The wailing star

<font color='#000080'>OOC: It wasn't long, LoL. And it doesn't matter in which direction we go, so you wouldnt've messed it up any way you would have chosen

BIC:

The stick crumbled down as soon as it hit the ground, rotting flakes of dead bark flying away. Yet the main branch was still there, pointing like a hangman's forearm off the path, into the depths of the woods, down and away from the mountain. Ronnica shrugged and smiled; why not go this way after all?
She stepped forwards to the side of the rode and jumped down on the grassy slope that continued beside it. Suddenly something slipped, a pile of wet mud from under her foor perhaps, and Ronnica lost her balanced with one last wave of her arms. She crashed into Xela, the weight of her body pulling both of them down from the path. They rolled down in a tangle of bodies, legs and tails, bumping suddenly against a large, outcoming root that sneaked along the ground like a large and ugly brown snake. The two pendragons fell over it and came to a standstill against an old, gnarled cypress.
Ronnica got shakily up, looking around her surroundings. She gave a small gasp of fright and nudged Xela.
"Xela! I... I can't really see the slope we actually tumbled down from... and not any boulder or root or whatever we crashed into either!"
It was true. They stood on perfectly leveled ground, the trees around them less dense, less thick. As Ronnica examined them more closely, she realised with a surprise that they were not the pine-type trees one can see in higher mountain regions. No, these plants were more junglish like, with lianas here and there, and sharpgrass growing under her feet.
"Strange," she remarked, but somehow, pieces were fitting together in her mind like a jigsaw puzzle. She shunned the picture away, but after a moment, she couldn't resist voicing it:
"Uh... it looks like we've encountered some kind of magical root. You step over it and appear miles away from the place you were," she said disgustedly, for she found the transportation roots dangerous, classifying them privately as "plants that are there to make your life harder".
"Such roots are used to encourage blood flow or to help regenerate infunctional nerves, but only in a limited amount, otherwise the injured pendragon can find his body parts floating around on the other side of the world," Ronnica mused out loud, telling Xela what she remembered from her lessons.
"I don't like it one bit though," she concluded, shaking her head, "I have no idea where we are. We could be at the foot of the mountain or somewhere around Swaraj for all that we know."</font>

 

<font color='#000080'>"Hear what?" asked Ronnica, though she realised what the question had probably ment and stood still for a moment, her ears listening to the soft noises around them. She cuaght the sound Xela had mentioned. A barely audible rustle, coming from somewhere between the shrubs and grass at the forest floor. The pale ears strained to hear yet any more tell tale clues to what and where the silent intruder may be hiding, while their owner tried to place the alien sound somewhere she was familiar with. She failed, of course. No one can class a faint rustle, so it was not as if a Niotie like Ronnie could do it.
"I think we should climb a tree," she whispered to her older friend, her voice both excited and fearful. "I have no idea whether that thing here can climb trees, but I'd rather risk it. If we wanted to run away, we would only get more lost and could drown in some smelly bog or fall into a Tmuka pit." She shuddered. "I don't want to experience that."
Her orbs scanned their surroundings, finally coming to a rest on some sort of a date palm that stood off to their right. Its trunk was smooth and scaled, but it branched out near the crown, creating a small nest that overlooked the place they had been standing into until now. It was separated from the outside world by a thick curtain of large leaves, while dark blue fruit hung in bunches all over the tree.
"If we can climb that tree," pointed Ronnica, "We'd get an excellent viewing point and we'll be hidden from anyone's prying eyes as well!"
She looked the tree up and down again, evidently satisfied. But a flicker of resentment in her eyes seemed to urge every nerve in her body to hurry, hurry, hurry! Yes, the pale, talkative female who had been showing off just a little while earlier was now trembling slightly, frightened a little by the eeriness of the jungle. Yet her excitement tumbled down on the fear, squashing it into pulp, leaving only flames of steely nerve and enjoyment in the pendragon's brown eyes.</font>

 

