Peaceful. The long drifts of the warm waves were soothing. It was so peaceful until it was rudely interrupted by a shake to Tahliz's shoulder. "Get up! We've got a task to do" Qahnaar kept shaking his shoulder. Tahliz shot his sister an irritated look.
"Ugh, just a little longer" Tahliz whined and pulled his pillow over his head. Qahnaar just snatched it off of him.
"Up! Now!" Qahnaar ordered more seriously, wacking her brother with the pillow. Tahliz chuckled and rolled of the edge to get up.
"Ok, ok" Tahliz yawned and stretched, "so what's this task?".
"Hunting, again" Qahnaar put the pillow back and spoke more calmly. "The bison we caught had fed the whole tribe, your share is in the grate hall, Cheif wanted to make the stew. But our storage was broken into, think it's foxes but we're now low on meat again" Qahnaar explained, she was already in her armour and her bow was sat on her back.
Tahliz got up and went to the armoury, getting his own armour on. The straps were always a pain and took him at least twenty minutes before he had it all secure. Tahliz reached up and patted his hand around before frowning, "Qahnaar! Where's my bow?" Tahliz's frown was more confused, he just put it in his spot. Actually, half the weapons were missing from their spots but the amount of armour around showed that no-one was out. Qahnaar walked in and formed a frown when she noticed as well.
"That's concerning, the only ones left are the dull and rusted things, even our arrows are low" Qahnaar commented, looking around then snapping her gaze at the window. "Well shit" she muttered.
"What?" Tahliz looked over then his frown turned to a pissed scowl. The window was smashed in, even the wood had marks of the weapons scraped beside it. Qahnaar looked pissed, she looked out the window and her gaze moved to the foundation of the wall.
"Fuckers got in from our weakened wall... go tell the Cheif, I think he's in the grate hall" Qahnaar sighed deeply, jumping out and heading out to investigate the foot prints in the snow.
"Yeah, stay safe" Tahliz then left the armoury on her order, heading into the barracks to take the shortcut to the grate hall.
"Well now that's a look" Tahliz jumped slightly, the small hallway was dim and hard to see further up. He didn't know anyone would be in the path let alone just standing there. "Calm down, it's me" Ventus chuckled and walked up, "but seriously, what's with a pissed look like that?".
"Someone broke into the armoury, half the weapons are missing" Tahliz reported, after all, Ventus is the Captin's son, he's apart of the council just like how young Lux would be once he sees his sixteenth winter.
Ventus jropped his playful grin and looked at him more seriously, "you sure? That's quite an accusation".
"Me and Qahnaar noticed the missing weaponry, she was the one to find the broken window and tracks, she's out scouting now" Tahliz replied, matching his serious and formal tone.
Ventus nodded, walking down the dim path, back to the barracks, "Uncle and Father are in a meeting right now, I'll tell them after, until then we'll catch up to your sister". Tahliz nodded and followed, going on a mission with the Captin's son was bound to be good for his apprenticeship. Ventus led the way, heading out of the barracks and through the framework of the wall. "Whoever decided to steal from us weren't discreet" Ventus had a frown, Tahliz could tell he was thinking of something but couldn't tell what.
"So we have lowsey thieves? So what? We can just take em in to the Cheif" Tahliz thought, following Ventus on the obvious trial through the snow. The snow was scuffed with the prints of at least 3 elves, leading down the hill and heading into the forest, south west. "They're too obvious" Ventus seemed troubled, "wouldn't that be a good thing?" Tahliz wondered, puzzled as he followed Ventus swiftly. "It's like they want us to follow" Ventus added.
"That's what I thought" Qahnaar added, heading out of the trees at the edge of the forest.
"What did I miss?" Tahliz titled his head but kept quiet, he tried to wrap his mind around as to why someone would want to be caught after stealing. "Qahnaar, what you find?" Ventus asked, taking the lead as the three of them followed the path further into the forest.
"The trial led up near the old storage cabin, I kept my distance but the door looked ripped off, a guard was standing at the entrance" Qahnaar reported.
"Then you came back for reinforcements? You're turning into a great warrior, hard to see that you're both just one year into your apprenticeship" Ventus nodded approvingly.
"Yeah, the three of us can handle it!" Qahnaar stated, excitedly and her sword arm at her holter. Tahliz was excited yes, any apprentice would be, this is Tahliz's first possible fight outside the arena.
Ventus soon stopped, he crouched and gestured for the twins to follow his lead. Tahliz crouched next to him, Qahnaar already using a tree for cover. Ventus's frown deepened, he had his eyes narrowed and his teanse demeanor showed that something was wrong. Tahliz took another look, it was quite far but he could see the door was on the ground but he didn't see the guard. Ventus unsheived his sword, "follow, be ready" he ordered. The twins copied and held their swords out ready, Ventus slowly approached, the twins right by his side. Then Tahliz saw it, the guard was in the snow, blood soaked snow puddled by the guards wound. A horrible slash on the elfs side and his insides looked chewed on.
