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After riding for several hours, Torden guides his horse to the side of the path, bringing the three horses whose reins he is also holding along behind him. He dismounts his steed and sighs in the darkness, the sole lantern hanging from a pole attached to his saddle providing some meager light. Leading the four animals and their burdens further from the path, he begins to make preparations to sleep for the night. Hobbling his own horse after unsaddling it and giving it a brief brush, he makes a pile of wood in a careless manner and uses a tiny trickle of Fire woven from the male half the True Source to turn it in to a blaze. He then begins unfastening the coverings of his prisoners, starting first with Sloane after securing the other animals.
Sloane groans softly around the gag as he is jostled on the back of the horse, but doesn't seem to wake.
Jaelyn wiggles a bit on the back of her horse, a few muffled noises coming from around where her head is buried.
Torden continues untying the bundles around and atop Sloane, muttering curses under his breath as some of the knots refuse to come undone immediately. After some time, he finally manages to remove all the gear and the ropes, allowing the free circulation of blood to the man's extremities after several hours of being bound. Without any real care, he drags the limp body out of the saddle and lets it fall to the ground in a heap. He frowns and watches it to see if he moves, for the moment still ignoring Jaylyn.
Sloane groans a little more loudly as he thuds into the ground, but then goes silent again, sprawling out into a more relazed position.
Using flows of Air, Torden secures Sloane's limbs together and ties off the flows before turning to Jaelyn's horse. With a sigh, he begins removing various items, shaking his head as the muffled sounds grow progressively louder, if not clearer. Finally, he unties her from her horse. As he frees her from the rope he use flows of Air to attempt to restrain her that way.
Sloane finally stirs from his sleep into a sort of dazed wakefulness. He thrashes weakly against the bonds while attempting to spit out the gag.
Jaelyn grasps Saidar as soon as she's free of the horse, lashing out widly with flows of Air herself to attempt to push Torden away from her and trying to step backwards, failing utterly due to the long hours of being tied and falling in a heap on the ground if nothing stops her.
As he feels the hairs on his arms prickle and the sensation he has learned to associate with a woman's channeling, Torden expands his grip on the Source exponentially. In the brief time this begins to happen, he is knocked off balance and to the ground by Jaelyn's lashing out, which summons several harsh-sounding words which can only be guessed at being curses in some strange tongue which was never meant for human mouths. Weaving a Shield of Spirit with a keen edge on it, he hurls it at the woman's connection to the Source as he sits up on his elbows and awkwardly crabwalks away from her several paces.
Sloane struggles vainly against the bonds of Air, making muffled noises around the gag. Finally, he manages to spit out the gag, the muffled noises becoming rather inventive curses.
Jaelyn draws deeper on the Source as Torden tumbles away, the extra Power the only thing saving her from being shielded. Rolling over and struggling to get to her feet, she gives a small petrified squeak, squinting her eyes to narrow slits and channing a strong flow of Air mingled with Fire into the campfire, making it flare up in a blindingly brilliant flash for a brief moment, finally getting to her feet and grabbing at the leathers of the horse she'd been tied to, not caring if the beast panics at the flare and drags her off with it, in fact, quite expecting that to happen.
Torden grunts and closes his eyes at the sudden brightness, all of the animals spooking at it as well. As she channels he redoubles his efforts and drives the Shield harder towards totally cutting the woman off from the Source. Thankfully the horses are securely tied or hobbled, their rearing and screaming not aiding their attempts to flee. The only one that is not tethered is Jaelyn's, which rears high and then suddenly bolts away at a full gallop, easily capable of dragging the girl along with it, regardless of the bit in its mouth.
Sloane curses even louder as he is blinded by the flash. He squeezes his eyes shut and thrashes around, rolling slowly away from the fire.
Jaelyn scrambles for a hold on the horse as it rears, a small whimper the only sign she gives as the shield slices home, desprately trying to haul herself up off the ground to cling to the horse as it bolts away.
