Alena and Gareth waited with the other warriors.

"She has gone to ask for aid," one warrior spoke suddenly.

Alena nodded. "Which can only mean one thing, a total war," she added. "One that will hopefully end this madness and bring peace in our lands.

"Do you really believe that could happen?" Gareth asked her. "Even if the paleds are gone, the other tribes will remain."

"Are you not tired of fighting against your brothers?" Alena hissed as she thought of Xavier. "To what end does slaying our own kind serve?" she challenged with more venom in her voice than she intended.

Gareth regarded her suspiciously for a moment. He had never seen his sister so passionately defend the other tribes before. Something happened to her in their last battle-something that she was hiding from him. The other warriors also looked at Alena in surprise, yet she ignored all of their looks and stared straight ahead.

"They are not my brothers," Gareth hissed back. "They are not my kin. I only fight with them because they can help us against the paleds-once those cat-like fiends are gone, they will be my enemies as before."

"Perhaps that is your mistake brother." Alena replied coldly as she awaited Aryann's return from her meeting.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Aryann suddenly appeared out of the dark forest, Kalur at her side. A smile lit her face. "We will have aid from Dalur." she said. The warriors jumped to their feet and started cheering. They would not be alone in the war. "We leave at dawn tomorrow," Aryann continued. "We will go to the Stonestar tribe, and make a treaty with them."

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Thanks Nurratiel, *Ennostiel*, PD, and Githoniel

Alena smiled when she heard the news, delighted to have more warriors on their side, but greater still was her joy and relief that they would soon make an alliance with the Stonestar tribe. She wanted to see Xavier again-but not on the opposite side of the battlefield.

Gareth just snorted at the news of another treaty, not exactly thrilled about it.

"Relax, Gareth," Alena told him in hushed tones. "We need as many warriors we can against the Paleds."

"Yes, but another treaty?" he scoffed. "How can you be sure they will not betray us?"

Alena gritted her teeth, but said nothing-her brother's words starting to infuriate her more by the minute.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

((I was wondering if Darin could make it to one of the camps and be found by someone?))

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Tika rode quietly as they arrived. Looking at the two men she asked. "So what happens now?"

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Where do you go when your running away,
The cost of stopping is too great to pay.
~Amanda (saw this written in a washroom stall at a movie theater)

(well... Darin could be part of the Stonestar tribe... though they don't have camps their whole tribe is in a hidden cave.)

Xavier made his way toward his tribe with his three men when something in the dirt caught his eye. He stopped, and motioned for his men to go ahead. When they were out of sight, he kneeled and examined a print. A Paled, obviously heading to Dalur by the direction. Xavier had never gone there, but figured that it might be a spy. With an irritated sniff, he started to follow the tracks. Oh how much he hated spies. Even to the fact that he didn't even use them himself except to keep an eye on the area around the Stonestar cave...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

"You go to see Aryann." The smaller of the two replied. He kept his eyes straight ahead. They dismounted, and waited for Tika to dismount. When she did, the shorter man walked in front of her, leading the way. The larger one walked behind her, making sure she didn't do anything. After passing several warriors getting ready to sleep, for it was getting dark, they came to a small group of important-looking tribemembers. Aryann looked up and smiled.
"Welcome, Paled. I would like you to explain who are you, where you came from, and an good reason why you came." Aryann said, with a slightly amused smile on her face the whole time. She had sensed something different about her, not evil, just different. "But only after some refreshments, as are deserved, after a hard ride."

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Thanks Nurratiel, *Ennostiel*, PD, and Githoniel

When Gareth and Alena found themselves alone again, Gareth turned to look at his sister, his expression cross.

“What has gotten into you?” he hissed, being sure to keep his voice low as to not draw attention.

“What do you mean?” Alena asked, trying to evade the subject.

“Don’t be coy with me,” he replied sternly. “Since the last battle, you have done nothing but defend the other tribes. Have you forgotten the blood that they shed-the blood of our kin that they have shed?”

“And have we not done the same to them?” Alena responded back.

“They are our enemies!” Gareth roared, his voice getting louder.

“They are not evil.” Alena replied, her voice also taking an edge.

“What happened? And I want the truth.”

“The truth? Alright, in our last battle I met Xavier…”

Before she could finish, Gareth cut her off, his eyes flashing.

“Xavier? The leader of the Stonestar? Have you gone mad?! What were you doing with him? Have you forgotten our warriors that his men have slain? You spit upon their graves with your actions.”

Alena recoiled at his words as if he had struck her. “Well, that’s droll coming from you! You who can not stand strangers -enjoying the company of one. I saw the way you looked at her…”

“That is different, and you know it! She saved my life!”

“And Xavier saved mine!” Alena challenged.

“What?”

“Yes.” Alena replied coldly. “You want to know what happened. Fine. I was struck by a paled arrow and though I managed to fight for some time, I ended up being pinned down. A paled was about to deliver the death blow when Xavier came to my aid. I owe him my life.” she said as she turned on her heel and walked away.

Gareth grabbed her hand, causing her to turn back to face him. “Where are you going?”

“For a ride.” she replied evenly as she roughly withdrew her hand, her eyes warning her brother not to try to stop her. “Thalion!” she called.

In mere seconds the great lion came up to her and waited as she climbed upon his back. Without another word she rode out of Dalur.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

((Eruraina, that'd be great. Thanks))

Kai-Larr stood once again at the large wooden door. She took a deep breath before knocking on it. Not severe enough to cause alarm, but not soft enough not to be heard. She had to appear calm and confident. The King was a madman, but he was not easily fooled.

His servant opened up the doors and bowed to Kai-Larr, despite her earlier protestations.

