as they approached the city, the grand capital of the Telmarine society. "We wouldn't want such a potent killer as you get any wrong ideas, huh, Granttias? And you, Ophelia," he spoke to her, his tone softening, "as much as it pains me, and tears my heart apart, we cannot have disobedience in the court of our great king Caspian the ninth. May his memory live forever."

Eventually they reached the city. Large amounts of houses passed the group by as the four passed the city by. In the schools, the children were to their boredom lectured in Telmarine history, the only refuge from colonization of Calormen being the unusual group wandering outside. Other than this, the people populating the city were too busy with their lives to notice the escort passing through.

It took long, but finally the two guards, the rogue, and the diplomat were met with the outer edge of the city. Having been awkwardly silent most of the way, the taller guard once again spoke up. "Alright, there are a few legalities I need to make you aware about. Firstly, to prevent escape and re-entry, you will be temporarily kept here until you know better than to try to come back. Secondly, artists have been hired to render your appearances, and soon no guard won't know your faces."

"Now, do not worry yourself about the first part, I am simply going to…" "He'll tie you to a tree," the other guard suddenly spoke up, interrupting his peer. "Make sure ya can't get back before we do. You'll get out soon enough, but if you really plan on disobeying orders, we at least want a head start." The first guard sighed. "Yes. After that you're free to go anywhere besides Telmarine cities. Now let's get this over with."

The tying had gone easily enough. The guards' musculous hands were hard to argue with, and soon Granttias and Ophelia were tied, hands together, to a low branch. Some trees spotted the plains, but the forest itself was within sight. A surprising amount of time passed as the two were tied to the tree, finding solutions to untying the unseemingly sturdy rope, but as time passed and their two escorts were long back at the castle, the distant yet distinct sound of hooves hitting the ground came gradually closer.

~*~

"Alright, alright, alright." An excited voice chirped overhead between the branches of a large oak. "I don't need anything, mom, I'm fine! I promise!"

"Sure you do, you don't even know what you're looking for! Or where you're going to look, or what to do when you find it, or…"

"Mom, it'll be fine. I'm not alone, you know. I have Claek and Neima with me! They are super strong!"

"I know, Cinderglow, but… So might whatever's out there be."

"I'll be fine. I'll do my best." Cinderglow wrapped her wings around her mother, her hug serving as a final goodbye before her adventure. Giving her mother one final over-wing glance, she took off into the forest, looking for her aforementioned friends.

Cinderglow raced the wind through the ocean of green. Every time a branch and its leaves rustled besides or ahead of her, she'd speed up, flapping her wings harder and crouching together tighter every time. Trunk after trunk passed her by in a grey or brown or even orange blur, as she with great efficiency swooped between every one standing in her way.

It didn't take long before she in the distance could make out the two partly humanoid figures she knew as Claek, a close friend of hers for some time, and Neima, Claek's… acquaintance? She noted to remember to ask how they knew each other. Wanting to make sure they knew she had arrived, she landed on a branch above the two, waved her wings for a bit before folding them back along her back, then called out to them.

"Hey! Claek! Up here! How are you doing? And you must be Neima," she said, looking at the centaur, "Nice to meet you! Are we all ready to get going?"

 

[Thuro 116 Pendragon]

Jenson rode brilliantly on his majestic steed of pure virtue. Really. He named the horse Virtue. The horse was not amused and had subtly made his life difficult and his rump sore with an unnecessary amount of bouncing him around. So, he was in a rather characteristic sour mode when he saw a few less than bright gentlemen tied to a tree. To his credit though, part of his knightly code was to present the best of himself no matter how achingly frustrated he was at the moment.

Pulling back on the reigns (perhaps a tad harder than necessary) he came to a stop and called out to the unintentional tree huggers: "Hark thee good gentleman. Do ye need assistance?"​

 

[Umbra]

(Sorry it took me a longer than I said it would, to get this posted. Let's get this show on the road, eh?)

