Frostfire moved along the tree branch, tracking a herd of deer as they settled in for midday. More active around dawn and dusk, the animals generally found places to sleep during the night and to rest during the day. She counted three unmated bucks, two does without babies, and one lame fawn that probably wouldn't last the summer. Keeping a mental tally, she lifted herself onto all fours on top of the branch, and crawled quietly to where the piece was wide enough to walk on. Then she pulled a tool from its place on her back. It was a wooden shaft, with a metal top like a short spear. Only this top was a wicked hook with a finely honed point. She used it to move a branch closer, using it to climb into a different tree without touching the ground, and began making her way along the 'high road' back to her Vila.

Being one of about twenty scouts to master walking in the trees, Frostfire was the one called upon to keep watch in the ring of scouts farthest from home. Her range was ten miles from her house, her Vila, and further than that from the village itself. She roamed along the expanse of the forest, looking for anything that seemed out of place, searching for game and predators, and keeping track of how the weather had affected the land for growing season. Since she was farthest east, she was usually the one called upon to make most weather reports, as well. There'd been quite a few times she'd had to run back to the village to report heavy storms on the way.

This time, though, the sky was mostly clear, with a few happy clouds floating like white wool in the sky. Frostfire's stomach growled, turning her away from the sight and back home, to where her current partner, one of the night scouts called Greycat, had probably fixed her a meal. He would be getting ready for the day about this time, and if she didn't get back to make sure he got up in time, well... He was as apt to bask about in the sun and forget all duties as his namesake.

The sky is clear, the sun is shining, and a few happy clouds were floating in the sky. Hidden from the sunlight rays however, is the forest floor, where a circle with intricate designs started to draw itself.
As if it had a consciousness, the circle glowed brightly when it was completed, revealing a spiky black haired male who stood at 5'6. The circle then hummed as in satisfaction, before disappearing.

Bowpurity opened his eyes.
"Hello! Every... one?"
He was expecting to be in a shrine, where there's a huge road and where the people are friendly, the food stalls delicious and the situation noisy.
Bow looked around in confusion. All he sees are trees, trees and more trees. He can hear the crickets chirping, the frogs croaking and he could not see the sun although the forest was lighted enough for him to see his way.
"Where in God's name am i?" he said aloud to himself. Quickly, he did a double check on his surroundings.
He's in a forest, the floor is filled with foliage, and tree roots. It seems as if something had prevented any trees to grow in a small circle clearing. Brushing aside the leaves, he sees the magic circle inscribed on the forest floor.
"Well, this is certainly the magic circle, but it seems i'm not where i want to be... No point waiting, i should explore, even though this forest is troublesome."
Bowpurity grabbed his bow which was attached to his back. He then used the blade on the bow to mark each tree near the clearing with 10 circles. Taking out a compass from his bag pack, he decided to head north into the forest, to only God knows what, hoping to find a river.

A few feet after walking away from the clearing, a tree root snagged his feet, and he fell to the floor,knocking his head against another tree root. Casting a minor healing spell on himself, he sighed to the world. It's going to be more troublesome then he thinks, in more then one sense of the word.

Frostfire moved through the trees easily, then stopped, poised between a giant pine and one of the few apple bearing trees in the forest. She felt the tingle of magic in the air, unfamiliar magic. Thoughts darting back and forth, she soon found the man's signature, his 'feel' for lack of a better word, and headed quietly in his direction. He was not far off, so she would need to be careful.

She watched as he tripped on the root of the tree she was in, then she moved a little ways off.

"Who are you," she said, voice echoing off the trees in a commanding tone. She used her small bit of mindspeech to make it seem as though her voice came from everywhere, and she kept moving slowly and carefully through the branches, watching for any sign that he heard her movements. "What business have you here?"

Fireflower climbed through the branches of an ancient oak, she had been told to come and assist Frostfire if she was needed. The small healer maneuvered through the branches with some grace, despite her sightless eye.
She froze as she heard Frostfire speak in a commanding voice. She heard the swish of air as Frostfire maneuvered carefully through the branches.
She climbed higher and more carefully, like she was stalking a tree-living creature. The familiar sound of a chipmunk eating just above her alerted her, she paused and stepped onto a branch, holding her breath, she peered up at the chipmunk, raising her hands up behind it soundlessly, and grabbing the creature swiftly before it could escape.
It tried to squeak, but her hand closed over it's windpipe, causing it to just exhale. She tugged at a pouch on her waist until it opened, and she dropped the chipmunk inside, quickly closing the flap over it, she closed it tightly, with only a small opening to keep it alive.