"First sign of movement you don't hesitate, got it? It could be a polar bear" Ventus ordered, the twins nodded and slowly looked in the old shed. Tahliz could see boxes of the missing weapons near the entrance but then his expression stiffened when he saw the bodies three other elves, their stomach's slashed and insides looked torn. Ventus approached first, looking up and down the walls, there was no sign of a polar bear around anymore but one clearly was. Tahliz followed Ventus to the bodies, sheathing his sword as Qahnaar looked over the boxes of weapons.
"These slashes..." Ventus muttered in deep thought.
"What about them?" Tahliz asked, keeping his eyes on the bodies. He used his sword to open the wound to find that his chest was empty, the elves flesh was untouched but his organs were torn out of him. "Don't think a bear would be this clean" Tahliz mumbled.
"Exactly" Ventus agreed and inspected the bodies before looking around. "Those slashes were on Gaylord's and Toor's bodies" he informed, Ventus was tensed and looked around frantically.
Gaylord and Toor, Tahliz barly saw them, for one they were two years ahead in their apprenticeship but also were personally trained by Captin Glacies. Tahliz knew they were killed, he wasn't told by what. "What does that mean?" Qahnaar asked this time, "also there's weapons with smith work from the western tribes, they didn't steal from just us" he added, holding a dagger with engravings of an elk.
"Noted" Ventus was by the entrance, he had something in his hands, a tuff of long white fur. The tuff was longer then Qahnaar's hair and Tahliz knows as a fact that Qahnaar loves to have her hair as long as possible. She would state that a true warrior would have her own personal crown.
"A howler dragon was here and recently" Ventus announced, "stay on your guard, if you see it run and that's an order" he added. Tahliz couldn't help but think of the one he had saw in the forest, not far from here either, "could it be the same one?" He thought. Tahliz stared at the courps, "that could've been me, turns out he just preferred cod" Tahliz sighed and thought of the encounter. He took in everything he learned from the anxious one, "wait, he buried his nose" Tahliz thought anf then went outside. "And burrowed into the snow" Tahliz kept his eyes on the snow. There was a lot of it in the small clearing that surrounded the abandoned shed. Tahliz's gaze scanned the snow until one pile caught his eye, there was an obvious pile then a disturbed path that fled into the trees.
"Ventus" Tahliz called and the Captin trainee poked his head out of the entrance, "I think it's gone" he announced. Ventus's expression went from stern to puzzled.
"Gone? How do you know?" Ventus approached, confused but then suddenly halted; Tahliz had never seen such fear on his face, for someone who's usually carefree, he looked ready bolt and run away.
"There's a path this way" Tahliz pointed his thumb behind him, "I think it left-".
He hushed immediately when a drop of blood dripped onto his arm, that instinctual chill ran down his spine and his breath quickened instantly. Ventus had his sword out ready, now looking more furious and ready to kill. Qahnaar had her bow loaded, ready. Tahliz reluctantly looked up to see a bloodstained muzzled looking down at him. Those deep purple eyes looked down at him, softly but it still made him gulp, Tahliz didn't have any cod to distract it this time.
Time felt frozen, Tahliz looked up at the beast as it's nostrils flared and sniffed him. He wasn't worried about his left paw anymore and his whiskers twitched and whipped in the breeze. "Urr- h-hi?" Tahliz nervously chuckled and the best narrowed his eyes. He titled his head and his deep blue horns glowed in the sunlight, it purred but strangely compared to yesterday. He sounded like he wanted to copy the chuckle that Tahliz did.
With a blink of an eye, Tahliz felt a lasso wrap around his waist and suddenly threw him back to the others. The beast snarled and charged at Ventus as he held onto Tahliz, the best stopped infront of them, throwing snow and dirt up at them. It got on its hined legs like a bear and his roar wasn't too far from it, deep and it seemed to echo on itself. His roar felt icy and sent a chill down the both of them. Tahliz felt Ventus stiffen in his stance, Tahliz was still stuck in his arm that had lassoed him away. The beast slowly backed down on its paws and paced back and forth, growly deep in its throat at the two. Tahliz could see Qahnaar at the corner of her eye but she looked horrified, her arms shaking as her arrow failed to stay in place to aim.
The beast kept growing and pacing, the blood on his snout began to dry or freeze on the long fur. The white fur fading into the rich brown, molting and falling off with every other step. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit" Ventus muttered, Tahliz could tell that he couldn't move, he was panicing. The beast kept his growl but it softened after a while, it soon began to huff at Ventus, occasionally side eyeing Tahliz. He wanted something.