Ralph wished he had time to spare to tell them how idiotic it was to do that. Not only was the wolf as tall as the raptors, but it was likely faster than their escorts were, which would mean that it could just as easily tear them apart before they'd have a chance to make any effective attack on it.
Not that he had much time to spare to say anything. The wolf seemed more tenacious than he'd expected and it was already getting up, although it was clear the fight was gone from its eyes. The wolf wanted to run.
However, Ralph had a feeling that even if they just let the wolf go, that it wouldn't survive for long with injuries like those. Especially when the ice spears melted. Besides, even if it did survive, Ralph doubted that this fight would keep it from coming close to this area. Meaning that it might try again whatever it was here to try.
So, Ralph launched another volley of his ice spears, careful not to hit their escorts.
While some of Ralph's attack hit the wolf on its back, most of his attack missed. Largely because the wolf changed direction as it moved. If it wasn't as injured as it was, Ralph figured that it would likely have missed altogether.
After that, Ralph didn't get another chance to attack the wolf as after another blast of lighting from Wes, the wolf went down and stayed down. Though, Ralph wasn't sure if it was because the wolf had died or because it was merely unconscious. Either way, he was confident that the fight was over.
Dismounting, Ralph walked over towards the wolf in time to see their escorts cutting the wolf's throat with their swords, clearly making sure that the wolf wasn't going to get back up later on. Which Ralph supposed was the prudent thing to do seeing as how he himself wouldn't be interested in a rematch if he didn't have to have one.
When he reached their escorts, Tim and Wes had arrived, having dismounted from their respective raptor and were talking conversationally with their escorts, who no longer seemed to look at them with suspicion while they struggled to dismount themselves.
"Where did you get these creatures for us to ride?" one of the escorts had asked.
"We created them with magic," Tim answered. "Though, I guess this time they weren't as useful as they have been in the past, since that wolf was too agile to let it get close enough for the raptors to actually do anything to it."
"Hey, the raptors were the first thing that came to mind," Ralph commented, partly a protest and partly a mere comment, as he approached and the escorts finished carefully dismounting.
"Where did they come from?" the other one of their escorts asked.
"I made them from my magic," Ralph answered before anyone else could as he cut of the flow of his magic to them, letting them dissipate and fade away before their very eyes. "They're actually illusions that work well enough if you don't think too much about them not being real."
Their escorts blinked, looking dumbfounded, which Ralph figured was probably natural, all things considered.
Then before anyone could say anything else, Ralph heard movement, twigs snapping, and other sounds that didn't sound like regular wildlife coming from the other side of a bunch of bushes in the distance. He wasn't sure what it was, but their escorts were on alert before Ralph fully registered what the sound meant.
"Is there something else out here that would make you worried?" Wes asked, not looking as worried as their escorts were and Ralph felt. As if their escorts were worried, Ralph had a feeling that they should be worried as well. If only because their escorts probably knew more about what was on this world than they were.
"Actually, yeah, there is. We don't see them very often, and we're supposed to have an agreement or something with them, but that doesn't mean all of us feel comfortable with them," the first of their escorts said, putting her hand on the hilt of her sword, clearly ready to draw it if it proved necessary.
"Are you sure it's not something else?" Wes asked. "I think I heard that some of your people were out here already before we arrived."
"Maybe, but unless you have a way to tell who exactly it is, we can't be sure if we can relax or not."
"Well, whoever it is, or whatever it is, they'll be here soon enough," Tim said calmly, as if he was like Wes and didn't find the fact that their escorts were concerned rather concerning.
Ralph opened his mouth to say something when other people came out from breaks in the bushes that weren't visible from the distance. Although Ralph was still on edge, he couldn't help but notice that their escorts relaxed. Even though it looked like a large fighting force, it was clear that their escorts weren't worried anymore.
Which made Ralph feel a little better, even if he still felt uneasy about the appearance of so many people and it took him longer than he'd have liked to relax himself. Though, Tim and Wes looking rather uneasy themselves at the appearance of the newcomers felt a little good to Ralph.
"What are you two doing here?" a woman who looked like she was in charge demanded, looking like she wore authority like it was a garment to be put on.
"We were tasked with being an escort for these people and when we were near the trees the wolf ran by and they created mounts for us to ride that let us follow the wolf to here," their second escort said respectfully to the woman.
The woman looked at Ralph, Tim, and Wes. She hardly looked impressed, but it was hard to tell for Ralph. Especially since he got the feeling she was actually impressed, but also unhappy about something that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
Glancing at the wolf, he couldn't help but wonder if she was merely unhappy that she wasn't the one who got to take the wolf down. Or at least assuming that she was after the wolf herself and not out here for some other reason that they didn't know about.
