[Mekatra]

The angry howls and beating of wings against cold iron cage bars echoed around the snug little defensible valley that the Hembrean forces had decided to set up camp.
They had imagined that this would be the perfect place to stage their ongoing battle with their neighboring kingdom. There was cheering coming from a raiding band now as they led a cart with a huge cage on it into the middle of the camp. Inside the cage, if one could see past the angrily beating raven-like wings was a tall lean creature, snarling and spitting as he twisted his head from one side to the other. The long talons at the end of his fingers were coated in blood and his leather mantel and loincloth were torn and soot covered. His inky black skin gleamed with sweat and there were places he was bleeding profusely.

The soldiers were laughing as they poked and prodded at him through the cage bars, singing a song about putting a bird in the cook pot. They unhitched the horses and left the cart, with the Strix on display in his personal prison, in the middle of the camp. As the evening slipped into the darkness of night and he didn't once stop howling, screeching insults, threats and deep vile curses in his native tongue, several of the guards began to think the joke of having him as a trophy was wearing thin. Officers began to complain, and within an hour or so he had been moved under a tree near the edge of camp close to where the other prisoners were held in stocks.

Realizing that his noise was bothering his captors, Zejel flashed a yellowed vicious smile and redoubled his efforts, intending to not only keep every human in this camp awake through the night, but to alert every creature in the area, including their enemies, what there was something of interest here.

[sylvanSpider]

Theaffa was one of the lucky ones. At least, luckier than the other prisoners. She'd been placed in a cage rather than the stocks, but she guessed that was more for her protection more than anything. Being a female prisoner of war, she was at a higher risk of rather...unsightly things happening to her, but she'd been a person of interest. Wanted alive and (somewhat) unbroken for some reason. While that idea in and of itself was enough to make her sick (What could they possibly want with me alive?), she'd take it. At least for now.

Her cage, however, was tiny. It was hardly wide enough for the lean woman to sit down with her legs drawn up tightly against her chest, barefooted toes curled up to get what little warmth she could through the night. She struggled against the cage to get to her feet when she'd heard the commotion coming into camp. That meant one of three things: a victory, a new prisoner of war, or a combination of the two. She'd seen the same thing for the past couple of nights since her capture, though the other prisoners were much more quiet...and much closer to death. This one was loud, bloodied, and full of energy and apparently...force. She could see from where she stood that the creature was a Strix, a member of one of the two kingdoms her own homeland was at war with. Given the situation, she pitied him. He was just like her.

Theaffa remained standing. Sitting with her legs drawn up made her legs cramped her up and she leaned with one leg cocked out to the side, watching. The jeering seemed to go on for hours, eventually dying out with the last rays of the sun, but still the creature didn't stop. Theaffa shook her head sadly, watching the pitiful sight through steely green eyes. Yes, it was true that this creature was her enemy, but here they were one and the same. She watched, saying nothing as they wheeled him over beside her.

“It won't work, you know,” she said, poking both scarred hands out of her cage, resting her thin, pale wrists on the cross sections. “They don't care. Mine didn't come for me. Yours won't come for you. It's too dangerous to try for a rescue, from the humans I come from and from the Strix you come from.” If the black-skinned man chose to look in her direction, he'd see a halfling woman. Wild red hair. Pale skin. An unspoken resolve. She bore the remnants of battles past on her hands, face, legs, and torso. Some fresh, done within the past few days, some old already mounded up over the old wound. She was short too, smaller than all of the other prisoners save for the halfling they'd picked up from only the gods knew where given the fact that the closest halfling settlement was on the other side of the country. “Believe me; I tried too. I screamed. I kicked. I threw myself against the cage and even knocked it over once. Nothing comes near here. At least, not willingly.”

[Mekatra]

At first her only answer was a snarl, but then he spat something that certainly sounded less than friendly in his native language, but paused when he actually took a moment to look at her. A strange half annoyed, half surprised expression came across his face and he stopped screaming and fighting for moment to examine her. "Kistari...half-man..." He fell silent for several long seconds then screeched again, not wanting to give the humans any kind of relief. It was only when he saw a red bird dip low in the sky, alight briefly on his cage, then fly away again that he dropped quiet.

