Cold Breath

[Sethorion]

ooc- Nobody joins the threads with the really long posts, so I thought I'd try something short. Anyone can join. You can be anyone you want. Also, I have no idea who the fox could be hunting, so come up with whatever you want.
    BTW, sorry if this is a little too dramatic. I was just writing something dark in my novel and couldn't help myself.


    Sijra stepped forward and placed one footpaw on a tall rock as he scanned the empty beach. In his crow-black fur and heavy black robe, he stuck out like a sore thumb on the pale sand, but he didn't care much. Being noticed was a powerful tool to someone like him.
    He was hunting. Sijra Arjis Crowfur, the black fox, was hunting something without knowing what, only fulfilling his need to do so. And the prey was running, which was satisfying. He enjoyed the nickname he had once earned himself in Mossflower, before he left many years ago. The Fifth Horseman. Not War, not Death, nor Plague nor Famine. He was Fear. There was no purpose in his existence but self-preservation and the desire to see fear radiating in the eyes of his victims.
    And now, after years in exile, his last employer died and there was no one left willing to enforce it.
    The Fifth Horseman was back. And he was hunting.

[Queen Kiara]

Kiara was seemingly in a race by herself, running as though her life depended on it.
The truth was that her life probably did depend on it, for she has unfortunately seen someone that no one in their right mind wanted to cross paths with.
The mouse-maid saw him, and saw  it best to leave, before he saw her. that however was as lost cause, because now he was on her trail.

She had not personally seen him before, but the stories she had heard from ones that were around when he was last in mossflower were running through her head as she hid in a split of two rocks by the water. She notched an arrow in her bow and waited silently as her footpaws and shins got wet from the crashing waves.

[Sethorion]

    It was some time before his prey stopped, but when it did, he knew. The distant dot on the sand had finally come to a rest, but where, he was not certain.
    Sijra stopped and waited, but the figure did not emerge. He knew it would only stop if it had something to defend itself with, so he skirted the general area into which the prey had vanished. His eyes narrowed. She was there, somewhere.
    He hear the fluttering of heavy wings behind him and raised a black paw from the wide sleeves of his robe. A small black crow landed on his wrist and cawed.
    Sijra kept his eyes riveted on the clusters of rocks. "Find it, Dark Angel."
    Angel's angry eyes followed the fox's gaze and he cawed again. Then he spread his wide wings and leaped from his perch.

ooc- Sorry about the auto-play CQ. You can have Dark Angel after this post.

[Queen Kiara]

Hearing a deathly screech from above, Kiara looked up to see the black crow, and exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding.
'Stupid birds' She thought as she watched it. "Must be looking for scraps of food the last tide brought in." She said aloud to herself, then bit her lip as she realized she was speaking.

Shaking her head, she spoke no more and ignored the bird, not wanting to be found, by the black fox or the bird.

[Sethorion]

    Sijra's eyes narrowed when the crow circled once over a split between two rocks, near the edge of the waves' reach. He growled and whipped off the robe, then dropped to all fours and streaked forward, baring his teeth.
    He dodged around one side of the rocks to avoid whatever weapons the beast might try to use. He would savor this kill, the first of his kills in Mossflower since his exile.

[Queen Kiara]

Kiara used a deep breathing pattern to control her heart beat and not panic like most would.
"Stay calm." She told herself, peaking her head out from one  the rocks to see, but there was nothing there. "I'm either safe, or in more danger than before." She said as she retreated back into the rooks. "...I shouldn't have stopped." She criticized her choice. Though if she had kept running, she would have started to slow down and he'd catch up to her. At least this way, she had a sporting chance, or so she hoped.

[Sethorion]

    A streak of black leaped over her head and Sijra drew his sword as he  passed over. He fell to the ground on the other side and swung hard, baring his teeth and growling, expecting to watch her die.
    But he miscalculated the swing. He'd given her too much time.

[Queen Kiara]

The mouse-maid screamed, hoping that there was someone near by to help, but knowing if there was, by the time they got there, it would be too late.

She ducked and ran through the rocks. Turning around, body, arms, and hands shaking, she shoot her arrow at where she had last seen him. "Please....don't kill me. I've done nothing to you. Please, I'll do anything!" She called to him as she turned back around, not even waiting to see if her arrow had caught him and just waiting to get out of there.

[Sethorion]

    Sijra's sword bit into the stone with a loud cracking sound, cauing his paws to rattle painfully. Mechanically, incapable of feeling frustration or anger, he wrapped both paws around the hilt and moved to tug it free.
    That one brief instant spent on the sword cost his him. An arrow sliced into his paw and he hissed in pain, letting go of the sword. Luckily it was not his sword paw, so he merely pressed it against his tunic and gripped the sword again with his free paw.
    Keeping a close eye on his prey, he tugged the sword free. This one would die. It had been lucky long enough. it would die now.
    Not bothering to sheath the sword, he started after it. He walked quickly, but he didn't bother to run. He knew he would catch up with it. He knew it and he knew that it probably knew it too. He found that satisfying. Walking made it all the more terrifying.
    His injured paw strayed to his throwing knives. Even at a distance, he could drop it dead. He only needed an open space between them. Outside of the rocks, it would be easy.

[Queen Kiara]

Breathing heavily, Kiara had no choice in what she was about it do. She had no energy left in her body to try and out run him.

Leaving the safety if the rocks that dot the tidal zone, she stopped running and turned around, facing Fear itself in the face. There she dropped to her knees and took her quiver of arrows off her back and placed them in front of her along with her bow.
"I surrender!" She called to him. "...I'm nothing but a humble mouse. Please spare my life. I'll do anything you ask of me, just please...." She said looking at him.

[Sethorion]

ooc- This would work as a ploy, but if Kiara does that then Sijra would only savor her pleas and kill her anyway. You're sure that's what you want to do?

[Queen Kiara]

( ooc - Sure. She's not much for fighting, there's no way she'd survive. This is her only option if she wishes to live longer and to avoid a fight to the death. )

[Sethorion]

ooc- Well, Sijra is bloodthirsty. He has absolutely no reason to spare her :/
Is it a ploy, then?

[Queen Kiara]

( ooc - He's new to the area after being away fro so long. He may want to know some things. Yes, a ploy. )

[Sethorion]

ooc- K

bic- Sijra slowed in front of the mouse, watching her closely, but didn't stop. He was watching carefully to see if her paw strayed for any hidden weapons. "You submit yourself to fear, welcoming death?" He bared his yellow teeth threateningly.  Did she really want to die?