Fireflower crept through the branches, searching for Frostfire, her chin-length red hair brushing against the branches.
Finally she spotted her, staring down at a stranger as she moved slowly through the branches.

Getting back to his feet, he heard a female voice which echoed around the forest, though he could tell that it came from a particular direction, somewhere around his right. It was a voice of accusation, not of friendliness and he unattached his bow from his back with his right hand and dropped his pack. Turning towards his right, he felt that he should face south however, and he did just that. He was glad to find a source of information quickly, even if it turns out to be a hostile, you still can persuade them to share some common info with you.

He took a few seconds to think of how to reply, and to look carefully around his terrain, looking for cover and good sniping spots.
"What am i doing here? I came looking for good food, though it seems that i'm in a forest instead of a carnival."

"But nevertheless, let me give you my intro speech. I'm Bowpurity, a mercenary, traveler, story horder, bard, priest. My main's profession is a magic archer, and I'm very good at it. Once i was hired to cut down trees with my arrows. I am also a friend of the kingdom of Hope, renamed, the kingdom of Pesatia, in the land of Dalmatria, which i am hoping is where i am...... which i hope you can confirm?"

"And lastly, i'm lost, but that's to be expected as i wasn't found in the first place. So any directions to any place where people live and information will be greatly appreciated."

Consciously, he opened himself to the senses of the forest. He did not feel anything on the floor of the forest, and that got him worried. Waiting for the next use of magic, he looked up in hopes of detecting the person. He was rewarded when he saw a flash of shadow behind those branches. 'Bingo' He thought as he mentally calculated how much magic it would require to cut down the tree where he saw the shadow flash. He did not charge up his magic however, as they had not rained him with arrows yet. Mentally wishing that he learned how to fly, he cursed his recklessness at not training his wind magic. While anyone can climb trees, Bow severely doubt he could climb the trees around him unless he use his daggers. But he rather not look stupid, because if the voice were from harpies, he would have no chance of defending himself.

"Peragal, is where you are," Frostfire said, "Peragal forests, and home of my kin. Go west and leave this place, and you will not be harmed. One bow cannot defeat many."

She kept moving, camouflage blending perfectly with the trees and leaves. Her movements were silent, and as she noticed Fireflower, she made motions for silence.

Carefully choosing her footing, looking for trees that would not drop anything to alert him or rustle badly, Frostfire climbed a bit higher, into deeper cover. Even if she couldn't see him, she could 'sense' him, and know if he did as she'd told. She could feel the magic in the bow, and motioned to Fireflower to leave, using the signs for danger and 'get help'.

Fireflower nodded and carefully retraced her steps until she was out of sight from the man on the ground and hopefully out of range of his bow.
She raced across the leafy ground, stumbling every now and then over roots and such on her blind side, she soon reached Frostfire's villa and kept running, out of breath, she finally reached the outskirts of the village and within minutes, other villagers, the more agile and surreptitious ones of course, were following her back into the forest.

Fireflower swung herself up into a tree, causing some leaves to rustle, she swiftly and surreptitiously climbed higher in the tree until she was near Frostfire, using the signs for 'brought' and 'help'.

Hearing that, Bowpurity visibly relaxed and hosted his bow back onto his back, and picked up his pack.
'Peragal?' Bow thought to himself. 'Peragal,peragal... sounds odd, Pera-girl?'
'One bow cannot defeat many, ah they'll be surprised if they knew what Snipe can do.'

He turned towards the nice smell of leaves, similar, yet discernible from the smells of the forests and trees. He was certain that's where she is. The small rustling of leaves from where he saw the shadow probably meant that the shadow he saw earlier was gone.
'Jeez, am i that scary that they needed reinforcements? Not that i can blame them... but then again, they don't know who i am. I know i ain't that handsome but i'm not scary looking am i?' Bowpurity though annoyed.

"Alright! I'll be gone! I'm not insane enough to start a war. But a few last questions if i may. What is the name of this world? What what do you call your kin?" he shouted into the forest.

Frostfire didn't answer. She didn't even stir from her place when Fireflower made all those rustling sounds. She picked up a bit f his thoughts, though...

'...they'll be surprised if they knew what Snipe can do.'

Frostfire signaled to the others to catch, and one climbing hook dropped down, then quickly rose, taking the bow with it. Smiling, Frostfire quickly drew her hunting knife and dropped down, hooking her own tool around his neck and staying behind him so that he couldn't reach her. she kept his head tilted up, pulling him so that she was against his back. Then she reached around with the knife to put it in front of him, pressing in at a place where it would dig beneath the ribs if she chose.

