Part Nine
He passed silently from branch to branch. He was high in the trees, trying to avoid any Nonoshon contact. He didn’t need to though. He still had plenty of energy left to spare. If any came along at all, he could blind himself from their minds. Killing them would only make more come, pity. Suddenly, he began to sense something.
It as faint, but still it meant another sharro was close by. Kerama did not recognize the sharro, and he didn’t want to return to Leyla before dark, so he decided to investigate. It was a frmale sharro. She was standing, well trying to at least, and attempting to walk. She was beautiful. Her long, snow white wings, and light blue markings made her look like an angel...
Shallie closed her eyes for a moment, the feel of the wind rushing across her fur made her feel light headed. She wondered, reopening her windows to the world, how she could feel any pleasure when she was so entangled with things. She was after Leyla, that bedamned creature; Shallie felt her stomach tighten as she thought about the loathed being. Shallie, in the short amount of time that she had been watching Leyla had learned to hate her even more then Zenat; something told Shallie that it was this Sharro that cause so many problems... she thought that perhaps it was the tall, menacing Sharro that seemed to do her will, or maybe it was the dark glint in her eyes... whatever it was Shallie simply knew that if she was able to get rid of this being things in Shanda might just look up.
Leyla was out of Shallie’s sight, but that hardly bothered the telepathic creature; Shallie could easily pick up the life signature of Leyla, it was something that all living things had, and Leyla’s was easy to find... it was defined with darkness and greed. Reaching, making sure that all was still well, Shallie felt the life force of Leyla, it was like a writhing black force, it’s tentacles of despair shifting around Shallie’s own searching form.
And then, as she had felt it come, it was gone. Alarmed, Shallie stopped herself, and turned her head to the side searching for for any sign of Leyla, but all clues were gone. Shallie’s mind was swimming as it searched for answers; how could anyone cloak their life force? Shallie’s eyes widened... that other Sharro, the one that seemed to follow Leyla; it must have been him, for surely Shallie had never read his life force. The female shivered, all sense in the world seemed to be up side down all of a sudden and Shallie could hardly put things together; there seemed to be no rules any longer.
What next? The Guardian knew not what would be best to do, in all her experiences she had never been met with chaos quite as horrible as this. Things that she had never thought possible, were all occurring at once, and the Sharro could hardly register what was going on.
Suddenly Shallie’s thoughts were cut off as she felt a stinging pain in her chest. Looking down to inspect the cause, Shallie’s eyes were met with the sharpened end shaft of a Nonoshan arrow. Startled Shallie pulled at the weapon with her telepathy, but she failed to remove it, and fell from the sky in the midst of pain and fear...
Gyepsay was debating whether to follow the mysterious Gwaidelier or follow Shallie. But her concentration was lost when she felt a sudden pang in her heart. She screamed,"Shallie!" as clear as a shiek in the cold darkness of night.
Shallie, where ever she was, was in danger. She didn't know where, but she dove of of the hiding place in and zoommed at mach speed to where she could sence Shalie spirit energy.
It was getting dark, she couldn't possible, no, wait, there she was and she was falling! "Arrg! as if my job wasn't hard enough!" She had to time this perfectly... but she missed! Luckly, she had grabbed the back of her neck. Unfortunately, the dead weight was too much and she was slipping!
Suddenly a barage of arrows came flying, and grazed Gyepsay's wing. She gritted her teeth and and gave them the dirtiest look a telepathic dog could give. But as she was looking down, she saw something on Shallie's chest. An arrow? Was her flying really that bad?
Oh well, she had to turn back now, and try to get that arrow out.
Unfortunately, Gyepsay always accuses herself of being cursed and this is why: almost nothing goes right for her. Shallie was too much for her to carry, and she slipped from Gyepsay's teeth; however, when she went to catch her again she wasn't paying attention to the arrows that went into her leg, and her shoulder.
She was plumeting, hurling to the ground. She tried to use her wings to get airborn, but she was to tired and her wings soon gave out. She lost consciousness, and hit the ground hard. But not before she remebered the only members of her team that weren't injured were Sy and Inoshi! Inoshi could careless, but her cousin could never protect herself... she had to stay awake..
~~~~
Wepauwep was a master of disguise. Why hadn't he thought of this plan before?
With a hefty amount of money, he hired a group of nonoshon to track down a few mailand sharrow for him. He watched in amazment at how smart these cratures acually were.
They hid in a large clump of grass they had turned in a hut, watching for them. It had taken them all day, but finally two sharro glided directly overhead.
The first, completely white, seemed to disappear as soon as it came into view, but the second, purple and flying slowly was in plain firing range. With a small cry of shock, she began to fall, until a second, a WINGED sharro caught her in midair. she looked at the hut, casting it an icy, hateful glare. With all his hatred for winged sharro, other than his siter and his mother, he growled "Shoot her down... quickly!"
