Starheart's Story

Starheart:

Today i am going to spy on a pronghorn named Stripeneck. He is being followed by a rhino beetle slave. The slave looks uncomfortable with Stripedneck. That's strange. Usually slaves are comfortable with being ordered around, but this one isn't. When the slave lags behind, I slip up to talk to her.
"You're not trained to be a slave, are you?"
The slave looked shocked for a moment then said,
"What are you speaking of, Madam. I am a slave and I need to get back to Master. Goodbye."
"That's just what i'm talking about. Slaves don't say goodbye."
"They don't? Please dont tell anyone!"
"Don't worry, I won't. Bye!"

Starheart:

I can't belive that that "slave" of Stripedneck isn't really a slave!! I could think of a million things to ask her, but Stripedneck came and took her away. I need to find more about that slave of his. I'll ask one of the scuttle-horn Red Herrings.

Later that day
There is a Dynastinae rhino beetle that went missing a day ago. I have a feeling that that rhino beetle that went missing is the "slave" that Stripedneck has. I also found out that the rhino beetle, T-15, that Stripedneck supposedly has, there was a delay in the processes. I think that the Beetlestealer has given herself up for T-15! We'll just have to see if any more rhino beetles get stolen to test my theory.

Starheart:

I'm fairly certain that that "slave" of Stripeneck's is the missing Dynastinae rhino beetle. Then that would mean that her name is Vyjallen. Then what about the real T-15? I think that i'll ask Vyjallen about T-15 and where it is right now. I head over to the pronghorn nation to spy on Stipeneck and Vyjallen. I spot Stripeneck's dug-out and it looks like he is there. I peer in without Stipeneck spotting me and see Vyjallen cooking. Stripeneck doesn't appear to be around. I slip in and Vyjallen turnes around and says,
"W-What are you doing here!"
"I'm here to ask you a few questions. Where is T-15? What have you done with her?"
"I-I don't know where she is."
"How can you not know where she is! If you don't know where she is, how are you here instead of her?!?"
"Well, I saved her, but then I left. I don't know where she is now..."
"I have another question for you. Are you the Beetlestealer?"
"No. T-15's the first slave I've helped. I have no idea whose been stealing those other slaves."
Suddenly I hear a loud voice say,
"Who are you!?! Leave T-15 alone!"
I turn around. It's Stripedneck!!! I dash out and run as far as I can. I hide in the bushes and look for Stripeneck. I don't see him. I'm safe. I climb out of the bushes and start on my way home. Suddenly, someone grabs me! I try to get away, but he was too strong.
"Why were you speaking with my slave! Leave her alone you slimy herring!"
He threw me down on the ground and started jogging back to the pronghorn nation. I HAVE to find out more about this Beetlestealer.