<font color='#000080'>She sized up the tree trunk in her mind, then hugged it and began pulling herself up into the crown, helping herself with her silver retractable claws. At last she pulled up just beside Xela, arranging a few leaves in the green curtain that surrounded them to form a small peephole, no bigger than a nut. But it provided some view of the terrain below and was a good enough shield. Ronnixa looked around their green room. It was large enough for both of them o stand up, balancing on a branch that was carelessly thinning the farther away it got from the trunk. There was a dim light from the sun that penetrated the leaves, wnough to create a cozy semishadow. Ronnica wiggled nervously, for an idea had suddenly struck her. She climbed to the top of the tree, and poked her head out at the very end of the trunk, looking around the whole forest. She gasped, then gave a sigh of relief when she saw the scenery. What luck! The root they tripped over must have been either too young - which Ronnica doubted since it was big enough to trip over - or too old and "senile". Can trees be senile? she wondered, as she scuttled back to Xela, just in time to hear her remark. The great swelling balloon of happiness inside her was suddenly reduced to a tiny table tennis ball, as she remembered why she was up in the date palm anyway.
"More than one?" she repeated, looking somewhat taken aback. "Gosh... I do hope they can't climb trees!"
But the pingpong of joy was not to be forgotten. Ronnica started explaining, jumping from thought to though. After a minute of quick whispers, she realised she was not making sense, and with a snort, started over.
"Xela, we're not that far away from the mountain!" she mouthed softly to the other, "The mountain's just half-a-day's walk or so away from here. You can see it if you climb up there." Her paw pointed heavenwards. "The place we are... it's the last stretch of jungle-forest before the machina ruins start. I couldn't exactly find out where they were, but I reckon some them are just a few minutes' walk from here..."
She wanted to continue, but a hysterical giggle from below them made her glance down. And when she did so, she almost screamed. Nevertheless, she managed to clamp her hand over her mouth just in time, and gave a violent shudder instead.
For even though she had never seen one in real life, the encyclopaedia picture was a faithful portrait of the creature that now stood just below the tree, examining something on the ground.</font>

 

<font color='#000080'>OOC: Okie doke, so this creature that I'm about to introduce is not one from the Ramath-lehi, but from a fantasy story that I've read some time ago (The Divide, by Elizabeth Kay). It's just a splendid idea, though I have no idea how it could have gotten into the Ramath-lehi. Or actually yes, I have, infact. Just thought of one, LoL Well, I'll reveal it as the story continues.

IC:

Standing below the tree, its paws leaning against the bark, and its face suddenly turning up to them, smiling, was a dog. Not a Pendragon. Not a real dog either. It was very doggish-like, with huge, comic-book eyes, flapping, extremely funny ears and a big lolling tongue with ringlets of saliva dropping from the tip. Its paws were too huge for its body, and as it moved slightly, it almost tripped over itself. Its tail was rather bald and ended with a small, silly fluff. The whole picture was so ridiculous and funny that, in spite of herself, Ronnica laughed.
And laughed again.
And again.
She couldn't stop, she was just laughing hysterically on and on. The creature was so funny, so... lopsided. It just couldn't be true, so funny, so funny! The trees laughed along with her, their leaves thrashing in their laughter, the morning sun laughed with her, the sky laughed also. The whole world was laughing with her, shaking and doubling over with joyous hysterics.
Ronnica was suddenly laughing so hard that it was not funny anymore. Her sides heaved, she choked, but the image of the silly dog in front of her kept retourning to her mind and she had to squeeze out the last of the air in her lungs in a large, hysterical gulp. Her head swam, the world was unfocused, she turned around and around, narrowly missing a dry branch, crashing into the trunk, laughing, choking, laughing, gasping, laughing, dying...
She was going to die of laughter. What a dangerous creature stood down there, giggling and waiting for it's prey to fall down so it could feast on it.
Summoning her last strength, she strengthened up her telepathy abilities and sent the important information to her friend:
It's a warrit. A creature that makes you die with laughter and then eats you. Stuff fingers in your ears, close your eyes! Don't laugh, for whatever you do!

Ronnica gave a last, choking giggle and crumbled down to the branch she was standing on. Her legs hung limply over the side of it, while her chest rested on top, stopping the pendragon from falling down.
And very quietly, withing that chest, a heart was slowly coming to a stop, using up the last traces of oxygen in the girl's bloodflow, counting time down...</font>

 

<font color='#000080'>OOC: This happens to me all the time

IC: The warrit trotted over to the pendragon that had dropped down from the tree. It sniffed at her limp form, a disgusted smirk appearing on its face. This one hadn't died from laughter, no, something else... it sniffed Xela again, then drew back in sheer horror. This pendragon had dropped down from exhaustion! Yuck!