"Leave us" the King's voice carried across the room to the door, it was as if he was closer than he actually was. The Servant turned and bowed to him and again to Kai-Larr before scurrying away. "What news do you bring me?" he asked, wasting no time with pleasantries.

"There was an incident" Kai-Larr began, "In the holding cell with the Human prisoner" she continued to explain before the King cut her off.

"I know of this." he snapped "I need to know where you were my dearest Kai-Larr" his voice was dark, but not accusatory.

Kai-Larr knew this was coming and began her explanation
"I was with the prisoner, as you wished Sire. But he told me nothing, stubborn human filth" she continued on, telling the King everything he needed to hear and no more. "I left the guards to close up, but I assume they must have taken things into there own hands and paid the price for it."

The King appeared before her suddenly and his eyes blazing and his heart was pounding. Breathing heavily he looked at Kai-Larr in silence, watching her every move. She did not flinch under his pressure, she was taught far too well for that.
"Why would they do such a thing?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Kai-Larr's.

"May I speak frankly Sire?" Kai-Larr asked her King, setting things up perfectly in place. The King nodded back in approval. "You have your best soldiers on the battlefield. Or as Assassins. The Palace guards are, to be quite blunt about it, useless. Undisciplined, reckless and the dregs of Paled society"

The King stayed silent for a moment, pondering her words. Giving no clue as to what was going on in his mind. Then he let out a belicose laugh.
"Oh my Kai-Larr, my dearest Kai-Larr." he continued to chuckle, dabbing the corners of his eyes "You are a wonderful creature. So full of passion and fire. You are of course quite correct. But for the Paled victory and crushing of the human race, I must have my very best out in the field."

"Then why was I taken from the field? Was I not a worthy soldier?" part of her words were tinged with a genuine hurt at being left behind to tend to things of a non-warrior nature.

"I had my reasons Kai-Larr, and I do not need to share them with you. Now, go. Investigate this human treachery and report back to me your findings" the Kings voice changed from warm to cold in an instant. He was hiding something from her. She was certain of it. But she said nothing and nodded in compliance and turned out the Kings room and back down to the holding area.

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(no problem)

Xavier followed the footprints quickly, easily gaining up on the Paled. When he came to the border of Dalur, he stopped, and looked around. The footprints had stopped. Suddenly he pulled out a dagger at the same time as the spy jumped on him and knocked him down. But Xavier pulled it down with him, and the two were locked in a fight. He held a fist that held a knife pointed at his throat, while the Paleb held his other hand that held his dagger. This was a test of who was the strongest.

For a moment they just layed there, trying to gain the upper hand. But with a grin, Xavier kneed the Paled in the gut, stunning it momentarily before knocking the kife from it's hand. It scratched him across the cheek, drawing blood. With a burste of rage, Xavier finally sunk his dagger in it's throat, and stood up.

He looked down at the fresh corpse, breathing hard, but soon catching his breath. A noise behind him startled him. He spun around to see Alena riding a lion out of Dalur.
"Alena?" he called out, wondering what she was doing away from the rest of her tribe. Anyone that looked could tell what he had been doing, with the corpse at his feet...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

"And so do people who don't want knifes embedded in thier chest" Blaidri growled, coming out from the shelter of the tree to pull the dagger out of the wood. Riannon and Madog slipped into the open, showing themselves "You see, what you call cowardice, I call carefullness. It is much better to be careful and alive than reckless and dead. Now, why don't you step away from the weapons and come towards us." Blaidri had no real idea what to do with his prisoner. He couldn't kill her when she was at his mercy, but niether did he have the capacity to hold her captive.

Alena halted Thalion in surprise as she saw Xavier in front of her standing over the body of a Paled scout.

"Xavier?" she asked in surprise as she dismounted from the lion. "I just needed some time to clear my thoughts," she added, knowing that he was probably wondering what she was doing alone. "Paled scouts" she muttered afterwards. "We should have guessed they would follow us..." she said as her voice trailed off. "Seems I owe you another thank you." she added after a moment, a slight smile tracing her lips.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

Xavier nodded.
"Then its a good thing I came across it's tracks," he said, cleaning his dagger with his cloak then sheathing it at his waste. "Though, I'm sure your leader wouldn't like finding you you this."

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Alena sighed. "No, she probably would not." And neither would Gareth, she thought to herself as bit her lip slightly. Well no matter with him. She was still infuriated with her brother for what he had said that she was almost tempted to hide herself in the woods just to avoid him. But she knew Xavier was right. If Aryann found her now-it would be trouble for the treaty between the clans-and she could not let that happen because of her. "I'm sorry, Xavier. I do not mean to cause any more trouble for you or your clan. Perhaps it is better if I go..." she said quietly.

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AWESOME set by the AMAZING Lembas!!!

"Wait," Xavier said. "You've caused no trouble. In fights, maybe, but that's in the past. I wish no more trouble."

He half smiled. "And I was wondering if I'd ever see you again. With a beautiful face like that, you need to watch yourself," there words were in a casual tone...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

Fareni tried hard not to smile at Blaidri's obvious anger. Infuriating him wouldn't help, but it made her feel better, which for her was all that really mattered. Her eyes hovered on his two companions, then turned to Blaidri, with a measured patience. "I called you a coward, not an fool. There is a difference." She'd have greatly liked to hit him, but had nothing to hit with - and would most likely be shot before she'd tried. Despite her outward appearance(or what she <i>hoped</i> was her outward appearance) she was extremely impatient at being both unarmed and at the mercy of a human, of all things. Reluctantly she moved forward, eyes constantly either on the - <i>her</i> - dagger in Blaidri's hand or the nocked arrows. She had a feeling this wasn't going to go well for her.

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