Torden closes his eyes in relief as he feels the Shield restrict the girl's access to the One Power to nothing. Taking only half a moment, he opens them again and lashes out with a relatively simple loop of Air which he uses on the bolting steed to fatally break its neck mid stride. The beast immediately falters and proceeds to tumble to the ground without so much as a scream, the sound more like a wheeze. Its neck rests at an unnatural angle. Sighing, Torden rises and brushes some leaves off of himself, muttering quietly, half in prayer, 'A little more of Your luck would not be amiss.' Grimacing, he turns towards Sloane and offers the lad a sharp kick to the gut with the hard leather toe of his boot for his troubles.
Luckily enough, Jaelyn gets thrown clear of the horse as it tumbles, but she doesn't look like she's in too much of a condition to go anywhere at all, having quite a bit of difficulty even standing up.
Sloane oophs as the wind is knocked out of him. He glares balefully up at Torden as he gasps for air.
Torden crouches down, looking in to Sloane's eyes and speaks as if he were addressing a child, an especially retarded one, 'I am going to remove the gag now. Don't make me wish I hadn't. I can think of worse ways to keep a man quiet.' Grinning maliciously, he cuts its away with his dagger and removes the ball of cloth, tossing both aside. Not giving him a chance to respond, he rises and takes a few steps towards Jaelyn's direction, calling out, 'We're over here. I'm afraid your horse has gone lame.'
Jaelyn tries and fails to get up to her feet yet another time, but keeps scrabbling backwards, her eyes wide in fright as she just stares at Torden, not even attempting to say a word.
Sloane blinks up at the man, seeming to focus in on him more by sound than by sight. He grunts, finally, and turns his head to spit on the ground, now that his mouth is finally free.
Sighing loudly, Torden shakes his head and says over his shoulder to Sloane, 'Do you think she would get very far ?' Not really waiting for a response, he begins to walk towards the fallen horse, still maintaining the Shield. He weaves a simple sphere of Spirit which glows eerily in the darkness, making it float above his eye level and on his left side.
Jaelyn freezes in place, her eyes just staring at the glowing ball of light next to Torden.
Sloane mutters softly,'She can be very resourceful. There is no telling how far she could get.' He grunts loudly once more as he struggles vainly against the bonds of Air for a moment, then lets out a loud sigh as he finally gives up.
Torden looks from the woman, to the sphere, and then to the woman again. A grin touches his lips as he says quietly, 'You have no doubt now realized what sort of person you are up against. ' He pauses to lick his lips and asks innocently enough, 'Now then, will you cooperate, or are you going to try and make this difficult for the both of us ? You have already doomed us to eating horse at all our meals for the Light knows how long...' As he trails off, he tilts his head to the side, studying her.
Jaelyn presses both hands over her mouth slowly, her gaze flickering to the dead horse not that far away, but quickly returning to Torden, studying his face with a rather blank expresion.
Sloane rolls over to face towards Jaelyn and Torden, still blinking excessively and his eyes tearing. A confused frown creeps over his face as his eyes settle more or less on Jaelyn and he struggles to sit up.
Torden grimaces and shakes his head, replying to the girl's silence with, 'You had best stand up by my count of three, or I will invite some rather rude guests to our campfire. Trollocs have absolutely no manners and I fear the Myrddraal would enjoy your company much too thoroughly. One... Two...'
Jaelyn turns even further pale at these words, looking for a moment as if she were simply going to fall back in a dead faint, but she seizes a grip on a nearby brush, heedless of the small cuts the sharp spines cause on her hands as she hauls herself up to a somehwat-standing position, yet wavers greatly, her balance obviously shot.
Sloane surges up into a seated position, but uses just a bit much effort and topples over again. 'Ashes!' he curses as he rolls over to face in the direction of the other two again. With anger starting to tinge his voice, he snaps out,'You should not even jest about such things.' Switching his attention to Jaelyn, he says,'Why are you letting him speak to you like that. If you are just going to take it, untie me and I'll handle it.'
Torden grins and turns back towards Sloane, looking in the man's direction long enough to unravel the bonds securing his legs together. Turning back to the girl, he nods at her and says softly, 'Good. Do you think you can walk ?'