"Really, how can one eat something that passed away in such a gross manner?" the warrit mused out loud, its stomach giving a churn. The very though of eating something that hadn't died of laughter made the creature sick. Interest returning to his face, he glanced up at the other pendragon, curled up in the crown of the tree, a melting black bubble shimmering in the air above her. Now, that one seemed to have had it. The warrit licked its lips, then tried shaking the tree trunk. The body up there wouldn't budge though.

"Dammit!" the dog cried in frustration and dropped down to all fours, growling. "I can't climb trees, hallo! Get down!" He gave the trunk a final push, but still it refused to give up the prey. The warrit gave up. "Looks like a hungry morning today," he mumbled as he made for the underbrush, "Better catch something else before I die of starvation."

In the flick of an eye, he was gone, his bald tail with the funny fluff on the end dissapearing into the bushes and long grass that covered the forest floor.

***

Ronnica moaned, then drew in a breath of air. Her lungs welcomed the humid atmosphere with relief. The pendragon relaxed, breathing for a while. Then she got up, stretched and looked around. Slowly, the memories came back. The transport root, the warrit, her own collapsing... It was rather strange how well she felt, regarding all that her body structure had to go through.

Ronnica narrowed her eyes, looking around for Xela. Now, where did that pendragon go? Finally, she spotted her friend lying on the ground, knocked out or even... Ronnica's heart gave a lurch. Xela hadn't... hadn't died, surely not?

She slid down the tree and knelt down next to Xela. She looked so still and unmoving that for a while Ronnica lost all hope. Then, reacting quickly to everything she had learned over the years of Healer training, the pale pendragon moved Xela over to the recovering position and started applying indirect heart massage. She worked for a few minutes in silence, then felt a faint vibration below her finger. Excited, she quickly changed to another first-aid technique, commonly known as the "kiss of life". At last she though she detected a faint stir of breath coming from Xela's mouth, but she wasn't sure. She sat back, watching the other breathlessly, waiting, balancing on the edge of a knife...</font>

 

<font color='#000080'>Ronnica felt a gush of relief as Xela woke up, though the false smile didn't get her at all. She poked Xela gently, making her lay down again.

"It was a warrit," she said, then continued, "And I'm doing fine, thank you very much. I just hope you are doing as well as me, because if you are, we're over." However, the answer to the last question didn;t want to leave the pendragon's mind. The white femme twitched uncomfortably, but then decided to owe up:

"Xela, we have to find the person that got the warrit there. It is a legendary creature. It's not suppose to be here at all!" Ronnica cried, "We've got to find the pendragon that got him here, and either talk him out of doing any more experiments or... or..." The second option remained unsaid, but both of them knew what it ment. Frustrated, Ronnica continued,

"There is absolutely no way we can let this on, as if nothing had happened. I mean, imagine the two worlds, legendary and rational, sliding together, staying together in some half-form, the barrier between them so thin that it barely exists." The pendragon covered her face with her paws. "It's just horrible. Horrible."

Reminding herself about the state Xela was in, she calmed herslef down and knelt down to her friend.

"But we're not coming anywhere until you feel ok," she said softly, smiling. Then she whispered:
"And there's something else I want to say. You saved my life up there." Ronnica jerked her thumb towards the palm tree, "And I want to thank you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn;t be here anymore. Thanks again."</font>

 

<font color='#000080'>"It's OK," she said gently, but then looked away, feeling rather guilty. Ronnica was just so stuck on the mere idea of "getting rid of this peace-breaker" that she completely forgot to plan the realisation of it. She glanced up at the sky, as if answers usually flew around in the air. The day was starting out rather nicely, with yellow sun piercing the blue skies and splashing its golden light on the few clouds that rolled around here and there. The pendragon sighed and turned back to Xela.

"I daresay one just can't work magic of that type just anywhere," she said slowly, as if every word, before leaving her mouth, was being weighed and checked over, "That guy or whoever managed to send the warrit over had to find an uncommon place."