The arrows flew and the winged sharro and her friend fell. With a loud war whoop, the Nonoshon captured the injured heroes, and binded first Shallie, then Gyepsay. "The first you can do whatever you want to do with, take the winged one to my place for questioning."
Shallie’s head swam, and when she tried to open her eyes everything was a blur of shifting colors. Her body ached, her head was pounding, and she had the faint sensation that she was bleeding badly from her chest. In an attempt to find the wound Shallie discovered that she was tightly bound. At first her mind could hardly register that she was unable to move, and for a still moment she thought that perhaps she was dead... what other reason could there be?
It took only a few more seconds for hot fear to make the Sharro leader shiver. Now she could feel the cords, now she understood what was happening to her. Not only was she tightly kept, but standing over her were nothing less then Nonoshan. Shallie, having dealt with these creatures all her life knew what she would have to do.
Lying still she stared back at them with eyes empty of knowledge but filled with blunt hatred. They must not know that she was nothing more then an animal, she had used this trick before and she would do it again... But as Shallie went over these things and made sure that she used her own tactics she caught sight of a new Sharro. Her eyes were filled with despair... What had Shanda come to?! A Sharro using Nonoshan to attack other Sharro? Surely now the world was coming to an end!
In all her days, in all the time that she had spend living with the Nonoshan, Shallie had never met a Sharro that had anything to do with them let alone kidnaping and murder. All of the pride that Shallie had once had for her kind was gone... her entire species seemed to be corrupt.
**What kind of Sharro are you?** Her mental voice rang out clear as a bell, she locked her channels in on him and didn’t wait for his reply before going on. **Damn you! Coward! What respectable Sharro uses Nonoshan to do their dirty work?! You will die by the paws of your own kind, TRAITOR!!!! You’ll rot in hell for this!** Shallie untied herself and stood before the Nonoshan and this strange Sharro... you see it is hard to restrain a telepathic being with cords... they don’t need their limbs to untie themselves.
Rising into the air out of the reach of the Nonoshan and the grounded Sharro, Shallie built a mental shield about her now weakened body, insuring that she would not be strung by arrows again. Shallie didn’t see the crumpled body of her friend, she didn’t know that she had tried to save Shallie from the fall, and now as she turned from the scene, Shallie didn’t know that she was leaving her friend behind...
Wepauwep arched an eyebrow in mock surprise. She was strong, for a mainland sharro. Her words didn't hurt him; he never considered himself again the Nonoshon. They lived here too after all, why be so against a fellow living race? (even thought they hada a very small mental capacity.)
He stopped for a moment, but started walking again. He had a very valuable prisoner, and he wasn't about to let himself get tangled up in this situation.
Rot in hell? He chuckled to himself. If only she had a clue that he was born and raised in hell; and would probably die and rot in it for that reason. Traitor? Who did he betray? Himself? He couln't careless what she said, for her words had no meaning.
He waited for an attack, but when he didn't feel one, he continued on. But what she said... she fought for morals, just like his sister... if only more sharrow like her had existed when... his tribe, his family, his parents, his siter Shikcora...
But remembering made him very cross, and he trudged off. The Nonoshon whould be after her for weeks. Already, he could hear them running off into the night.
Gyepsay could sence Shallie leaving.
**No Shallie, please don't leave me... alone.. here...**
~~~~~~~~~
It took her a while, but finally Gyepsay woke up. Her wounds had been treated? It was very dark in the room, but she could hear someone talking. It was a female nonoshon who leaned down, patted her on the head and said, "Oh look1 The dear little bird doggie is awake! Hello little dear! What a nice doggie woggie you are! Aw, so cute!"
Gyepsay smiled in disbelief. Was this the thing she had been taught to hate? The one that destroyed entire clans, and had enslaved millions of their own kind? She rested there for another minute wondering what the heck this was all about, waiting fo the nonowoman to speak again.
"Get ready little one, Master Wepauwep, oh he is so clever, will ask you questions now!" And then she left.
Wow, this nonowoman could think positive about everything, even an interegation. But who was this Wepauwep?Another Nonoshon? ~~~~~~~~~~~
Wepauwep entered. He stood there for a moment waiting for his chance to interrupt her thoughts. Having found one, he cleared his throat. Her head snapped to his direction. She was sharp, this one.