He slumped down, as close to squatting or sitting that the tight confines of the cage would allow his slender frame. "I scream to alert others they are here. Not just enemies that would fight them, but animals they need to hunt. They will have no fresh game this day to supplement their meager rations. My people have ensured there have been no supply caravans able to make it here in two full moons. If they will not leave this place, we will make sure they starve." He flashed a violent sharp toothed grin. [b]"If you are that easily defeated by these people, you are not the one. You will die."

He fell silent again and snapped his eyes shut as one of the guards came closer, apparently checking to see if the Strix had died since he had stopped screaming and throwing himself around. They came closer, trying to see if the creature was breathing. The soldier nervously poked the blunt end of a spear into the cage to prod at the winged creature. He jumped back with a pained feral yell as Jezel snatched the spear away and stabbed it with one deft move through the man's unprotected leg. Several other soldiers came and beat him down into submission before dragging him out of the cage. They stretched him out on the ground and staked him out half a meter or so from the halfling's cage. He was unconscious now, with a bit of blood trickling out of his mouth, but his heart was certainly still beating.

It took nearly half an hour for him to come back around, but when he did he looked up at her with an impish grin. It is a pity you do not have very long arms, Kistari."

[sylvanSpider]

“Never heard us called that before,” the halfling mused with a bit of a smirk. Theaffa seemed to be in fairly good spirits considering she was a prisoner of war. “But ah, your common tongue interpretation is wanting. You see, the term you're looking for here is 'woman.'” She chuckled, realizing the futility of her statement but Theaffa kept her eyes on the bird man. He was certainly something new and exciting to look at. The Strix she'd seen in the past were only from a distance. This was her first up close.

Theaffa watched the small bird land, only to leave immediately. Some sort of messenger? Probably. Maybe his people cared for him more than her people cared for her. Then, what could one expect already being the odd one out in an adventuring party full of humans? “Ah, so you're the reason my rations got smaller. Clever, clever, aren't you?” Theaffa leaned forward again, wishing that the cage was even just a little bit wider. “Ah, but you're wrong again there. I haven't been defeated. I'm just losing at the moment is all. Even you noticed my small stature, yes? Well, if I tried to escape without the right opportunities I certainly would die. I've just been waiting for my opportunity is all.” She scowled, a bit insulted that he would even consider that she had given up.

Theaffa tilted her head with the man's sudden silence, wondering what he was doing, jumping up with the shriek of pain from the Strix. She blinked a moment watching as he was wrenched from his holdings and moved to more permanent...more painful ones. “Come now, was that really necessary?” she asked one of the guards who'd brought him down. The guard's attention snapped to the halfling and he grabbed her bars, Theaffa not backing away as anticipated.

“You think you can tell us what we can and can't do with our prisoners, imp?”

“Well, I mean, you obviously don't have to listen, but I feel as though I just did,” the halfling was wearing a shit-eating grin, antagonizing him just for the sake of the humor of it.

“C'mon, Jared. Don't feckin' listen to the imp. She's not even liked by her own friends, remember? She doesn't mean anything to anyone, and her opinion matters about as much as 'is,” here, the corresponding guard tossed his head at the poor new prisoner and their pair walked off with a scoff and an eyeroll from the prior.

Theaffa sighed, turning her attention back to the unconscious man. He was like that for the next half hour, but Theaffa had nothing better to do, so she watched. “Ah, so you did live through that...And yes. That's been my lifelong struggle hasn't it?” she asked, laughing at her own lame joke, squatting down to the best of her ability given the width of the cage. She adjusted her cloak to her front so her hands were hidden, “I've been waiting for your consciousness for the past half hour...now if you can stay awake and you can still move, I might be able to aid in your escape. Just...play along with it, alright?”[/b]

With that, she cupped her hands, ducking under her cloak. Through the fibers one could see a bit of light seeping out, but only faintly. She looked around to make sure no one else saw, ducking back under whispering into her cupped hands. When she opened them again, something that sounded like a Strix north of the camp sounded and immediately the camp was awake, men shouting at each other. “They're 'ere for th' prisoner! Up and at 'em, boys!” Theaffa then repeated this, aiming the sound to the west, and coincidentally, the same sound came from that direction.