"Snipe? Well Bow, I suppose you should explain yourself," she hissed into his ear. Several more scouts dropped to the forest floor, faces as expressionless as stones, with bows of their own pointed at the stranger. One man stood behind them, a bow in each hand. Greycat saluted the stranger with his own bow and an amused smile.

Bowpurity sighed as things deteriorated. He allowed them to grab his bow away from him, he can always grab it back later. What he wasn't expecting however, was someone hooking a hook around his neck, bending his body backwards then pulling him behind. He is still carrying his bag pack and mourned at that thought. If the pack wasn't in the way, the female will be hugging his body, and he could make a crude joke.

Several people dropped to the floor, with their 'soldier' faces. One of them was carrying his bow, and another in his other hand. A soldier saluted Bowpurity and gave an amused smile. Bow smiled back and waved with his left hand.

"You came looking for food, and what do you get, dropped in a forest with people with no courtesy. At least one of them is alright." he said aloud.
'Options,options.' he thought to himself.
"Well, at least you guys ain't harpies. I was worried about that for a while." He paused for a while, collecting his thoughts.

"Well, mind reading? But only able to pick up projected thoughts, i assume. My bow's name is Snipe. You could have asked. And am i really that scary looking that you have to do this?" he sighed again.

"Is this really necessary? I rather not have more blood on my hands. or clothes for that matter. So well now, what do you want to do with me? Take me prisoner? Just kill me? Options,options."

Fireflower jumped down from the tree with the others, stumbling a little on her landing, she stood up straight, though she was still much shorter than the others, her red hair made her stand out as well.
She raised her hand in a mock salute and leaned back against a tree, she smirked at the man that had introduced himself as 'Bowpurity'.
Fireflower watched how Frostfire dealt with the man, taking her tactics into consideration.
"If we had wanted to kill you, wouldn't you be lying on the ground in a pool of blood by now?" she giggled, taking a step forward and walking between the warriors.
Fireflower ran her fingers through her hair and stopped just on the other side of the warriors.
She wore leather pants and a shirt made of the same material, and the shirt had long marks on it, like an animal had attacked her.
She remembered the day clearly, the deer she had been stalking bringing unwanted predators into the equation. She had calculated wrong and gotten attacked. She had luck on her side though, and that night she brought the creature home for a feast.

Bow waited for an answer from the female behind him. She's oddly taking her time. At the corner of his vision, he saw a red haired female, young, way to young for his tastes.
"If you had wanted to kill me, i'm afraid that there won't be any pools of blood at all. I'm on vacation." he smirked and waved his left hand again, feeling uncomfortable as the blade near his ribs poked him again, causing a little cut and drawing some blood. He paid it little mind.
"And i know people that likes to torture their prisoners for entertainment in front of the towns people. In fact it's common practice among most civilizations in order to breed hate. But yea, i'm guessing your leader is behind me?"

Mentally, he projected a clear thought back to the person behind him.
'You know, that red haired girl doesn't have a guy-friend does she? The young one looks insecure. You should let her settle down with some guy.'
Stopping his projection, he encrypted his thoughts.
'Let's see how she reacts to that.'

"Well, what say you? I offer no resistance if you capture me, but if you wish to kill me, do it quickly. Be forewarned however, that you'll just be stabbing into the dragon's eye." Bow said as if talking about the weather.

With that said, he stared at the red haired female to which he directed his next questions. Her red eye had piqued his curiosity. It is to his believe, that when things do not go as planned, nothing is by chance. Perhaps he was brought here to help this girl? She's certainly a unique one, and already has great potential.
"And with that said, may i know what happened to your eye? It looks demonic. Are you holding a demon at bay inside of you? Did you sell your soul for power? It could be that your not the who that i'm seeing in front of me. Or maybe like the blood elves, you lost your magic source and now rely on another, causing the taint. Perhaps your the true leader of this group here."

Inwardly, Frostfire was shaking her head, thinking 'what a strange fellow this is.' Outwardly, she moved the knife so it wasn't digging so deeply and motioned to Greycat and another scout, who quickly came over and tied his hands. Only then did Frostfire push the hook away from his neck and move the knife completely.

"I suggest you follow us," Greycat said, handing Bow over to a couple other scouts. Then he hung back with Frostfire. "I wondered why you were so late," he said, smiling and sliding his arms around her waist. She smiled and kissed him, then nodded her head. "Business first, you sybarite, then we can go home."

"Damn," he complained, and she laughed before they all headed towards the village.

"Fireflower," she said, turning to a more private language than the trader's tongue she'd been using with Bow. "I pressed a little hard with the knife, could you help the outsider?"