An uncomfortable grin settled over her features like a mask and the pale pendragon continued.
"The problem is, of course, that we have no idea where such a place could be. Not around here anyway. And the warrit certainly went around exploring, so there's no point in following it. So I guess we're stuck."

She waved her hands in the air, then settled down and tried to force her brain to reflect.

"Where could such a place be?" she asked out loud, talking more to herself than to Xela, "The crest of a mountain, a large river, three willows growing in a traingle... Damn it!" she cried out in frustration, "This is no use! This is just no use! We'll never come up with anything this way!"

She pushed through a nearby bush and caught a glimpse of the first signs of the machina ruins, a large rusty engine embedded in orange sand and overgrown with jungle vines. Skirting its top, there was one of the most important stars in ramathian astronomy. It was the first star one could see in the evening and the last one that left the sky at dawn. It had a scientific name, but no one really bothered to learn it. Most commonly, it was known as the wailing star. Heavens know why. Ronnica looked at the dull white object as it dissapeared behind the old machine, falling towards the line of the horizon. Hmm... that could be an uncommon place too.

Giving herself a hefty blow with her paw, the pale femme returned to Xela, summarising up the nothing she had come up with.

"But I didn't find any way, nor have I received any ideas," she confided to the elder pendragon with bittersweet sadness, "Have you got any idea?"</font>

 

<font color='#000080'>Ronnica's hazel eyes swept upwards, seeing every flicker on the blue sky. The female studied the avian that repeated its actions, plummeting towards them like a brick, then gliding upward, its wings outstretched. It seemed more... gidderish, more nervous and less graceful than a bird might be though. Perhaps some kind of bat? As much as she strained to recognise it, the young Biologist couldn't place this black shadow scaling the atmosphere above them. Realising this, Ronnica grew furious at herself, for she was a rather ambitious student and hated when she didn't know what she was dealing with. This, of course, made it a natural thing for her to invent reasons and theories that made sense to her... but were miles away from the truth.

"You're right," the fog-coloured pendragon muttered, bringing her eyes back to Xela, "It does look like it's trying to either tell us something or tear us up. I'll try to find out."

As all pendragons, Ronnica had the ability of mind-speaking, telepathy. It was very simple for her - and for anyone else, that is - to send out a thought straight into another pendragon's mind. Eons ago, some smart pendragon had tried communicating this way with animals. She had been able to understand some of it, and had proceeded to write several books on the subject, plus a rather large dictionnary. Many others had follown her example, even though not all managed. It takes long time to learn the language and ways of the ramathian fauna, it takes a lot of patience also. Like learning another language, one could say, with a few tens of variations for each animal-type.

Ronnica didn't know this language. She had never communicated with a non-pendragon creature, though she counted on doing it when she learned the tongue in her Mastery schooling. The young female intended to become a Master in both Healing and Biology. How very ambitious.

Yet now she was here, attempting to run ahead of her years. Determined. Ronnica sent out some words up to the winged animal, pointing at the same time to herself and Xela, and then waving her front arms. She hoped that if her telepathy fails, the avian would at least understand nonverbal communication.

In the middle of this, just as she was about to repeat her message for the third time, suddenly a response drilled into her brain. Ronnica froze in mid-air, trying to understand. It was of no use. The few words... no, she couldn't call them words. Sounds, more likely. So, the few sounds that she had received were incomprehensible. A flutter click of mushed up squels, shortened and silenced abruptly, only to be taken up by another chittering. Not like any of the languages she has ever heard.

Ronnica shook her head. She didn't understand. Her orbs skirted the heavens yet again, as they looked hopefully up to the bird. To her utter amazement, the black shadow was slowly flying in one direction. It was still circling, but at least it was now moving away. Maybe it can speak Ramathian or English, the pale girl wondered briefly, but pushed the matter out of her mind quite soon. Instead, she called out to Xela, beaming at her.

"You were right! Let's go after 'im!" yelled the youth as she searched quickly for some hint of a path. She followed the bird's course through the sky, then traced the direction on the ground as well as she could.

It was the direction of the wailing star, the direction of the Machina ruins.

"Ugh-oh," muttered Ronnie, but nevertheless, she set out after their mute guide.

OOC: Maybe that since we're not in the Mountain region 'nymore, we can create a new thread in the machina ruins? Just post your last post here, and I'll go 'n create it.</font>