To the actual Strix, it would have sounded like gibberish. The halfling, after all, did not know his own tongue or the specific screeches or anything. But, the humans also didn't know. So far as they knew, they were under attack. “My magic isn't that strong, and I'm afraid I can't do much more than that. However, the pandemonium is what I needed. You will have to move fast, alright?” With that, she grunted as she thrust forward with her cage landing with a loud crash—conveniently placing the halfling within arm's reach of one of the Strix's arm's stakes. It was on this that she now latched onto, “This...this might hurt.” She began to lift the stake up.

[Mekatra]

(I'm so sorry it took me so long to get around to answering this. It just seemed like every time I would get working on a post something would happen or I would get stuck with what I really wanted to do.)
The Strix watched her curiously as she worked her magic, very much wondering what was happening under that cloak. The bizarre set of squawks and gibberish that she produced must have been something amusing because he broke into laughter the second he heard it. "That is what you think we sound like?"

When the cage came crashing down to the ground he made a sound not unlike an alarmed crow and tried to jerk as far away as he could, but there was no way for him to move. "Yes, because nothing else in this plan has hurt," he quipped back and then bit back a growl of pain as her lifting stretched his arm a little further than it was meant to go. The second she freed the stake from the ground however he reached down and fished something from the cloth pouch sewed into his scant clothing and tossed her a ring of keys stolen off the guards he had provoked into attacking him earlier.

"I was wrong to think that you would not be an acceptable ally." He admitted with a little bow of his head. "How much do you weigh, Half-woman?" He thought of her correcting him earlier.

[sylvanSpider]

((Dude, that's just fine! Are you liking the rp just fine or no? Been a while for a fantasy one for me, but I'm loving it thus far!))

Theaffa smirked, ignoring his snarky comment as she worked. She was by no means a talented mage, but the illusions were working. “If it's not what I think you sound like, it's certainly what they think you sound like, so who's the real winner here? Your uh...other comrades might be a bit confused, however.”

Theaffa caught the keys and rolled over to her back. The cage was even more uncomfortable when flat on the ground, but lucky for her, she landed with the door up, and she reached outside of the cage, fumbling for the luck. A second stroke of luck, the halfling was always hired into adventuring parties as the rogue, and locks and sneaking were sort of her forte. The key just made it all that much easier. As her hands worked, she grinned turning her head slightly and grinning at the feathered man, “I suppose I'll take it then.” Click. And just like that, the halfling pushed up on the door and she clambered out, attempting to help with the stakes in his legs.

“Been a while since I checked my weight, but I'd put myself at around forty pounds. Maybe thirty five considering the lack of rations,” She was impressed by his remembering to call her a woman and she nodded her approval, grunting as she pulled up on one of the stakes. “They didn't get your wings, did they?”

[Mekatra]

I'm enjoying it quite a lot, I'm just in a weird headspace lately.

The winged male waited somewhat patiently for her to pull up the stakes, but the second that he was free he leapt up and caught her about the waist. "You're going to want to hold onto me." Was the only warning that she got. With a loud unfurling and flapping of wings, they were suddenly airborne.

A few of the guards below that hadn't gone scrambling off to find the mysterious enemy in the woods saw them and raised the alarm, but against the night sky he was hard to see, so luckily few of their arrows even got close. At first. A hiss of pain escaped him and he dropped a couple feet as one arrow went through the lower part of his right wing and another hit him in the thigh. The pain only made him fly harder as he frantically tried to get them to safety. He wouldn't' be telling her, for fear of looking weak in front of a stranger and therefore making his whole species look weaker, that her forty pounds felt like a ton of bricks.

Blood dripped down his leg and he forced himself not to think about it until he made it away from the camp and made it to the side of the mountain. It wasn't as far away as he wanted to be, but he couldn't stay up in the air much longer. "I don't suppose one of you magical skills is healing?" He hissed hopefully.

