Pounce|Haven | Ilyamen

[Kender Bard]

Flora giggled, watching her panther companion roll around on the grass like a kitten. It felt good to be out in the fresh air, away from the clans. She lay back and shut her eyes, trusting her companion to be her sentinel.

Pounce generally was an excellent guard, but an intriguing scent tickled his nose. He wandered over to inspect, finding a haunch of meat just lying on the ground. He delighted in his good fortune for it smelled fresh still.

And as he was enjoying the impromptu snack, he did not even hear Flora's cry as she was grabbed and gagged, the rag having been soaked in some alchemist's goop so that she fell into a sudden slumber. When he'd finished eating, he looked around. His companion was gone.

Whining, he set off to find her.

[Northen Light36]

Echo's on her way home to Ilyamen, chatting cheerfully to her cat companion, Wish. "You know this trip would be a lot easier if you did some hunting for yourself," she mock grumbles.

"But then you'd never be able to finish what you caught and the meat would-" The grey tabby stops midsentence, his ears twitching. "Did you hear that?"

Echo nods. "Someone's upset." Beast and companion set off to invesigate the source of the whimpering.

[Kender Bard]

Pounce sniffed around, but could not smell his beloved Flora's scent. The men who had taken her were wise in that they carried her up high. Pounce could smell just enough of her to madden him that he couldn't find more. He smelled the strange men but was unsure what to do about them.

Spotting Echo, though, he bared his fangs suspiciously. ~Did you take my human?~

[Northen Light36]

"Take your human?" Echo repeats, blinking. "No. Of course not. What's the matter? Are you lost?"

"We'll help you," Wish offers, though he's cowering a little in awe of the big cat.

[Kender Bard]

Pounce eyes Wish. He decided the cat's attitude was proper and so relaxed a little. "My human is gone." Pounce gave another mournful whimper. "I guard her. She is mine to keep. I turned away to eat and then she was gone. Her scent is not on the ground."

[Northen Light36]

Echo frowns. She doesn't like this. "We'll help you look, fine one," she soothes him. "Tell me, what other scents can you find where your human vanished? And what is your name? I am Echo and my companion is Wish."

[Kender Bard]

"My human calls me Pounce," the great panther said. "There are other man-scents around. Come." He led the way back to where the smells were strongest. Pervading here, too, was the smell of fear. It was strong from all the humans.

[Northen Light36]

Wish gives a soft hiss of disgust at the sickly scent and even Echo wrinkles her nose slightly. "Well this shouldn't be a hard trail," she mutters. "Pounce, Wish, do you two think you can follow the scents that aren't Pounce's companion?"

"Which is Pounce's human's scent?" Wish asks.

[Kender Bard]

Pounce seemed enlightened at this revelation. It wasn't that he was a stupid creature, it was just that his thought patterns didn't often wrap around some of the higher thinking concepts. After all, that's what Flora was for.

He lifted his head up high, almost going onto his hind paws and sniffed the wind. "Here."

Then he came back down and started to follow the man-scent of the strangers. It was heading decidedly east.

[Northen Light36]

"Good," Echo tells Pounce. "Well let's find your companion." With that she and Wish jog along with Pounce, the over-excited young cat chattering about how he'll claw the kidnapper's eyes out and how this is just like the adventures his mother goes on. After a few minutes of Wish's chatter, Echo's beginning to get a long suffering look.

[Kender Bard]

"Little cousin," Pounce growled, "The men will be long gone if they hear you yowling as you approach." He glanced at Wish. "Well, maybe not. Not for a small cat. But it is a rule of the hunt that you keep as quiet as you can."

[Northen Light36]

Scolded, Wish stammers an apology and falls silent, slinking low to the ground as he walks. "Thank you," Echo whispers to Pounce before turning her attention back to looking and, now Wish is quiet, listening for any sign of the men.

[Kender Bard]

It isn't until much later that there is sight and sound of something ahead. The two men had stopped and were arguing quietly with one another - over the direction of their course by the sound of it. Prone on the ground was Flora, sleeping.

Pounce growled softly and began to prepare himself for a spring.

[Northen Light36]

"Don't!" Echo hisses. "You'll just get us caught." She frowns, thinking. "Wish, get closer. Find out where they're going with the kid."

"Okay Echo," Wish chirps, melting into the shadows and creeping closer to listen.

[Kender Bard]

Pounces claws dug up the ground in agitation, but he otherwise obeyed. Humans were for thinking, after all.

"We're going too far north," the man hissed. "Do you want to run into Ronduin or Khelek?"
"I sure as hell don't want to run into anymore Beasts," the other man growled. "One's enough, and she'll fetch a price I'm sure. They're too dangerous to handle more than one."
"Well we'll never get to Ekaitz this way!"