Chapter 8

Tamar, Cora, and Toshiro make their way through the Forest. Cora speeds them along, able to easily trace the strange smell of the centaur and...elf, but not quite elf...a few hours pass.

Then, through the brush, they see the flickering glow of what must be a campfire. A small one, but a fire.

Torque, on guard duty, hears the snapping of twigs. She looks in that direction and sees a figure on horseback and another on foot. They seem to have noticed the campfire.

Staying quite still Torque whips an a arrow, with dove feather flight (a sign of good will and unsurety in her centaur clan) from the quiver on her back and fits it to her bow. Taking careful aim, she focuses for a dead tree stump not far in front of them. Remebering Caels warning of visitors, she fires the warning shot which thumps into the rotten wood easily. Torque watches for a reaction before going to tell the others.

Diving from his horse as the arrow strikes the stump, Toshiro fades into the shadows as Tamar goes prone.

Quickly slipping through the night, he makes it to about where the arrow flew from. Seeing the Centaur silouetted against the faint flickering light from the camp, he follows the creature's movements with a well-trained eye. Hmmm.... this may be more difficult than I thought.

Torque, somewhat surprised by the quickness of the now-dismounted figure and his rapid disappearance, instinctively draws another arrow and carefully scans the forest as she slowly backs toward the camp.

Seeing the purely defensive actions of the centaur, Toshiro slips foward and stops some ten feet from her, still in the shadows. In clear and almost accentless common, he spoke (after preparing to dodge the almost-certain arrow that would fly) with a hint of the teacher-to-student amusement in his voice. "Child, there are better ways of getting our attention and most of them are not as dangerous as thy choice."

Startled, the arrow slips from her grasp Torque watches carefully as the figure dodges its sharp stone point. Fitting anouther to her bow she holds it ready. Annoyed by the figure's tone, she straightens to her full height. "I am no 'Child.' Just make one wrong move and you shall see, I am an excelent marksm'n the reason the first arrow didn't hit you. Now who are you?" Torque continues to watch the shadows for the other this figure was traveling with.

Gwenh shook her head to clear it. She had been leaning against a tree and dozed off. She went to the fire and sat, eying her surroundings. She heard others talking, one she didn't recognise, and saw that the centatuar was nowhere to be seen. Figuring it was nothing she stared into the flames and poked the fire with a stick, still in her elvish form.

"I mean no disrespect," Toshiro eased himself from the shadows to reveal himself to the centaur. "But as I said, there are better ways to get one's attention." A smile accompanied the statement, hopefully defusing the situation before Tamar did something rash. " A simple 'Who goes there' would have worked as well as waiting for us to hail the camp. But I imagine things in the area are not as placid as it appears.... no?" Attempting to keep his tone neutral, he watched the forest edge, all senses 'listening' for his companion.....

"A simple 'who goes there' would of also meant revealing my location instantly to any with hearing. The arrow shows no weakness but allows a defensive strength to be seen. If I had let you reach the camp there would have been no time for defense as I still don't know who or what you are, the darkness may harbour all kind of creatures." Torque steps back, growing nervous at the stranger. "I have little trust for those who use the horse as a beast of burden, even if the treatment is good, more so for a biped such as yourself. Now, must I explain my every action or are you going to tell me your intention!" Pawing the ground with one hoof and still trying to locate the figure's companion, Torque lowers the arrow but keeps it ready. She casts a glance back to the campfire flame.

"Good point - things must be more difficult and dangerous around here than memory serves." Toshiro clasps his hands in front of him. "And to answer your question, I am called Toshiro. A friend said there was a group in need of assistance and asked me to help. She gave me a name to ask for should I find them.... Torque."

Lowering her bow she places the arrow back in the quiver on her back, remembering the sign Cael had recognised "And the freind might be, Kvelti? If so I believe such help would be most welcome. I appologise for my suspicious nature." She bows her head slightly and gestures toward the camp. "The rest await."

Drowsily Gremlock blinked his weary eyes. For the past day, he had been in a strange trancelike state. Apparently the others had not been aware of it. What had caused it? Why was only he affected? The questions pounded inside his head. Looking around for his companions he asked, "Where are we?"

Gwenh smiled over at Gremlock "Where still in the camp." She walked over to him and sat next to him. "Are you alright?" She laid her right hand on his shoulder and looked at him. "I've been looking into the fire, so I've been distracted...are you ok?" She smiled at him, her eyes glowing bright silver in the firelight.

"Yes I think I'll be fine. I've just felt strange today. I am not sure why." Gremlock replies.

Cael wakes briefly as the strangers enter into the campsite. Once he sees Torque leading them in, though, he quickly slips back into his dreams.

The newcomers are introduced to the rest of the company and everyone goes back to bed.

Then it's morning.

As breakfast is being gnawed on and camp is being broken down, there is a sudden, small 'pop!' and a young woman falls three feet to the ground.

Gremlock recognizes her as a classmate from the Academy of the Mystic Arts. Jana was, well, a little shallow but a fairly good magician.

She gets up and dusts herself off. "Ohmigod!" The rest of the party, however, has no idea who this is, and they reacted accordingly...and Jana freezes as various weapons are pointed at her.

Drawing his sword along with the rest of the party, Gremlock suddenly reconized the intruder as Jana, an aquaintance from the Academy of Mystic Arts. "She's not dangerous," he said sheathing his weapon and starting forward towards her. "Jana, how have you been? It's been a long time."

Seeing that Gremlock was not suprised by the woman, Gwenh sheathed her sword and dagger and sat by the fire, absentmindedly running her fingers through her hair, waiting for something, anything to happen. As she does so she watches the two converse.

Once Gremlock vouches for the newcomer, Cael grudgingly lest his spell dissipate, the ethereal flame fading from around his hands. He watches the two mages warily; while he now knows magic is a natural part of the universe, he was brought up to believe that mages were anathma, forbidden, and the old ways are still hard to forget.

"Whoa! Gremlock, totally paranoid people you're hanging with. Hi everybody, I'm not here for trouble, kay? I'm just bringing the man here back home."

"What?" exclaims Gremlock.

"Like I can teleport? Shee-ha, right. The Headmistress sent me to get you. There are some totally bogus problems up at the Academy, like orcs and ogres and stuff showing up, and the King's men are still, like, mostly occupied in Bhakail, cleaning up the scum down there...so Ger wants all the advanced students back, now, to help with the defense."

Gremlock looks at the party ruefully. "I'm sorry, but I have to go. They're like family to me...if anything happened to the people there, I'd... well, I have to go. I know this is important, very important, but I think it's in good hands. I'll come back to help when I can." He wishes all of you goodbye.

Jana waves him in close to her. "Ger's got me on the crystal and will 'port us both back to the Academy." He stands next to her and they both vanish.

Gwenh looks over at where they disappeared and sighs from boredom. The one person here who was semi-interesting to talk to is gone. Oh well, I only have a long life of boredom ahead of me anyway She looks at whoever else is their and waits for something to happen.