Duty called

by Tasha Masterson Sun Jan 24, 2010 1:24 am

Ha'Ruil had been walking around in the garden, for the most part just waiting for Tasha to get back. Tasha had been gone for the last few weeks on something that Venis wanted her to do, something about the keep. But hey, a few weeks without her was like an eternity. So at the moment he was just walking past the garden and went into the woods in the back .

He would hear a branch snap off in the distance. If his elf ears cared to listen close enough, they would know that the sound was made by a biped. Which meant humanoid, most of the time. But there was little to no other sound out in the woods. Not even animals.

He had stopped what he was doing and craned his neck a little as he heard the snap of the twig. He closed his eyes a little to try and figure out where the snap came from. He then noticed the the sound of the forest was gone. That was the odd thing. So with that he started to shift, first he started to shrink and a lot, then came the bushy tail, the ears, the claws and then the whiskers. He had become a squirrel. After a second to adjust his eyes he climbed up the nearest tree to take a look around, making sure that he was not making any noise. If it was a person hunting game, boy would they be in for a surprise.

Off in the distance he would see a humanoid being running rather quickly through the woods. He was very far off in the distance. He would look to be nothing more than a faint dot he was so far away in fact. And about fifteen feet behind him ran a large black panther. The panther came to a stop and shook like she was trying to get something off of her. She seemed to have become disoriented or distracted by something.

Ok, he knew the panther. So he sent her a link.

~Levi?~

With that he started to jump from tree to tree to see was going on.

Levi shook her head again. ~Ha'Ruil?~ She wasn't sure if she was hearing him or imagining him. She lifted her nose into the air and tried to pick up his scent. ~Ha'Ruil, that human, he has information that we need and he has escaped. What do I do?~ She couldn't catch the human nor could she keep his scent. He had something on him that kept causing her to loose his scent. She didn't know if she should go back for Tasha, or keep trying to catch the guy, or go to Ha'Ruil and see if he could figure something out.

He stopped on the tree and started to look around to see if he could see the person.....He really did not like to multi-merge species, but sometimes it was needed. So now his eyes were becoming that of a falcon. But his mind and body were going nuts because of the predator nature that was coming through.

~Don't worry I will see what I can do.~

Leviathan began to try to pick up the humans scent again. She was walking around with her nose to the ground. She tried to remain quiet as she moved, she didn't want to disturb what Ha'Ruil was doing. But she wanted to get that guy for Tasha.

He looked around, good gods the eyes of a falcon were intense. He could see everything, It was then that he saw the man. He made a mad dash from tree to tree, transforming into something more fit for the trees. A spider monkey, but retaining the eyes of the falcon.

~I have him in my sights. I am going after him.~

Levi could see Ha'Ruil well enough, so she followed him. She was dashing through the trees and bushes. Tasha needed this guy and they were going to get him. She wasn't quite sure why Tasha needed this guy, but that didn't matter.

~Ah, screw this, I need to get faster.~

With that he started to change again, this time into an owl. The rate of his changing was faster than what Levi had seen before, it was almost instant. Once he was an owl he started to move between the trees getting closer and closer with every movement of his wings.

~Don't hurt him Ha'Ruil. Furgirl wants him alive.~ She tried her best to keep up. She hadn't thought about how she was going to get him back to Tash once she had him. She guessed that it was a good thing that she ran into Ha'Ruil. He could help her with that.

He moved like liquid through the trees, moving a few feathers this way and that to get by branches and things. Once he got extremely close to the man he started to shift again. The guy would then be seeing a cheetah coming after him. Once he landed he gave out a roar and dug his claws into the ground, throwing up dirt everywhere as he launched after the guy.

Leviathan was managing to catch up somehow. She saw the cheetah and began to bounce off of trees to get the extra boost of distance. She was now only a few feet behind Ha'Ruil. They were going to catch the guy. Levi was thrilled.

He got closer and closer.

~I suggest that you stop before you get hurt sir.~

He moved faster again, hell the cheetah could move fast in bursts and right now that is what he was doing. Once he finally got next to guy he just looked up at him.

And Levi took advantage of the fact that Ha'Ruil was beside the man and she sprung from a tree. She hit the guy high and he toppled over Ha'Ruil to fall to the ground. Levi landed on top of him and just growled at him. ~Now what do I do with him Ha'Ruil?~ She had the guy, but now she had no idea how to get him back to Tasha.

He started to shift again, this time to his elf form.

"Don't worry, I don't think the guy will get away from me."

With that he walked over and took a look at the guy.

Leviathan didn't move. ~There's some rope tied to my collar. It's not much, but maybe it's enough to tie his hands or something?~ She had gotten tangled in the rope where she and Tasha had been. She broke free, but some of the rope had remained.

