Celris sneered as the guards took the bait. As she followed Crane outside the gates she shook herself of them, and threw off her hood to set her cloak, freeing her limbs of it's confines to reveal a simple leather vest and  breeches, nothing that would restrict movement, but surely nothing too thin for battle.<br/>As they exited the city she seemed to come alive, eyes flashing whenever they caught the slim lights from the heavens, her ears flicked and rotated, listening to their surroundings. She quit with the straight-backed walk and returned to her hunched, prowling movements. Her tail waved slightly as she spotted the horses, then fell still.<br/>Dang, she'd been okay with horses, but only because they'd reached something of a truce. Not many were too happy to have what amounted to a giant wolf on their backs.<br/>Celris approached the beast, and made sure to make her intentions well known before leaping astride. The horse nickered and shifted a bit, but remained calm. Celris moved to pat it's neck, then thought better of it, considering her claws.<br/>She spotted a glint and eyed a shortsword attached to it's side. "Yeah yeah, war isn't good for anyone. Even the victors." She smirked at the weapon. She didn't usually use those, preferring her claws and teeth, but armed enemies would need more than a few swift punches or a nasty bite.<br/>They entered the forest, and immediately Celris felt her fur bristle. Enclosed in the forest, at night, everything seemed alive. It was akin to her own home, but with her speed she preferred plains and savannahs...and she felt something amiss here.<br/><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Osbourne...Breed...-ken...Falln...</span>The yellow orbs flickered and sputtered in and out of life. How long had he been here? Hiding? From what? Why would a HigherBreed hide from<span style="font-style: italic">anything</span>? He tried to move, in his watery prison, and was answered. His wings were crushed, the delicate aluminum alloy crumpled and pinned underneath. His left arm, still clutching his obsidian-bladed halberd, was warped so that it could not bend at the elbow. His entire left side was similarly insulted. His legs seemed fine, though, that was a relief.<br/>Relief...Osbourne's eyes flared a bright, proud gold. Relief meant he'd made a mistake to begin with. The attack had come from nowhere, left no trace. He still didn't know if it was the LowerBreed Feral, or the LowerBreed Alune who'd done this injustice. Once he got to his feet and climbed to the surface, then he would show them the wrath of the one and only HigherBreed.<br/>Once he got free...he'd have to report home, tell the others why he'd been absent from service, why he didn't return cloaked in the blood of the LowerBreeds, why he did not return with the glory of Shelune shining from his dark, ever-moving gears and plates.<br/>He didn't want to imagine this. Punishment would surely follow, and sitting in this limbo for a couple lifetimes had been more than enough of that.<br/>...He couldn't get up. After all this time, in one of his few lucid moments, to fail like this made his plates shiver with the red hot rage building up in his clicking chest.<span style="font-style: italic"> No...</span>He awkwardly moved his arm, the left one, and pointed his halberd at the stars, sen only dimly, flickering in the water surrounding him.<span style="font-style: italic">NO...</span>Transferred the dark weapon to his right, functioning arm, testing the drag the water had on his strength.<span style="font-style: italic">NOOO!</span><br/>Osbourne heaved the thing as hard as he could, prayed that it would escape this place, please<span style="font-style: italic">please</span>reach the surface,<span style="font-style: italic">fly</span>. It wavered and the water slowed it's momentum horribly, but the halberd was a slim weapon to begin with, it's decorative hilt stabilized it's journey.<br/>The blank, black obsidian blade breached the surface, the glow of the citrine gem set into the blade winked in the open air for the first time in ages.<br/>The blade wobbled, flipped sideways, and cartwheeled a few times before landing on the shore, though still submerged in the spring.<br/>Osbourne of the HighBreed clenched his fist and bludgeoned the rock walls of his pit, thrashed uselessly in the water and bellowed out his rage to the mockingly, spitefully bright stars above.<br/><br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="https://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTFOqoAXmEQCe8Dl8GmWehihi1PKYy5ZiLXxgJPDyrbB95RaSPz">[ img ]</a>