"Well, regardless of anything else, we should start heading back. The danger the wolf posed to us is gone, so we can at least be happy that that's over with," the woman said, already starting to walk in the direction that Ralph figured was the settlement.
Ralph felt a little disoriented from the chase himself, so he wasn't as confident as where they were as this woman seemed. Which was fine with him, seeing as she hadn't been riding after that wolf at speeds that were probably unsafe to be doing in a wooded area. In fact, as he thought about it, he felt a little surprised that none of them had been hurt by a branch or tree or something as they'd ridden through the trees in pursuit of that wolf.
However, he knew that it wasn't something that he should dwell on too much at this time. Besides, he had a feeling that he should get back to Lily as he did leave her at the building where they'd received their escorts because she had seemed tired and had curled up in a corner before they'd come out and for some reason, Ralph just wanted to be near her right then. He couldn't exactly explain why, just that he felt that need to be near her.
"Who's this person?" Ralph heard Wes ask one of their escorts as they all started following the woman.
"Tchisa," the second escort said. "She's in charge of the Silverthorns and some say the next in line to take over if something happens to the Blue Rose."
Ralph didn't really care what who this woman was. Just so long as he didn't have to deal with her. As he had a feeling that they wouldn't get along very well, especially when she had so much authority and he was more inclined to pranks, despite his efforts to try and change that part about himself.
_
Embris felt surprised when she was summoned to meet with Tchisa. Part of her worried that her getting someone to take over for her was going to get her in trouble, but at the same time, she had permission to do so. Which while it was something, she couldn't help but worry that it might have also been something else that she had overlooked. Something that she worried was going to create trouble for her when she met with Tchisa.
She'd brought Cinder, Feon, and Lyshean to the small building, more of a shed, where she lived with Nymis and Rephis. They'd been enjoying their reunion until it had been interrupted by the messenger.
"I'll be right there," Embris said to Cithis, who was the one who had brought the message to her.
"So, I guess we need to go back with you?" Feon asked, looking a little put out by that fact.
Embris smiled ruefully. "Yeah, looks like it. Though, it would be nice if we could talk like what happened at our village never happened."
"But father died," Cinder said, looking like he felt that Embris should still be mourning him, even if Cinder wouldn't actually come out and say it.
"Yes, he did. However, that doesn't mean we should stop living because of that. You know he wouldn't want that from us," Embris said as they started to leave her new home, even if it was smaller than the home she grew up in.
The walk to the central building was quiet in the late afternoon light, but it was a comfortable silence. It felt almost like they were back in their old village right then and were on their way to the main part of the village for whatever reason.
The only problem for Embris was the looming specter of whatever it was that Tchisa had called her for. She hoped that nothing had happened that would require her siblings to have to leave or worse, but if that's what was going to happen, she was confident that she'd be able to at least try to speak out on their behalf.
However, the closer they got, the more festive the atmosphere seemed to get. Embris wouldn't exactly say that everyone was celebrating, but that's how it was starting to appear as they got closer.
"Did something happen?" Cinder asked, sounding rather confused.
Embris couldn't blame him since she felt much the same way as she shook her head, not sure how to respond to his question. She hadn't seen anything like this before, though there were a few times when it came close, but even then she could find someone who was like her who didn't know what was going on. Yet, at this time, it felt like she and her siblings were the only ones who weren't aware of what had happened.
When they reached the central building, Embris was surprised to hear something strange coming out, something that sounded like… music? Though, if it was music, it wasn't like anything she'd heard before. While it was lively, it seemed almost like it came out of the air and electrified her. In a way it was unsettling but at the same time, it almost felt exhilarating.
"What is that sound?" Emris asked, not sure if she actually expected a response.
"Oh, that would be the music that Wes and Ralph played to get money when we traveled a bit," Feon answered, sounding almost like she was eager to travel around again.
While Embris knew how exciting it could be to see new places, she also knew that it wasn't something for her. In fact, she was content to make this place her home and settle down here with someone that she felt she could share the rest of her life with. Although, as that thought briefly floated through her mind, Ralph's face popped up, making her blush despite knowing no one else could know what she'd just thought.
"Are you blushing?" Rephis asked, almost giddily, making Embris instinctively want to deny that. Especially since it wasn't something that women were supposed to do since that was more of a masculine thing to do.
"Maybe," Embris grumbled, not wanting to draw more attention to that fact by having an argument start about if she was or not. Something she was certain would happen if she denied it outright.