He leaned down and took the rope off her. He turned the man around and started to tie his hands together.

"Oh and I would like to warn you that if you try to run away, I can shift into things bigger and badder than a cheetah, perhaps a gorilla. Its just a thought."

With that he started to walk the guy back the way that they came from.

"So explain to me why I just captured this guy."

Now it was time to tell the story. ~Ok, well, with Seleen on her honeymoon and Dre taking care of things elsewhere, Venis is absent a head of security. So when a security issue came up, she asked Tasha to take care of it. After all, you know she can take care of herself. So we had to go to the Keep. So the issue was that there were a couple of horses missing. It was something bigger than a few little fuzzy things or a head of cattle or two. So that was why it required investigation. Well, we searched and searched and saw no signs of rouge vampires or anything. So we headed to that town that isn't too far from the Keep. This guy was acting suspicious and the couple of days that we were there he seemed to be watching us. But he would disappear like he was reporting to someone.~

While she talked, they walked. ~So when he figured out that we were on to him he took off. I was keeping up with him for a while. I almost had him. But then he took his wagon out onto an open road and headed for New Haven. I lost him there. But when I came across his wagon with a broken wheel, I picked up a trace of his scent. So I followed him. That was when we came across you.~ They were almost back to the guys wagon.

~Wow that is an adventure, huh?~

He gave out a chuckle.

~So, now where is my kitten at?~

When they got the wagon he plopped the guy down on the ground.

"If you try and move I have a whole bunch of space here to become something extremely large."

Leviathan thought Ha'Ruil's comment was funny. There was an extra wheel for the wagon if Ha'Ruil wanted to change it. ~She is back at the town down the road from the Keep. She is still looking for the things that killed the horses. This guy can tell her where and what they are.~ She wanted to get back to Tasha just as badly as Ha'Ruil wanted to see her.

He went into the back of the wagon for the tools to replace the wheel. After he lifted it up and removed the old one he asked.

~Levi could you bring me the extra wheel?~

Luckily it was against the wagon.

She walked over and rolled the wheel to him by pushing it with her nose. She was glad that she would be able to remember the way back. But she was hoping that Ha'Ruil wouldn't get mad about Tasha having to go for Venis. If he got mad and took it up with Venis it could get ugly. She liked her 'happy home', and she loved Ha'Ruil. She didn't want anything to change that. Not even his insisting that Tasha not be placed in danger anymore.

He smiled and thanked her as he placed the new one on. After he was done he grabbed the guy and placed him in the front with him.

~Ok Levi, get in.~

With that he started to move them down the road back to where ever Levi told him to go.

Levi jumped into the wagon and moved so that she could tell him where the turns where and what not. Her tail was twitching because she was anxious. It had taken her several hours to catch the guy, well, with Ha'Ruil's help. She was so glad she had come across him. ~Thanks for the backup Ha'Ruil. I would have been lost without you.~ She purred as she rubbed up against his shoulder.

He just chuckled as he moved a hand and scratched her behind the ear.

~You are very welcome my second kitty.~

Yes he said it, now he was wondering if he was going to get a paw to the head.

She shook her head and licked his cheek. ~Watch it there elf boy.~ She purred some more and tried to make him understand that she was joking. She made a sound that sounded something like laughter. When the human thought they were distracted he tried to bail, but she batted at his head and didn't spare the claws. There were a couple of beads of blood where she scratched his face. But he stilled and didn't look like he was going to try to escape again.

He just gave the guy a look.

"I really recommend that you do not do that again."

He let go the growth of a few scales, his eyes turned into dragon slits as his tongue came out forked. He stopped the transformation.

"As I said, please do not do that again."

Leviathan would have been laughing her ass off if she were human. The poor guy saw the scales and tongue, which made him piss all over himself. He stunk pretty bad now. But it was funnier because of it. She wished she could laugh so badly.

He did give out a chuckle himself.

"Ok next place to go is a stream or a pond."

With that, a few minutes later they got to a stream, they let the guy off and then dunked the guy a few times to wash him off. After that they got back on the wagon and rode on.

~So anything else interesting going on?~

The stream meant that they were almost there. ~Yes, the shopping is great at the farmers market in this town we are headed to.~ She could see the gate from where they were, there was a man waiting at a little shack. His duty was to take the waggon and care for the horses while they were in the market. The market was where they would find Tash.

~How is Tasha doing?~

He smiled at the man. He handed him the horses and the wagon as he dragged the guy off the wagon.

"Sir, please take care of the horses."

The old man smiled as took the horses and wagon.

Leviathan hopped down and followed them through the gate before taking the lead. ~She's pretty good. She misses you. And she should be right over ... There, where the guy is selling the hand made wooden jewel boxes.~ She knew she was going to find her there, and she was right.

{T.B.C.}