Fireflower chose not to respond to Bowpurity's inquiry, finding that it might not be appropriate to delve into her past.
She trailed behind the others, a squeak from the pouch at her waist reminded her of the chipmunk, and she began thinking about everything she could use it's pelt for or what she could trade the squirrel for.
Frostfire's voice broke into her thoughts and she nodded before quickening her pace to catch up with the warriors escorting Bowpurity.

"Hello," her voice was quiet as she reached towards the wound that Frostfire's knife had left, it was easy to tell that she was uncomfortable. She pressed her hand lightly upon the cut and watched the pale white light that enveloped her hand as she healed him, most likely filling him with warmth. She exhaled slowly and removed her hand. All traces of the wound were gone besides for the bit of blood that might have come from while the wound was unattended.
"You're welcome," she kept her pace even inside the circle of warriors, walking on the right side of him so that she could see him and study him from the corner of her eye.
"I'm Fireflower, by the way," she kept her voice quiet.

"Prisoner it is." Bowpurity smiled, as he felt the grip loosen.
He stretched and looked around.

"I suggest you follow us." the archer who waved at him said.
"I was feeling to lazy to wander the forest alone anyway." he replied.

Bowpurity watched amused as the archer went to the female warrior which was behind him and begin acting all comfy. Soon, she and the archer begin to walk east.

Two of the stone faced warriors went behind Bowpurity, the red eyed girl following behind them.
"Walk." one of the soldiers said.
Rolling his eyes, Bow adjusted his pack which he was still holding with his left hand and walked. He felt, rather then see the red haired girl approach him.

"Hello." she said softly.
Bowpurity watched surprised as she placed her hand on the small cut that he had received. His body was filled with warmth and he knew that he was being healed. It was extremely surprising for him to feel her magic, it seemed... well, warm was the best way to put it.

"I"m Fireflower, by the way" she introduced herself.

Bow smiled at her,then looked away, taking a while to give words to his thoughts.
Finally finding the correct words, he looked back at her.
"I am sorry for my rude behavior back there, Fireflower. Your healing magic is warm. Like a tropical island warm, full of life, and small traces of a lake. There is not a single trace of demonic energy in your blood. In fact, your magic is perfectly normal. Perhaps red one eyed people are normal here, in which i apologize. As seeing you know healing magic, someone would have healed your eye if it wasn't natural."
"You must be gifted in your art, as that would be the only reason why your here with these group of warriors. Have you learned the 'healing ball' yet? If you do, i have just the art to teach if your willing to learn. It is my personal technique that i rarely teach. I have a feeling that i will be very bored, very soon and ... hey, you may see it as a token of apology."

Bowpurity finished talking and focused his attention back onto the forest path. Deciding to write things down, he reached into his pocket, he took out a small notepad and a pen. He flipped over three quarters of the notepad away, and flipped a few more pages before finding a blank page and started drawing.

He drew a big circle, which he labeled forest. He drew a smaller circle at the left section of the circle and labeled that telegate.
He drew an arrow from the smaller circle to the bigger circle and labeled it 'Nearest exit?'. Next he wrote the letters "Peregal" below the circle.

He wrote down a few short notes.
'Tree-walkers- humans- agile on trees'
'grappling hooks on long sticks - defensive style of fighting, disarming'
'mild-mind reading- Projected thoughts, magic sensor.'
'Has magic. Archers use wooden arrows. No magic archer?'
Tapping his pen on his chin, Bow trekked the forest without looking at where he's going or paying attention to the time. He used a silent spell that allows him to be able to always gain steady footing, based on wind. An adapted version of the famous wind walk, which he has also learned, although it should be named wind flow walk, instead of wind walk to his opinion.

He sent a though to Snipe (his bow), making sure that it's encrypted.
'So, what do you think? This is interesting, but we were suppose to be on vacation.'
He got a feeling of disappointment from his bow.
'Hmm? Your disappointed? Well, you have to look from their side of view sometimes, due to the teleportation, you were reeking of magical energy, and they were probably scared of you. Besides, you CAN teleport to me anytime we want.'
He got a nagging feeling from his bow.
'I'm on vacation, and i didn't want to fight. Besides, they feel like good people.'
Snipe returned with a worried emotion.
'Will you stop worrying, we both know that i can break out of anything they can think off.'
Snipe replied with an exclamation thought.
'Oh, we're here? That was quick. Well, don't worry about it to much alright partner?'
Snipe nagged again.
'Sometimes... I'm glad that you can't reply in words.' Bow grinned.