They were a few miles from the camp on foot, but not far enough away that they were safe by any means.

[sylvanSpider]

Theaffa struggled a little with the last stake, the sound of wood leaving flesh unsettling in her ears. When she felt strong arms about her midriff, she had only enough time to gasp before they were airborne and just a second longer to process what he'd said, immediately latching on, eyes wide as she saw the ground get further and further away; their captors seeming to shrink the further they got. “We're...we're flying! This is amazing!”

The halfling's excitement was cut short as several arrows whizzed past their heads, a narrow miss on a couple, and then a direct hit to her savior, and then another one. She could feel her stomach lift as they dropped a few feet, a meter by the looks of it, but her winged savior stayed strong until they were far enough away that they wouldn't be able to catch them. Not with the aid of the night on the side of Skrix and the halfling.

They landed with a bit of struggling, the halfling stumbling a moment before catching her footing, and finally, feet on firm ground she was able to see just how bad the damage was to her companion. Her brow furrowed as she coaxed him to a sitting position, “No...it isn't. Sadly, I am no mage; but, I did pick up a bit of knowledge in my travels. First thing's first though, I'm going to have to remove more things from your flesh...There's ah...a good chance that those arrows may be poisoned.” She sat back on her haunches, lifting up the leg of her trousers to reveal a sort of hidden pouch. “They took my weapons, but I still have a bit of herbs. I can help, but if we can get you to a medic at some point...Well, that would be ideal.”

[Mekatra]

Her elation over flying made him chuckle. He had expected typical landbound creature nonsense of panicking and screaming while clutching to him like she was going to die. Which, to be honest wouldn't have been too far off this time. Death was lingering far too close for his comfort.

As she tried to coax him up into a sitting position he growled but complied. "Perhaps the Seer of my village was not teasing when she said my life would fall into the hands of a half-man. His vision was starting to get blurry but he forced himself to keep his eyes open. He focused on her face for a moment and then tried to get to his feet. "I'll be fine until then..." He barely got up onto his knees before he had to sit back down. He looked sheepishly down at the wavering ground and then at his hands. "Perhaps I should let you try your herbs. Thank you..." He had lost quite a but of blood, both from the stakes and the arrows, and the poison certainly wasn't helping matters any.

"What is your name? If I am to die in the woods, at least not it be with a stranger. I am Jezel, Stormblade of the Taranis flock. It is much too soon to call you a friend, but better to die with a friend than an enemy." He plucked one of the feathers from his wing, a long flight one, and held it out to her.

[sylvanSpider]

Theaffa put her hands out to help steady strix as he tried to stand up and was promptly put right back down by nothing more than gravity itself. It seemed he wasn't much used to having to obey it though with his gift of flight. She clucked her disapproval, shaking her head and looking at him with stern eyes, “Don't move too much. We have to keep your heart rate down to keep the poison from spreading, if it is poisoned.” She snapped above his head to see if he'd be able to focus on it, and seeing that he was losing consciousness, she shook her head again, “Definitely poisoned. This is going to hurt, but if you can keep from screaming, it would be much appreciated.”

With that, the halfling moved down to crouch by his thigh, planting both hands around the base of the arrow, “I'm going to pull fast to prevent the arrowhead from being left behind, alright?” She took a deep breath and looked to make sure he was good. If he didn't answer, she was going to have to move all the faster.

She stopped what she was doing for only a brief moment, not expecting that kind of conversation right now. “Don't talk like that. We're going to make it out, so long as we don't light a fire. No scent to follow on the ground. The hounds aren't really a threat from this distance. But, it's Theaffa Marigold. From uh...somewhere in the East. Doesn't really matter with us little folk though, does it? I'm so far from home with no ties that I may as well be from nowhere.” She chuckled a bit, taking the feather with admiring eyes before looking back at him, “I...have nothing on my person that I can offer back, but my services. I will be honored to make it out of this with a new friend at my back, however, so I accept your proposition.”