Neima whiffled through her pack one last time, had she forgotten anything? Could you ever be prepared for something when you had no idea what it actually was? She shook her head, no use getting all morbid now, nothing she could change about the circumstances. Finally convinced that she had left nothing of true importance behind, she slung her pack over her shoulders, fasting the cinch nice and snugly. Her hand dropped to her trusty polearm. It's smooth handle steadied her wandering thoughts.

"Well, Claek, when will the last member of our company arrive?" Neima turned to the satyr, "We are not just galavanting about the woods you know, this is a serious matter that I should hope you take seriously."

Busying her fingers with making sure every knot was secure and in place. It worried her that she was the only one of the company who had at least some experience with fighting, and hers was slim too. So preoccupied with her thoughts, Neima didn't notice the flutter of wings or the hurried landing of one large bird until she spoke.

"Hey! Claek! Up here! How are you doing? And you must be Neima," she said, looking at the centaur, "Nice to meet you! Are we all ready to get going?"

Somewhat startled, Neima couldn't help but smile at the little bird's enthusiasm, even if it was potentially miss placed, who indeed wanted to find the reason behind so many disappearances? The only reason to want would be to prevent any more, which was their sole goal and purpose, so why did her thoughts always turn so sour.

Replacing the polearm in it's sheath like holder, Neima nodded solemnly to the bird, "You must be Cinderglow, our scout then?" She wiped her hands, "I suppose we are about as ready as we'll ever be, Claek, have you got everything in order?"

Neima turned to the satyr, a grim determination about her. There was, after all, only so much that you could do to prepare, sometimes you just needed to do, not plan, not worry. Now it was time, and Neima felt herself getting antsy, a trait that the old company general had always said would get her into trouble. Neima shoved the thought aside, she longed to feel the ground fall away beneath her hooves, the wind against her face, and the sun upon her brow.

 

[LuckycoolHawk9]

Granttias had let himself get tied up to the tree, but he really hated the men who had done that, even if it was for his safety. Of course, he wanted to kill Lord Miraz for betraying him. He wasn't about to admit that it hadn't cross his mind- but he wasn't going back for now. He looked over at the man who had addressed them. " You know- I thought being tying tied would be a fun hobby and decided to do it to myself. I totally thought it was a great idea," he sarcastically replied to the man- enjoyed that he asked such a stupid question. " Do you have any more dumb questions or are you going to untie us?" He asked.

@Thuro 116 Pendragon @Minerva

 

[IntrusivePenDesperateSword]

@Umbra

Being skilled in flight has its pros and cons. On one hand, you're really fast, and can get places quickly, independent of whatever's going down at ground level. You get to feel the wind brushing against your body, the surrounding scenery passing by in a dimly lit blur. Nothing mattering yet everything being in perfect order.

Then there's the nausea and confusion after prolonged high-speed flying.

"Uuugh, sorry, let me land for a bit."

Cinderglow held a wing to her head, trying to stop it from bobbing from side to side. She blinked over and over, begging her black eyes to get themselves together and make sense of the view in front of her. Slowly but surely the blurry equine in front of her cleared to reveal Neima, and the other figure next to her eventually showed… a bush.

"Yeah, I am! Cinderglow, calling for duty! Ow, ow." Answering Neima's question, Cinderglow's short headache returned with her shouting, perhaps a bad move from her side. Though, she couldn't just hide her enthusiasm either. And as soon as she found out about their lack of a certain satyr, that enthusiasm was bound to return. And it did.

"Hey, where's Claek? Wasn't he supposed to be here too? Sigh, is he late again?" This didn't seem too strange to Cinderglow, Claek was late too at times, and she assumed now would be no different. Still, it made her uneasy.

"Uh, either way, yes, I'm all ready! Heh, not that I had so much to pack anyways. And how about you? You must be really strong all on your own! Did you bring any weapons? How fast can you run? Are you from this part of Narnia?"