Rat Pack|Haven, Ilyamen
Jul 5, 2010 20:15:25 GMT -5
Post by Darastrix on Jul 5, 2010 20:15:25 GMT -5
Ivy was hurrying down one of the main streets of Haven. Down the middle of the street, in fact. Courtesy to riders and carriages be hanged; it was foolishness to walk too near the buildings those days. The alleys and spaces between were good hiding places for those damned rats, and she had even heard of the odd attack during broad daylight when a person wandered too close to an alleyway.
She looked up at the sky and fervently wished it were daylight. When the venomous rats ("demon rats," some called them, for their red eyes and horns) had started to become a real problem, she had, like many, restricted her outings to the daytime, but when one was a healer, one wasn't always able to choose. Illness and injury were seldom ever convenient.
Ivy turned onto a side street and pressed her fingers to the sign beneath the lower rim of her glasses. This mess just had to start during the last half of the year, she thought as she chanted and rose a foot above the cobblestones. Any other time of year, she might have made some use of her Earth sign, but the plants that didn't die back were sleepy and sluggish in winter, and at her age, she didn't have an abundance of energy to pour into rousing them.
Keeping an eye to the dark, ill-lit spaces around the corners of buildings, she made her way toward her home, wind-walking as quickly as she was able. Sounds of scurrying made her push her element further, her free hand dropping to the small dagger at her side. The dangers at home were making her travels through Beleg en route to Autus seem almost safe.
Where are they? Ivy didn't dare set foot on the ground just to take the time to amplify the noises around her; she felt certain that she'd see a rat as soon as she landed. Or rats. She wasn't sure she believed the new rumours about them seeming organized. There was enough worry about them as it was without adding something so frightening and unlikely.
There's the little bugger. She eyed a gorge rat that was roughly the size of a small cat and altered her course a bit toward the other side of the street. The rat seemed to track her with its beady red eyes, but seemed otherwise uninterested in Ivy as prey.
When another, smaller rat scurried along a window sill above her and dropped onto her shoulder, she realised why. The lone gorge rat had been a distraction.
She yanked her dagger free and tried to stab at the rat while keeping herself above the ground, but the angle was just too awkward. Sharp teeth sank into the hand touching her Wind sign and she jerked away on reflex. The gorge rat was flung into the shadows and Ivy dropped to the ground.
With the strength found in sheer terror, she touched her Wind sign again to amplify her voice. "HELP!" She didn't waste her breath again, instead calling on as much Wind as she could muster to shield her from the gorge rats, her dagger gripped tightly in fingers that were fast growing numb.
Efil preserve her, and if not, Worg grant her the power to at least kill some of them first.
She looked up at the sky and fervently wished it were daylight. When the venomous rats ("demon rats," some called them, for their red eyes and horns) had started to become a real problem, she had, like many, restricted her outings to the daytime, but when one was a healer, one wasn't always able to choose. Illness and injury were seldom ever convenient.
Ivy turned onto a side street and pressed her fingers to the sign beneath the lower rim of her glasses. This mess just had to start during the last half of the year, she thought as she chanted and rose a foot above the cobblestones. Any other time of year, she might have made some use of her Earth sign, but the plants that didn't die back were sleepy and sluggish in winter, and at her age, she didn't have an abundance of energy to pour into rousing them.
Keeping an eye to the dark, ill-lit spaces around the corners of buildings, she made her way toward her home, wind-walking as quickly as she was able. Sounds of scurrying made her push her element further, her free hand dropping to the small dagger at her side. The dangers at home were making her travels through Beleg en route to Autus seem almost safe.
Where are they? Ivy didn't dare set foot on the ground just to take the time to amplify the noises around her; she felt certain that she'd see a rat as soon as she landed. Or rats. She wasn't sure she believed the new rumours about them seeming organized. There was enough worry about them as it was without adding something so frightening and unlikely.
There's the little bugger. She eyed a gorge rat that was roughly the size of a small cat and altered her course a bit toward the other side of the street. The rat seemed to track her with its beady red eyes, but seemed otherwise uninterested in Ivy as prey.
When another, smaller rat scurried along a window sill above her and dropped onto her shoulder, she realised why. The lone gorge rat had been a distraction.
She yanked her dagger free and tried to stab at the rat while keeping herself above the ground, but the angle was just too awkward. Sharp teeth sank into the hand touching her Wind sign and she jerked away on reflex. The gorge rat was flung into the shadows and Ivy dropped to the ground.
With the strength found in sheer terror, she touched her Wind sign again to amplify her voice. "HELP!" She didn't waste her breath again, instead calling on as much Wind as she could muster to shield her from the gorge rats, her dagger gripped tightly in fingers that were fast growing numb.
Efil preserve her, and if not, Worg grant her the power to at least kill some of them first.