"Why?" Rephis asked, sounding almost like he had a few ideas and was wanting confirmation about them.
"Doesn't matter," Embris informed her youngest brother. "I'm not going to say anything more about it." She pushed the thoughts of Ralph out of her mind, determined to not reveal anything about that to anyone. Especially her brothers who would likely be more than happy to continue talking about it with her until the entire settlement knew what they were talking about.
"Why not?" Rephis asked as they walked up the steps to the front door of the central building. "I wanna know!"
"Because I'm not going to tell anyone about it," Embris answered firmly. "I'm not interested in talking about it so I won't. It doesn't matter how much you pester me, you won't find out what is was about."
"Awwww!" Rephis whined, looking as if she'd just taken away his favorite doll.
As they opened the door, the volume of the music shot up and Embris immediately threw her hands over her ears, not sure how it got so loud. All she knew was that she had to enter the building in order to find out what it was that Tchisa wanted from her, even though she'd rather not deal with that noise that hurt her ears.
"Was it always this loud?" Embris yelled over the music to Feon.
Feon shook her head. "I've never heard it this loud!" she yelled back, the music ending which made Feon's response carry to everyone in the room, drawing everyone's attention to them like they drew everyone's gaze simply by being there.
"Good you're here," Tchisa said, a little too loud herself, though Embris wasn't sure if it was because the music had made everything seemed quieter to her as it seemed like it had to Embris.
"What did you need?"
"Well, first, we're celebrating the death of the wolf that had been attacking us," Tchisa said, drawing a round of cheers from the entire room. "Second, we're looking at how we can repay the ones who took down the wolf and killed it without anyone else getting hurt."
Embris wasn't sure what to say, but when a little girl took her hand in hers, Embris felt surprised, unsure who this girl was or why she looked at her so fondly. Although, she didn't object to the little girl being so friendly, she did wonder who she was and where she'd come from since she couldn't recall seeing her before.
The girl tugged on Embris, clearly wanting her to go with her. So since Tchisa didn't seem to have anything more to say to Embris, at least right then, especially when one of the other Silverthorns came up to talk to her about something, Embris didn't resist, letting the girl lead her across the room.
Though, wherever she'd expected the girl to lead her, over to Ralph certainly wasn't where she expected the girl to take her. Then before anyone said anything, Embris couldn't help but have the thoughts she'd had earlier come back into her mind of Ralph, making her feel like her face was about to overheat. Especially when she hadn't expected to actually have to be confronted with him so directly.
If anything, she'd expected to have been able to be more casual about her approach towards him and deal with this later.
"Lily, why'd you bring her over here?" Ralph asked, sounding as if he was as uneasy about Embris being there as she was herself.
The little girl, who Embris assumed was Lily, didn't say anything. She merely held up Embris' hand, which was still in hers, looking as if she was offering it to Ralph. Embris quickly pulled her hand out of Lily's not sure she wanted to know which she'd rather happen: Ralph taking hers into his own or Ralph keeping his hand to himself.
Although, part of her wanted Ralph to take her hand in his, the other part was scared of what that might mean. Was she actually interested in Ralph? She asked herself, feeling like her heart was hammering in her chest while Lily looked at her like she was trying to solve a puzzle that didn't make any sense to her.
"Well, since you're here, why not share a drink with us," Amelia said, holding up a mug. Though, Embris couldn't help but smile, knowing that all they really had was water to drink. Which was something that she would occasionally hear complaints about since many wanted some alcohol to drink but there wasn't any place in the settlement that made any just yet and it wasn't an expense that the Blue Rose had approved just yet.
"I'd like to, but I still need to talk with Tchisa," Embris replied, wanting to put distance between herself and Ralph more than anything else right then. She wasn't sure why she was so worked up about being so close to him, just that she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed around him. Which felt strange for reasons she couldn't quite place.
It was times like this that she wished her father was still alive so she could talk to him about it. Or even her mother. She'd settle for her mother returning just so she could talk to her about what was happening to her. She was confident that her mother would be understanding, no matter what it meant, and would likely help her understand what was going on with her.
Not willing to chance any more conversation, she quickly made her way back to Tchisa. Somehow, she could feel the disappointment coming from Lily even though she didn't look back. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but she wasn't going to look to find out. Especially since she wasn't sure she really wanted to know herself. Not when Ralph was there and she wasn't sure why she felt so flustered right then when Lily had brought her to him.
When she returned to Tchisa, she found the woman talking with other Silverthorns, looking like they were discussing something official. Which Embris couldn't help but find annoying since it meant that she needed to wait before she could really find out what the reasons were for Tchisa to have called her over like she had.