"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! I'M A KNIGHT AND THE GREATEST SWORDSMAN IN THE ORDER!"
Zephyr woke to the sound of Harold shouting. His head ached terribly, and it felt like he had cuts and bruises up and down his arms and legs. At least his loincloth was still intact.
"What self respecting knight allows himself to get black out drunk before midmorning brunch?" An abrasively high pitched voice questioned with a scoff. "For that matter, what self respecting knight allows himself to be beaten by a cursed beggar and a peddler?"
Zephyr assumed this voice belonged to the person behind their abduction. Taking Gama, he could feasibly understand as she actually seemed useful, but he couldn't fathom what use this person could see in him or Harold. Then again, Ariel had mentioned lots of people were traveling to the Brightwoods for Autumn's Gate. Perhaps this person was new to the area and clueless to who Zephyr and Harold were. They were both pretty infamous within that particular city.
"IF YOU DON'T FREE ME RIGHT NOW, THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!" Harold screeched. This day was just getting better and better... assuming it was still the same day. Zephyr's vision was still a bit distorted and he was struggling to comprehend what he was actually seeing, and what his mind was imagining up.
"Careful now," Gama grumbled from somewhere nearby, "Your panic is showing."
"Talon, gag them would you?" The shrill voice demanded. "I'm getting sick of listening to the rubbish speak!"
"You desire this one gag all three prisoners, yes?" A new voice that must've belonged to 'Talon' spoke up. "Not just the loud rude one, yes?"
Zephyr was fascinated by Talon's unique accent, as well as his unusual syntax. He'd never met anyone from such a seemingly exotic culture. Not that he'd really met anyone else from outside of Sylvain. Or Brightwood really. Even on the off chance he'd crossed paths with foreigners, Zephyr wasn't exactly the sort of person people went out of their way to talk to.
"That's what I said, wasn't it?!" Kimberly snapped impatiently.
"Forgive this one," Talon dropped his tone submissively. "This one is not smart as his Lady Kimberly. This one was confused."
"Don't worry, you aren't alone there," Gamma scoffed.
It was at that time Zephyr felt movement behind him, and pieced together that her voice was coming from that direction as well. By flexing his fingers experimentally, he felt them brush against the soft skin of what felt like her hands. He was too fascinated with the unexpected experience to care about the way she recoiled from his touch.
"Quit groveling and silence them already!" Kimberly exclaimed. Zephyr heard a crack of a whip and let his hands fall limp. He'd felt the sting of a whip before... better not to risk provocation of it's use.
"Yes, Lady Kimberly," Talon yelped.
Based on the ensuing sounds of struggle and shouting, it sounded as though Talon decided to start with Harold.
"You've gotten yourself into quite the predicament," Misty remarked.
It took a bit, but as his eyes adjusted he was eventually able to spot the obnoxious pest perched on a barrel of some kind. She looked utterly bored as she rested on the wood on her stomach, chin propped up on her hands as she listlessly kicked her legs from the knees. Twig and Dew had taken up similar positions on either side of her. Zephyr opted to ignore them as he listened dully to the sounds of struggle going on between Talon and Harold.
"This one asks the cursed beggar holds still," Talon appeared at his side next, sounding understandably out of breath and exasperated. Harold certainly hadn't made Talon's job easy on him.
Zephyr could smell the rancid odor of the scrap of sour cloth Talon was brandishing. The putrid thing that must've been the intended gag. All thoughts of Misty and her friends flew from Zephyr's mind as he lifted his gaze and unexpectedly found himself gawking at the stranger in front of him.
"What are you?" He wondered softly.
Talon was unlike anything Zephyr had ever seen. Like Gama, Talon had a sturdy looking prehensile tail, but it was longer and he was considerably larger than his goblin mix acquaintance. In fact, Talon was at least a foot--if not two--taller than Gama, though it was hard to be sure because of his slouched posture. Talon's skin was bright, leafy green, and he had long silky black hair that hung like a veil around his head, shrouding a set of almond shaped maroon eyes as well as a nasty looking barbed slave's collar. His long, narrow ears were thicker and sturdier than a typical Faye, but he still sported a pair of moth-like wings, dull and brown with black and white patterns that caused the illusion of predatorial looking eyes gazing from their surface. All of this was remarkable, but it wasn't what truly captured his attention.
"Excuse me?" Talon seemed surprised and a bit perturbed by the question. "This one is a who, not a what, yes? This who is a who that is called the name Talon, yes?"
"You have horns... like me," Zephyr stated in awe. He had heard of horned creatures, such as unicorns, dragons and Satyrs among numerous others. Even so, horns weren't common among the Sylvan. It had been a source of questions pertaining to Zephyr's unknown lineage for as long as he could remember. One of several of his unpleasant features that earned him the title 'cursed.'
"This one may have horns, but the horns this one has are not so sinister as the cursed beggar, yes..." Talon's eyes narrowed angrily, but even so the peculiar slave seemed more pitying than annoyed. Zephyr wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that even such a cruely treated being who wasn't allowed even an iota of free will found him so pitiable. His mistress wasn't so kind.
"Just gag him already!" Kimberly snapped impatiently, brandishing her whip threateningly as she spoke. Zephyr pretended not to notice Talon flinch.
"Yes Lady Kimberly," Talon stated. he cast Zephyr one last pitying look, then set to work gagging him. Zephyr saw no point of resisting. Perhaps something interesting might come of the whole experience.
"You're sooo boring!" Misty complained as Zephyr dropped his head so Talon had a better angle to tie the gag.