I am working for Stripeneck, or "Master" now. He isn't working me so hard yet, I am only cooking. Yesterday a Herring came by. She knew about T-15 and that I wasn't her. She asked me all kinds of questions. I didn't know what to do so I just told the truth.
The Herring seems to be harmless, though she asked me all kinds of weird questions about the "Beetlestealer".
"T-15!" I hear a voice call. It's Stripedneck. "Yes?" I answer back. "Master?" It's hard getting used to the slave life. "I need you to run a message for me to the grand palace. Tell them it's from Stripedneck if they say they're to busy." He hands me a sealed envelope. "Don't read it," he warns. "I won't," I promise. "well, hurry up then!" he shouts. I scurry out the door. It's really tempting to red it, but I don't want to get into trouble. It's a long way to the grand palace on my legs. Rhino beetles aren't made for long distance travel. I'm sure the Pronghorns have no trouble. Knowing them, it's probably designed this way so slaves can't talk to each other easily. When I finally reach what is probably the grand palace, there is a large crowd around it. Wanting to see what is going on, I slowly weave through the crowd. I accidentally brush one of my wings against a pronghorn woman. She looks like one of the richest, due to her horn jewelry. "Ah!" she screams. "Watch where you're going, filth!" Oh boy. Slowly the crowd backs up around me until I am the center of the crowd. I can here murmurs starting. Oh boy, again. I hate being stared at. Slowly a large looking male pushes his way through the crowd. "Well well well," he drawls. "What do we have here?" I stammer,"I-I'm Stripedneck's slave! I have a message for the grand leader." I hold up the piece of paper. "Sorry to disappiont you, filth." He says sarcastically. "But I'm busy. So are the rest of the council." Remembering Stripedneck's instructions, I interject: "It's from STRIPEDNECK!" The council bursts out laughing. "Oh yes," the leader says, chuckling. "The great and powerful! Rrrrrrriiiight. Haha! You must be T-15!" Hmm. Obviously I have much to learn about Stripedneck's position in society.
It is afternoon when I find Stripedneck's dug-out again. Remembering how picky he is, I remove my shoes and enter through the slave entrance. "Oh T-15!" he calls. "What did the leader say?" I watch my words, trying to come across as respectful. "He says he is very busy right now with a last minute decision." I made up that last part. Obviously. No pronghorn would tell any slave that much information. "Did you tell them it was from Stripedneck?" "Yes," I respond in a very neutral voice. "He said it was crucial to decide on this now, he will take your message later." He didn't tell me that, either. "Well, ok," Stripedneck responds. "Go to your quarters. You will try again in the morning.
I have a long day of walking ahead of me tomorrow. Exhausted from today's trek, I am asleep before I hit the floor.

Starheart:

I now know that Vyjallen is not the Beetlestealer. I'll have to work on it after I get some rest. I near my small hut and my younger sister, Longstream, ran out to meet me.
"Hi, Star-Star!"
"My name is StarHeart. You should know that by now."
"But I like to call you Star-Star!"
"I'm not a spawn anymore!"
"Fine. Star-Star."
"Hey!"
I push past her and go into our hut get some rest.

The Next Day
I duck out of my hut at dawn and start heading towards the Pronghorn territory. Then I realize: The ideal place to look for the Beetlestealer would be the Dynastinae. The Beetlestealer would want to be close to the slaves it steales. I wonder what I would do once I find out who the Beetlestealer is. I guess the right thing to do would be to tell the Dynastinae leader. But would i do that? I'll have to think about that.

((Sorry I have not posted in a while. placevalue has been nagging me relentlessly, so I "decided" *cough* was forced *cough* I would. Also, I think I will join all of you. In the forest. (Not with romance)))

Starheart:
Where would the Beetlestealer be hiding? He's/She's probably either one of the pronghorns, peacocks, or Dynastinae. Or just hiding out in the forest where most slaves pass. I decide that I'll go wander around in the forest and see if I can see a small camp. I cough. I've been in bed for about a week or so. It has allowed for a lot of time to think about the Beetlestealer. Why do I want to find out anyway? To help the Peacocks? The Pronghorns? The Beetles themselves? Thats ridiculous. Who would want to help the Beatles?

Starheart:
I gaze off into the distance towards the forest. Suddenly I hear a long scream coming from the forest. I am too far away to tell what was said, but could tell it was in panic. And someone has to be pretty panicked to scream like that. I hitch my backpack to my back and start running towards where I heard the sound. As I get closer to the forest, a buzzing fills my ears. There is only one species that makes a sound like that. Cicadas. I run faster than I was before. As I run the buzzing grows. When I near the place where the scream was, I pull out a knife. Suddenly, I burst out into a clearing. It is filled with cicadas. I attack the cicada nearest to me. It turns and it bites me. It has transparent wings tucked behind it's back. It is brown and has bright, red eyes. I quickly stab it and move to the next one. While I am battling, I notice several other species in the clearing. And now that I look better, I see that there are houses. This must be a tribe deep into the forest. The cicada I am fighting reaches out his proboscis, but I am used to this move. I flick my knife and slice off his proboscis. I think that this hurts a lot because he clutches his face and sinks to the ground. I swing around and cut off the proboscis of another cicada. I go on like this for what seems like hours. Suddenly I realize that the number of cicadas were lessening. I slayed a few more cicadas and then I knelt down to rest. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and held my knife to the throat of my attacker. Suddenly I realized that it was Vyjallen. "What are you doing here?" I ask her. "Well..."A young fox approached me. "Who are you? Vyjallen, how do you know her?"she says. "My name is Starheart. I've seen Vyjallen when she was Stripeneck's slave." "Oh.." ,she says, " Well, make yourself useful. You can clear away the bodies. Get to work." "Wait," I say, " You have not told me your name." " Oh," she says, "Arrianonna." Then she turns and walks away.

