[Yomegami]

Aerika was about to continue onwards, but she noticed the gyrophant stop. Maybe it had heard her rustleling again. But - the harbringer was certain that she was enough distance away that her motions wouldn't give her away.

No, wait - her cackle. Darn her mischeviousness! She just had to cackle, and now the Prince and his group was aware of her presence!

Adding more credance to that fact, she noticed the human-form Nagi start looking at the ground. Dang it, dang it, dang it!

Within a few seconds, Aerika had thrown caution to the winds, and slithered off, approximately in the direction the prince's troupe was heading. The grass around her rustled a lot, probably revealing her location to the rest of the group, but she could care less. She was going to get as far away as possible, and wait until the group forgot about her presence before going back. There was no point in giving up completely now.

[gestaltgirl8201]

"A snake," said Holly, still looking around. "That explains why I can't see it; it's too small."

Suddenly the grass rustled again, this time along a definate path as something disturbed it. "Over there!", Holly said, following the trail of disturbed grass with her eyes. But the snake wasn't coming for them. "Looks like its trying to get away. Should we go after it?"

Holly knew she could easily overtake the snake if she wanted to. However, if the snake was small enough to hide in the grass like it was doing, one misstep could easily crush it under her hoof. Not only did she dislike the very idea of killing, even of a mean-sounding little snake, but the Prince's guardians may want to ask the snake some questions...

******************************

Meanwhile, Susan, too, abandoned the tent for the moment (she wasn't making much progress anyway), and followed Blaise as he went to retrieve the Prince. She might not be able to do much (she would freely admit that she wasn't much of a fighter), but she wanted to help.

~Stel

{7}

[Azura Rayume]

Blast! Where did that boy get his wild ideas? Blaise scowled, his sapphire eyes scanning the open grasslands. Yes, he could see Holly... But she looked rather worried. He followed her line of sight and... there!

"Nula!" he called, attracting his companions attention. "There's something out there. Are you picking up on anything?" Nula nodded. "That's all I needed to know." He glanced once at Susan, then tore out of the camp. They'd come this far, and he wasn't about to let anything happen to that boy. Even though he was extremely troublesome.

~~~~~~~~~~

Drake stared at the moving grass, a mischevious glint in his violet eyes. One thought ran through his mind right now: catch it. Catch it before Blaise does so he'll stop worrying.

He crept toward the snake in the grass, one hand resting on the pommel of his sword, his mind racing. He was getting a bad feeling from the spot, just like the one Nula always called "Necro," but he had to prove that he was capable of handeling this himself. He refused to live with Blaise telling him what to do and Nula fretting like a mother hen the rest of his life.

[Krystalolive]

Phobos looked at Holly again, then growled and ran to where the prince was, not letting anything harm the br-kids. He had heard one word. Snake. He knew a few, but most weren't the friendlyest of critters. More so with a small one.

Belinda saw the grass move, trying to pin point where the snake was. When she saw the prince move out of the side of her eye, she looked over at him. "Drake! Stay still! You move near it without knowing where the thing is and you could get killed." She glanced at him, then looked at the grass again.

[acf7]

((I know I'm super late with this, but with the permission of Azura I will revive this.))

The penticorn dipped her head and scowled at the two albies that had followed her the entire way here.  "I'll deal with you two later," she snorted as she walked by the duo.  Now she would have to be stuck keeping an eye on the pair because the prince himself had said they could stay by putting them to work.  Lynn only hoped that Anoki and Bena would actually like they were told and gather the fire wood while she walked over to The Noel Gryphant who was standing by a cart to see what she could help with.

On her way over she caught the sound of cackling that sounded distant, but close at the same time.  The grass must be muffling the sound she thought as the vile laugh sent a shiver down her spine.  She looked around, but could not tell where the sound was coming from or from whom.  Then the tall grass began to wave wildly to her left and the bleached penticorn could catch glimpses of a black and red serpent moving through the grass.  Lynn, unsure hat to do watched as various members of the questing party began to run toward the prince and the snake as they became aware of the serpent’s presence.  

The penticorn decided that she should go with them to see if she could help with anything, besides they would need her if someone got bit.  She raced after the group and quickly caught of with them.  As she got closer to prince she realized he was going to pick up the snake.  Lynn already tired from the long trek out here, was starting to blow hard, but poured on more speed she usually kept in reserve just incase as was natural for any prey animal.  She reached the prince and screamed at him to stop, what if he was bitten?  What would she do?  She was sure she did have the ability to cleanse a victim of toxins as quickly as others did, or as reliably.  Her herbs worked, but not always, sometimes people were resistant to their healing power.  Lynn quickly tried to place herself between the prince and the snake.

[2]

[Azura Rayume]

"I can do this!" Drake hissed back to Belinda, a determined expression set on his young face. "I'm not going to let Blaise and Nula baby me forever. I've got a kingdom to rule if we can find it, and I'm going to do things my way!" He lept at a patch of grass, sword drawn, only to come up empty handed. With a scowl, he went back to surveying the land around them, seeming rather anxious about the whole thing.

~~~~~~~~~~

Blaise glanced back over his shoulder for a breif moment, glimpsing their healer running toward Drake as well. Wonderful. At least he wasn't the only one with a grain of sense on this trip.

Blast this human body! It was far too slow here. How had that little twirp of a prince gotten so far out?

[acf7]

"Master Drake, I'm telling you let it alone!  You don't know if it is dangerous!"  The bleached penticorn again tried to put herself between the snake and the young boy.  "I will put you on my back and carry you back to camp if I have to young prince, so please heed my warning before you are bitten by that foul serpent!"

[3]

[Krystalolive]

Belinda looked at the Prince, then hissed. "Fool! This has nothing to do with pride! Sssnake's can hide easy, and strike fast, which is why you must be calm when hunting one. If you're mad, you're rage will make you miss them, and they strike!" She chuckled, wondering how many times she ticked of people back home by doing that.

Phobos looked at Blaise, then ran faster. He reached the kids, then glared at the Prince. "Idiot! Snakes are one of the worst things to fight in area's like this!" He stared at the ground, seaching for any sign for a tail, head or scales.

[Yomegami]

One minute there was almost nothing in her way, and the next nearly the entire group was around the prince, trying to protect him from the snake - in other words, herself. The prince was obviously determined to dispatch of her, despite the arguments of the rest present. Having no other option, she stopped. It might help hide her exact position from the prying eyes of her pursuers.

Although she had no intentions on actually attacking unless she was attacked, obviously the Penticorn was trying to keep Aerika and the Prince separated. As for everyone else, they were on high alert. She was going to get spotted by everyone before too awful long, but what was she to do?

Easy. As a Harbringer, she had some mighty powerful venom at her disposal. If anyone tried to attack her, she would strike and try to get a bite in somewhere. And she wasn't going waste time with dry bites - if she bit, she was pumping a copious amount of venom in as well.

Well, that was the plan of action if she was attacked. However, that penticorn was obviously the same one that almost trampled her, and now it was stupid enough to put itself within striking distance.

If there was something she loved in this world, it was revenge. With that thought in mind, Aerika decided to make the penticorn the first victim of her venom. Slowly, but surely, she coiled up, readying herself to strike. Then, she lunged forwards quickly and in practically an eye's blink, aiming right for the penticorn's hind ankle. If she missed, who cared? At least she showed it the error of its ways.