Jaelyn doesn't dare trust herself to give a verbal answer to Torden's question, just giving a few quick shakes of her head. Her eyes flicker to Sloane for a brief moment and she licks her lips nervously, though still says nothing.
Sloane's expression grows very confused as Jaelyn continues her silence. When the restraint on his legs dissipates, he quickly tucks his legs beneath him and starts to rise. Just as he gets his weight poised to hop up, he suddenly goes very still and looks at his legs, then at the ground around his feet as if searching for something, the confusion on his face growing more and more vivid by the second.
Torden is oblivious to Sloane's antics as nods and sighs, muttering, 'Very well.' Moving around to the side of Jaelyn, he crouches down and extends his arms, attempting to hoist her up, an under an arm and her knees.
Jaelyn recoils from Torden's touch, but doesn't fight him, though given how tense she is she probably makes an akward bundle to carry. Her hands press against her lips again as she sjust stares up at him, the shock finally started to fade.
Sloane apparently does not find what he is looking for on the ground. He suddenly mutters,'Oh light!' very loudly, then proceeds to deposit the rather excellent meal from the inn on the ground in front of him.
Torden grimaces distastefully, muttering quietly, 'My, you're a bony one.' Glancing ahead he looks in Sloane's direction, a smirk crossing his lips as he see's the man's meal all over the ground. Sighing, he makes it to the fire's edge and mutters darkly, 'You had better clean that up when you're done, lad.' Setting his stiff burden down on a fallen log, he straightens and mutters at her, 'Hands behind your back.'
Jaelyn drops her hands from her face, closing her eyes and reluctantly putting her hands behind her back, jaw clenched tightly and every muscle in her body quivering with tension.
Sloane is oblivious to all comments, being rather busy and whotnot.
Torden sighs and uses flows of Air to bind the girl's wrists together. Tying it off, he also ties off the Shield with several rather elaborate knots. Using a thin flow of Earth, he circles the camp and ties it to a thread of Spirit which leads to a loop of Fire and a loop of Air. He knots everything together neatly and then releases the Source, the sphere that had previously been bathing the environs with an unnatural light quickly dissipates. Moving to sit across the fire from the other two, near his own horse, he sighs and shakes his head, for the moment staring in to the flames.
Jaelyn twists her wrists together, pulling against the unseen bonds even though she knows the futility, and just stares after Torden, her gaze not really quite focused.
Sloane finally finishes his technicolor yawn. He spends a few moments gasping for breath before turning to look in Jaelyn's direction, his face very pale and his pupils dilated unevenly, although the last may not be noticeable from the distance.
Torden continues watching the flames, nothing much in the way of definite expression on his face, his features resting in an neutral way. His tone flat, he asks, 'Will you make it through the night without dying on me, lad ?'
Jaelyn swallows dryly, meeting Sloane's look with a fearful glance of her own for a few brief moments before she turns her attention back to Torden, her face turning a bit more pale, if it were possible, and she closes her eyes, swaying slightly, but not quite fainting... yet.
Sloane shudders like a pennant in high winds for a moment, then his gaze shoots forward again and he collapses into a bout of dry heaves. Other than that, he gives no reply.
Torden turns away from the fire to watch the man's movements and sighs, shaking his head. Turning his gaze to Jaelyn, he asks gruffly, 'What about you ?'
Jaelyn just blinks at Torden for a few moments, as if she had no idea what he was talking about, then manages a few quick nods before closing her eyes again, hunching her shoulders over as she drops her head.
When the shudders finally stop, Sloane turns to look at Torden. He sighs tiredly and mutters something completely unintelligible. He shakes his head slowly, still muttering, then crumples unconscious.
Torden grimaces and nods at Sloane, replying quietly, 'Well said.' He gives Jaelyn a nod as well before rising, leaving the fire to gradually die, and begins rummaging through one of his saddlebags. He pulls out his bedroll and unfurls it. Lying down, he seizes saidin long enough to weave a dome of Air with a web of Spirit as the frame. He leaves himself several air holes near the bottom before tying it off. Turning in his side away from you both, he quickly fades to away to sleep.
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