((I am finally in the action...))

Everyone is yelling and screaming. The cicadas! I turn to run as fast as I can, but hit a tree root and stumble. I turn around and a cicada is standing right behind me, a spear in it's hands.
"AHHHH!" I shreak, and skuttle backwards. The cicada raises the spear-
and it goes flying off into the air, harmless. The cicada howls in pain and falls to the ground, revealing Starheart standing behind it, a bloody sword in her hands. She kicks the body to the side and jumps back into the battle. I run into the tribe's main building and search desperately, hoping to find a weapon, knowing that I don't know how to use them even if I did find one.
I stumble into the hall, scanning the doors for a weapons room. I find a closet, I figure that will be as good a place as any to look for a weapon, and throw the door open. It is pitch black inside, going back about 5 feet and filled with shelves. On the shelves are cardboard boxes, I pick one at will and lift it down. Dresses. I try the next one, salt and pepper. I spin around, and in the dark my foot hits a shelf and it goes crashing to the ground, the contents of the boxes spilling out onto the floor. Digging through the pile, I see a glint of metal and lift the object out to see that it is a sword. It's a bit heavy for me but it will manage.
I dash back out into the open air. The battle is starting to die down and what cicadas are still alive are fleeing. I see Arionna struggling with a cicada, while another rushes to aid the first. Arionna's bow lies on the ground a few feet away, out of reach. I run up and dodge a cicada with a knife advancing towards me. I press the weapon into Arionna's hands and run off, a cicada chasing me.
The cicada continues to chase me. I run through the council house of the tribe, my feet slipping on the cool marble. The cicada has almost got me, I make one last dive over a Council table and slip on the ground. I hear the cicada scream and lift my head above the table in confusion. Elias, bloody and battered, is holding off the cicada with a large lance. I scream as I feel a probiscus brush my arm, then realize it is only the table cloth. My srceam reminded the cicada that I was still hiding and it makes a lunge for the table- right into Elias's sword. The cicada falls to the ground, dying. Elias sinks to his knees and falls over. I rush to him and see that he has a long gash on his arm, and is bleeding. I rip of the tablecloth and wince as the fancy dishes smash on the ground. I wrap the cloth around Elias's arm to stop the bleeding and try to drag him away. He is heavy and I myself am exhausted, and his dead weight only allows me to drag him to the corner of the Council house, behind the stage. I peek outside. The battle is no longer raging, and the survivors are regrouping, but too many lie still on the ground. "They must be going to the Dynastinae now," I think hazily, before lying down to rest.

What a brat! I killed all of those Cicadas and does she thank me? NO! Uuuh. Such bad manners. But these bodies do need to be cleaned up. I start moving the heavy, lifeless bodies. I start to put one down near the edge of the clearing when Arrianonna screeches, "NO! Not there!" " Then where?" I say. "Over there," she replies and points to a large near the place I entered the village. I sigh and drag the body I am holding over there. After a while they are all there.


((If you want to know more, tell me what the village is named... I need to use it in the next line."))

[img]file:///Users/Student/Desktop/Lord-of-the-Rings-Doll-Divine.jpeg[/img]

more characters, still can't think of how to end post. (sigh....)

Heh heh. Um, I don't know what was up with that, but these are Starheart, Shimmerscale, Christiana, and Moonbreeze (right to left) Anyway, Placevalue, you get to post from you point of view, since i was controlling your character, and I can't (don't feel like?) concentrating on it long enough to come up with a suitable ending to a post that is entirely too long anyway. So, your turn.