The Sky Maiden

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Dream Spirit

Guest
Original poster
In the mystical land known as Terra, two nations are on the brink of war. To the south lies the country of Egata, a country filled with fertile plains and many clear lakes teeming with aquatic life. North of Egata likes the country of Grovia, a place covered in forests and tall mountains, and rich in precious metals. The country of Egata is jealous of Grovia's rich metal and precious gem deposits, while the Grovian's envy the Egatians for their farmland and abundance of food. Many times have the two nations gone to war, and now they are likely to begin a new war. The key to victory being one girl.

The girl that the two nations seek is known as the Sky Maiden. The Sky Maiden is a powerful being said to carry the soul of a goddess. She is important to the countries because of the immense power she holds. By using the power of charms and runes, enchanters and spell casters are able to bind the girl's power and use it to carry out their wishes. Those who command the power of the Sky Maiden are able to command weather and the time of day, meaning that whichever country controls her essentially can control the rest of the people of Terra.

Recently, news of the Sky Maiden being found reached the ears of the King of Grovia. Knowing that his country needed her in order to obtain victory, he sent a small specialized team to cross over the border into Egata to retrieve the girl. The team was made to be able to handle any situation and consisted of only the country's best fighters. First, the king selected the country's most strongest and deadly warrior to protect the Sky Maiden and the rest of the team, then he chose the country's most talented and devoted mage in order to be able to control the Sky Maiden, and lastly chose the country's most skilled ranger in order for the mission of sneaking across the border and finding the Sky Maiden to be successful. A hefty reward was to be given to them if they were to be successful, and quite a large fraction of the reward was given beforehand in order to encourage them to get the job done. The future of their country depended on them.
​
A carriage wobbled and creaked as it was pulled down the rough dirt road. Bouncing inside the carriage sat Lily, a rather short (5' 3") sixteen year old girl with quite an unusual appearance. She had long shimmering silver hair that went just to the middle of her back, striking gold irises, and tan skin from spending many hours outdoors. It was quite obvious from her appearance who she was, and it was the reason why the Emperor's men had found her so easily. She was the Sky Maiden.

Lily had heard legends of the Sky Maiden when she was young, but she never thought it possible that she could be them. When she was younger she was much less recognizable as the Sky Maiden. Her hair had been a light blond and her eyes a common brown, but as the years passed her hair and eyes gradually grew lighter, and lighter in appearance as her powers began to awaken. What had led the Emperor's men to her village though was not only her appearance, but also the misuse of her powers. There had been a long period of drought in her village and the farmers, her family included, needed rain or their crops would all die. Without even realizing it, she summoned a large storm cloud and brought rain to her village. The movement of the large cloud ended up blatantly giving away her position, and is what had caused her to end up in the position she was today.

Lily was almost halfway to the capitol of Egata. Her own hometown lied on the edges of Egata so it had been quite a long journey for her. She had only stopped in one town and two villages since the beginning of her journey, for the guards were trying not to draw too much attention, which they were doing a horrible job of. The carriage had the Emperor's crest boldly painted on the side of the carriage and the guards traveling with her all wore the outfit of the Royal Guard, which made it much too obvious that they were transporting someone important. Every town they went through they left rumors, making it extremely easy for anyone to track them, and particularly for the team sent by the Grovian King.
Trotting down on horseback on the same road as the one which the Sky Maiden was traveling on was the Grovian trio. Baldric the warrior, a tall (6' 4") and handsome blond haired and blue eyed young man, was trying to contain his laughter created by the idiocy of the Egatian villagers. They had just come from a village which had pretty much told them exactly where the Sky Maiden was and where she was traveling. None of the villagers had suspected that they were actually from Grovia, for him and his other two companions had disguised themselves in classic Egatian style clothing so that they would fit in, and it appeared that they had done a good job. It had been so easy to find the location of the Sky Maiden that he seriously wondered if they really needed a tracker with them.

"Pfft! Those villagers are such idiots!" Baldric laughed as he looked towards each of his companions "This mission is going to be way too easy."
 
Faroh studied his companions, both unrivalled in their respective skills, there was Baldric, the tall, rather handsome warrior, though he was vain and big headed too. Then there was Lucinda, the.... Mage? She was very elegant looking, even whilst riding horseback, she wore a long, flowing, white gown, with various symbols on it, Faroh didn't know what they meant, though they clearly showed she was an important part of the Mage's guild. His thoughts reverted back to their mission, to capture and retrieve the Sky Maiden, he had heard stories of the sky maiden as a youngster, discrediting them as he grew up as stories to get him to sleep, but now he was being sent after her. He was still sceptical though, not a huge fan of these stories of weather manipulation. Swearing under his breath he got off of his horse, he never liked riding, it was way to obvious for him to be spotted by whoever he was tracking, he told the others to do so too. "Pshh! Why?" retorted the Warrior, Baldric. "We can easily catch up to them in horseback."
Faroh, not one for arguments looked at him, "Yes, though we can easily be spotted, or even ambushed, not that I doubt your abilities as a warrior." Though he did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucinda had no intention of speaking with the ingrates more than necessary, the tracker seemed ok, slim build, though his muscle was well toned, roughly 5'10", he looked around Seventeen or Eighteen, whereas the Warrior was a pure brute, very muscular, though she doubted he had any intelligence. When the tracker Faroh told them to dismount their horses, she did so without hesitation, she didn't mind travelling by foot, she pulled a flask out of her pack and drank some spring water as Baldric started to kick up a fuss,oh god, she though to herself. I hope this mission does not take too long.
 
"Yes, though we can easily be spotted, or even ambushed, not that I doubt your abilities as a warrior."