She snarled at him,**Why did you shoot me down?why did blahblahblahblah...** He ignored her questions, instead, he stood still in place, until she stopped, and he began. **I saw you catch her. You tried soo hard to keep her away from the Nonoshon. And yet she left you here with them. She didn't even try to help you. Unfortunately, you remain faithful to her. Why?**
**Shhallie is my frriend. She probably didn't know that I was here. But you still haven't answered...**
**I want information from you. Have you ever hear of a winged sharrow named Shikcora?**
The winged sharro looked puzzled for a moment, but then she gasped in surprise. **Umm, no, never heard of a Shikcora!**
**You lying, winged rat! Tell me where she is!**
**How about I give you the toe, and you give me my mind call?**
~~~~~~~
Gyepsay quickly sent out a message, **Epharen, Shallie, please help me! I am being interegated by a madman!**
Epharen cracked her eyes open with a barely audible groan. She felt her head swimming with pain, and she was accursedly disoriented. Her mind was unstable and her senses were joggled.She was helpless at the moment, and she hated it. It was most unnatural indeed.
She felt the air running through her fur and realized she must be moving somehow. But she didn't feel herself running or flying or anything of the sort. She was confused and she didn't remember why this pain was here.
Shallie. Where was Shallie? She wanted her best friend. She needed her. She didn't care about her pride anymore. She just wanted Shallie to be there and lead her and make things okay again.
Epharen was grateful that Spree and Pherlladen had gone. She hoped they were safe.
Leyla. That bitch. If she did anything to Shallie, Epharen would make Zenat look like a saint when she got a hold of her. Right now, with the state her mind was in, Epharen didn't rightly know why Leyla had come after them or what she wanted. She didn't care, her head was pounding to the point where Epharen wouldn't have been surprised if it exploded.
Gwaildir touched down soundlessly. It had been a relatively uneventful flight here, to his temporary hang out. Epharen
had not stirred until only a few moments ago. She wasn't in admirable shape, but she wasn't as bad off as she could've been. Gwaildir let Epharen slide off of his back with ease. She was light for his strong shoulders. He was aware she was starting to come around. This place was safe, and she needed no more fussing over. Yet he did not move from where he stood. Gwaildir remained still and firm in his place. The moonlight reached him and fell upon the ground in uneven streams. His golden eyes glimmered as he soundlessly sensed something move ahead of him.
** I've brought Epharen **, he said.
And it was then that the other Sharro revealed himself. He trotted up out of the shadows toward Gwaildir. He was nearly as big as Gwaildir, but wingless and not nearly as strangely exquisite but still respectably handsome.
** She does not fare well but it's not too sever **, Gwaildir continued.
** Things do not bode well, Gwaildir.
You are troubled.**
The other Sharro spoke with a dark and slightly worried voice, the exact opposite of Gwaildir's constant controlled tone. Gwaildir ruffled his feathers in response and strided past the other Sharro.
** Eros **, he sighed, as he turned and began to pace in a circle.
Eros looked at him with a tentative,
sort of hurt glowering in his eyes.
** Gwaildir **, he began. ** Stop.**
And Gwaildir did quit his pacing and stood still, staring at Eros with his
golden eyes that always bore through to Eros' soul.
** Eros, I...** he began, his usual stoic tone of voice now soft when speaking to Eros, for who he was to Gwaildir. But he was interuppted by
a groan and turned to see Epharen pull herself up off the ground.
Shiinesha sniffed about herself. Her mind was rather befuddled, but that gave her no excuse for not finding out where the carcass that she had scented was. The shaggy form of the female Sharro slipped like a watery shadow over the wall of some wealthy Nonoshan and then snuck across the courtyard in silence.
What ever it was, it was near. The scent was that metallic blood smell, Shiinesha could easily claim that she knew it well. But that was not the only smell she could pick up, but the fearful cull of adrenaline; whatever had died had been running. Shiinesha expected it was a Sharro; she licked her lips just thinking about it.
Again slipping over another wall, Shiinesha came into view of the body. Slinking across the street, she brought herself over to it. She had been right, it was a Sharro, but to her dismay it was not quite dead. Staring down, mulling over her foul luck, Shiinesha concluded that she would find food else where. But not before checking out this Sharro. Was it a Creashaw? In that case she would be obliged to move it away from the street and help it. But thrusting her sensitive nose into the bloodied fur of the Sharro Shiinesha shook her head in anger.
This was no Creashaw! This was not even a Sharro slave! This was nothing less then a Guardian; and not only that but this was none other that the despised Shallie. Shiinesha growled low in her throat. Judging by the smells of fear, and uncertainty this Sharro had been running from Nonoshan, and no doubt they were still on Shallie’s tail. Shiinesha smiled to herself, now she could get rid of Shallie once and for all! She could leave the Guardian here... but that just wouldn’t do, if Shallie awoke she could drag herself out of the Nonoshan’s way. No, the only thing to do would be to push the body out into the way of the hunters.