Outside, Bowpurity stumbled (while standing still) as he received the mental equivalent of a slap. Ignoring the jumbled mess of thoughts Snipe was sending him, Bow sent back the emotion of a hug.
'Sorry. Are you ok now? i'm going to closing the link'
Feeling the thoughts of apology, and well wishes, Bow closed the link and pocketed his notepad. He looked and noticed that they are still in the middle of a forest... and confusion was obvious on his face.

Fireflower thought about her words for a while, "No, they are not common at all. It is because of an accident as a child." She decided not to say any more.

"Fireflower," a warrior's gruff voice broke the silence and she turned to look at him.
"Yes, Leaf?"
"I need you to change the weather. Make a storm."
Fireflower nodded and stopped, the warriors making a small break in their formation as they released her from their circle. A single warrior stayed back with her.

Fireflower inhaled slowly, raising her arms skyward and looking up at the sun, dark clouds began to form around her, multiplying quickly until she was hidden from sight. An icy breeze whisked through the forest, stirring the clouds. They trembled and began floating to the sky, growing bigger by the second, soon the sky was covered in the inky blackness of rainclouds.
The ground around Fireflower looked parched, like every drop of water had been sucked from it.

She fell to the ground unconscious, drained of energy. Ice crystals from the clouds shimmered on her lightly clothed body.
The warrior knelt down and picked her up as the first drops of rain began to fall.
Soon the warrior carrying Fireflower was back with the others, still carrying her unconscious body.

Cika moved quickly through the tall grass he had gotten himself lost in, it was amazing that no animals had come to graze here, he finally found a small path in the grass made by someone else who had probably been here a few hours ago at the most, he crouched back and jumped forward feeling his ears skimp the top of the grass as he left the maze of green landing unluckily for him on a muddy path cause by recent rain. shaking his fur which was as white as snow itself he moved around a corner on two legs not wanting to get his hand dirty, his ears pricked up as he heard a waterfall which meant something to drink and clean his paws with. after walking for many minutes he finally found the waterfall which was deserted except for himself. he cupped his hands and drank some of the water wishing he had a muzzle so he could simply lap it up instead.

Looking in the reflection from the water he was reminded once again that he was the scum of demon kind standing at a very short 4 foot 5. he had the upper body of a human but oddly dogs legs and ears along with fur as white as snow covering everything except his face, shoulders, forearms and chest, he was dressed in simple rags and a scarf very lowly cloths compared to some of the other demons he had seen, his hands could even be considered malformed by demon standards being normal except for the pointer and index fingers on each hand being like dog paws complete with pathetically blunt claws.

he washed his paws and moved onto the beaten track after a few minutes of walking he turned a corner and found himself staring at a large party of some mysterious beings that didn't smell human or demon and a human itself, his mind froze as did his body, he was too scared to move and cowered slightly as was expected from his passive submissive nature.

Frostfire checked Fireflower, making sure she was alright, then headed to the front of the line, motioning to Bow. "This way," she ordered, heading for one of the abnormally large trees. This one had a rope ladder hanging from it. The ladder reached into the first branches about two stories up, and above it could barely be seen a deck made of sanded wood. This was the lowest building in the village, and it was used to keep outlanders until it was decided what to do with them.

The rest of the village was high enough to be completely unseen from the ground, and Frostfire climbed the swinging ladder as easily as a squirrel.

"After you," Greycat said, holding the ladder still for Bow.

The rest of the scouts spread out and vanished. A few, though, stayed to see which would be put to guarding the outlander.

(ooc:Who's cika? but nevertheless, we have the beginning of a plotline)

'That is extremely impressive' Bow thought to himself as he saw Fireflower practically summon a rain.

He considered healing her, but thought that it wouldn't seem appropriate as the soldiers, and the female who held him checked on her.

He followed the female to a tree, where he now noticed a rope ladder, hidden from view because of how it was placed. He looked up, but couldn't see far, as it was raining. He did notice that the rope went a good way up, like climbing a set of stairs or two.

He went up, struggling a little until his body familiarized with the rhythm needed. He then climbed at a slightly slower pace then the female, there was no rush and he made sure he had secure footing, as the rope became slippery in the rain.
'i really hope they have a building up there' He thought.

(i think i introduced him well enough and i didn't see any forum for that anyway)

Cika watched as they all passed by him and his heart rate slowed as he calmed down a little bit, he noticed the seemingly climb up trees and after going over to investigate he saw a ladder hanging from the trees however with his legs there was no way he could climb it however he could climb up the trees themselves. with curiosity driving him instead of hunger for once he set off from the nearest tree and made sure to stay lower than the group he was following, after he had watched the human go out of sight he jumped up to another branch but ended loosing his footing and dangling from the branches. he made some whimpering sounds but otherwise he was helpless since he was too afraid of the things he was following to call out to them.