Baldric was hesitant to dismount his horse and rolled his eyes at Faroh when he finished his speech. He didn't like being ordered around, especially by someone younger than him (though only by a few years), and by someone who looked a lot weaker as well. Why did the king have to put him in charge? If he wasn't being given such a huge reward for this job he would probably have quit long ago.

"Whatever," he grumbled as he finally dismounted from his horse "Luckily this job is paying well." He then forcefully flung his pack and weapons off his horse and over his back, then stomped after Faroh.
Not far ahead from the traveling trio lay Lily and the Emperor's carriage. Three guards were crowded around the carriage while the carriage's driver was attempting to replace a broken wheel. Lily stood a few feet away with a guard on each side while another guard paced around the carriage, keeping a lookout for any people. The pacing guard was dressed slightly more extravagantly than the rest, wearing vibrant blues and golds (the others wore faded blues and silvers), and was clearly the leader of the group. Lily, and many of the guards, were all very tired. The day was nearly over with the sun sinking lower and lower with each passing minute.

"Sir, I think we're going to have to set up camp." said one of the guards to the leader while pointing to the setting sun.

The leader of the Royal Guards sighed, frustrated by the recent development. "I suppose we have no choice" he said, glancing back at the broken carriage while he did. "Alright everyone! Everyone get ready to make camp!" he shouted, turning to face the rest of the guards. Everyone reacted quickly to his orders and helped bring the carriage to the side of the road and hid it in the trees and bushes, then the one mage in the group created a simple illusion over it so that it would be more well hidden. After hiding the carriage they all walked off the road and into the forest to make camp.

Once the camp was set the guards brought out some food and made a fire. The Emperor's guards had been somewhat smart and cleared most of their tracks, but making a fire had been quite a foolish decision, for the smoke clearly gave away their position. Lily's tent was set in the centre of the camp with the other tents each pointing towards hers so that it was protected, which would make it difficult for anyone to get inside. After the meal, most of the guards went to sleep in their tents, except for three which were put on watch duty. They rotated around the camp periodically, keeping a lookout for any intruders.

Lily lay curled up in her tent with a warm wool blanket wrapped around her body. Her mind buzzed with various thoughts, and the cold, hard ground beneath the tent was quite uncomfortable, both didn't improve her ability to sleep at all. She was starting to feel quite homesick, and also a bit worried about what would happen to her. What were they planning on doing with her? She knew that the Sky Maiden was supposed to be very powerful, but she certainly didn't feel it.
 
(Sorry for the lengh, exams and such, so not much time :|)


Faroh watched as Baldric hesitantly dismounted his horse, great, he thought to himself. As he tied their reins together, gently slapping their rear legs sending them in the opposite direction he planned on travelling. Looking around, surveying the area, he already had a basic plan, he was looking around for areas of shelter, or areas to hide. As the walked down the dirt road Faroh explained the plan to his companions, though it was very rudimentary it would do for now, he told them how they would be only resting once a day, for a short period, before continuing, to which his companions didn't say anything, there was a very gloomy feel about. The had been tracking for about 2 hours when in the distance Faroh spotted a column of smoke, rising into the sky from a densely forested area "Ha, idiots, that must be them" He laughed, pointing to the smoke, "We must be catching up to them." continuing to laugh to himself at the idiocy of whoever was with the Sky Maiden. That was one thing that bothered him, they did not know who she was travelling with, though his instincts told him it would be some kind of guard.

They reached the entrance to the forest at nightfall, carefully manoeuvring throughout the trees, whispering Faroh said "Okay, we will not extract her tonight, if you must engage, do it silently."
 
((That's ok. I understand. ^_^))

Baldric followed Faroh as he led them through the forest. After traveling for two hours they finally caught sight of where the Sky Maiden was, Faroh pointing to a large column of smoke marking her position. He chuckled lightly at the idiocy of the Sky Maiden's guards. Finding them had been much too easy. He just hoped they were at least decent fighters so this mission wouldn't be too boring.

Baldric and the rest of the trio arrived at the entrance to the forest at nightfall. Faroh said they would not attack yet, which he did not argue about with him. It didn't make much of a difference to him when they attacked. If Faroh wanted to wait then so be it. Most likely the Sky Maiden's people wouldn't start moving again till morning anyways.
Lily did not sleep well that night. Her dreams were riddled with nightmares and she kept waking to the sounds of the creatures of the night. She eventually awoke for the final time to one of the guards shaking her on the shoulder.

"It's time to get moving." they ordered.

Lily stepped out from her tent to see the guards circled around a burning campfire making breakfast, once again foolishly giving away their position. The guards seemed much too confident about themselves. They didn't seem to suspect at all that someone might be following them, or that anyone could possibly hold a threat to them. After all, they were the Royal Guard. Who could possibly stand a chance against them?

With breakfast finished and the camp packed, everyone headed back towards the main road. Lily felt something was wrong as they trudged through the forest. It was much too quiet. Where were the birds? Didn't they usually sing at dawn?

Lily gasped as one of the guards fell over. He was dead, an arrow visibly sticking out from their head. She whirled her head around, searching for the attacker. Though the guards had made her wear a large blue hooded cloak to hide her appearance, small strands of sparkling silver hair could be seen escape from her hood as she looked for where the arrow had come from. Another arrow whizzed by her and stabbed into one of the guards that walked beside her. She jumped back, terrified, and confused as to what to do. The men around her were also starting to panic and were shouting out for their attacker to come out from hiding.

((either it can be Faroh and the gang attacking or a group of bandits))
 
(Reserved, tonight I will try and post a long reply)
 
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