Shiinesha pressed a paw into the lower abdomen of the Guardian, her small eyes lighted with mirth as she began to push Shallie up out of the gutter. But wait, Shiinesha froze, what would Caaris think of her if he found out that she had killed Shallie? Certainly he would never love her then; Shiinesha would have thought of lying if it had been any other Sharro whom she was trying to impress, but the truth was, there weren’t many Sharro who could lie to Caaris’ face, and she was not one of them.
There was only one thing left to do, Shiinesha sighed. Rubbing her own musk onto the fallen Guardian to mask their trail, Shiinesha gripped Shallie’s neck in her jaws and carefully pulled her up. Holding her now precious cargo the Creashaw proceeded down a shadowed alley, one that she knew well, to hide the Guardian, the most loathed Shallie...
Epharen breathed heavily as she stood there, fighting to not pass out or collapse. Her pale blue eyes glimmered
as they lay fixed on Gwaildir and Eros.
There was an undeniable pain in her chest, pounding like her head had been a short time ago. She knew Shallie was in trouble.
** Epharen **, Gwaildir said, his voice back in it's stoic tone.Eros looked at her as if her were almost afraid.
** Gwaildir, I must leave. ** Epharen's voice revealed her discomfort. She didn't move, but her legs trembled beneath her.
** You will be of no help to Shallie in your state, Epharen. ** Gwaildir said.
** I can't stay here. I have a duty as
a Guardian. Besides, while I stay here, that Leyla bitch runs free. I must hunt her down if it's the last thing I do. And there are others on the loose that are nothing but wicked.** Epharen spat bitterly.
** You will stay until you are recovered. I will not keep you a moment longer.** Gwaildir said with a certain authority and yet promise in his voice.
Suddenly, there was a loud yelp that rang out in the air. Eros staggered back and fell, his eyes wide with surprise and sudden pain. He'd been struck with an arrow in his side, the blood already forming a puddle on the ground around him. Gwaildir's emotionless face dissapeared.
** Eros! **, he cried out to his best friend.
Epharen spun around in disbelief, her eyes darting about wildly. Then she saw the shadow move away above.
** Nonoshan bastards! **, she cried out furiously. She leaped up onto a ledge and then up through the glass inthe ceiling to the roof, pursuing Eros' assailant. Damn, as if she didn't already have enough chaos to deal with.
Shiinesha, who had, moments ago, brought Shallie out of harms way, was now searching for another Guardian to leave her with. The Creashaw hardly wanted to get involved the way she was, and Shiinesha had begun to wish that she hadn’t helped at all now!
Wandering onwards, Shiinesha’s delicate nose, just about the only well kept thing about her, picked up the distinct scent of a Guardian. It was like a fresh, almost clean smell that lingered about them, but to one such as Shiinesha it was a smell that was too clean. Shiinesha also picked up other things, a Nonoshan... blood... anger.
She flicked her ears, so she had not wanted to get involved but by the looks of it she had no choice. Growling to herself and thinking, not for the last time, that she should not have gotten herself into this mess, Shiinesha, melted into the shadows that lurked against the building followed swiftly after the retreating creature.
Smiling to herself, the Creashaw was reminded of how hungry she was, and now how soon she would eat. Nonoshan had always been her favorite thing to get her teeth into; a lot of muscle, and not much fat. Lean and plentiful, when one could get one that is, Shiinesha had not spared herself trying to hunt as many young or disposable Nonoshan as she could... a servant here or there; a cub in a litter of ten, no one noticed the ones she chose to hunt... when they were gone no one seemed to care. This Nonoshan now was more valuable, she could smell the minted scent of wealth and the sharp pangs of adventure that had made the Nonoshan get itself into such trouble as this. Shiinesha knew he would be an easy kill, at least the unnoticeable ones could fight!
Springing forward and gaining distance in front of the Nonoshan Shiinesha thrust herself outwards towards the figure and as she slammed into him the Creashaw reveled in the surprised look on his face. Once to the ground he was easy to take, and Shiinesha wasted no time in slitting his throat. She would speak to the Guardian... what was their name? Elfarnen? It mattered to little for the Creashaw to really think over it.
As she waited, not being a very patient creature, Shiinesha began to indulge herself, eating rapidly and feeling her body fill at a fast, and pleasant pace. She would leave the brain, though she did sometime enjoy it’s taste, Shiinesha thought that perhaps the Guardian would want to go through it’s memories before feeling that it was done justice.
Then Shiinesha saw her, the Sharro figure that had raced after the Nonoshan; Epharen, yes that was her name. Shiinesha licked her lips, her tongue curling around her teeth; now she would finally get this over with...
Back
