Thallominas 12th, 10012 XA
Midday | Mild Showers | Annoyingly Hot, Rahil might add
Dramatis Personae:
The Seekers — Rahil, Jael, Na'im, 7 Zanaryan advisors (who shall not be named, unless someone desires to), and two accompanying Mystriders (Wing Master Lagoon Chik-tik and Rider Lagoon Riverwind)
Malaki -- Gogron, Milik, Chieftan Barghruz, and Palak
Rahil sighed as he looked at the electric-blue and pink flowers fanned out from a tree's base. Water drifted down one petal as rain pitter pattered above Rahil's head, which was thankfully covered by a black broad-brimmed feather hat, the height of fashion back at home for the month, or so he was told. Being in the barbaric jungles of Acantha hardly brought out a desire to look fashionable—let alone presentable most of the time, with only the rain keeping Rahil cool and sane. He had Na'im ask the residents of the Mystrider village he set his base in where the flower he was admiring originated once, and sure enough, it was none other than the pitiful Earth; Earth was that polluted mess of a world in which the humans took advantage of the elements provided for them; The ingrates no doubt would crush an entire field of the remarkable Lycoris sprengeri if it were to give them a modicum of monetary gain. And then there was the other matter he had to attend to, which had kept him in Acantha for weeks. The lower masses proved simply too foolish to be trusted, regardless of which world he could occupy.
The Zanaryans spent two weeks traveling between villages as they traversed the Chineylu, almost always with Mystrider company. They seemed eager to help once Rahil's entourage "accidentally" mentioned that they were on a task set for them from Danae himself, and this had given him hope that perhaps, maybe—just maybe—this endeavor wouldn't take long. He should've known better. It wasn't like there was an active means for communication to Elysia, either, meaning it was likely that the rest of his operatives assumed his group were dead and making even less progress as a result.
Rahil glanced at an advisor, who'd been grovelling at his side and spouting nonsense he knew already. The creature they were seeking for Lord Danae was spotted and was nearly captured by the group, before the Malaki arrived to the scene and created a mess of things. It was bad enough that they had been raiding the area ever since the minor rainy season began at the end of Spring, however, the search group panicked upon facing them, and lost sight of the Malaki. To make matters even worse, a scout tipped off that they captured it in hopes of using it to barter with the Mystriders, rather than have to fight and lose more of their numbers. Local rumor had it that the Malaki were becoming even more aggressive after such losses. Of course, Rahil had absolutely no inkling of the cause of that. No, he'd never incite Mystriders to attack the scavengers who'd interrupted him at every turn.
The haughty noble's eyes narrowed.
"Your Grace, it seems we are ahead of the Malaki, for once. The creature's mate should be no more than a half a mile from our current location."
Rahil felt tempted to thank Xanth, though he was in no particular mood to do so; There'd been nothing but setback after setback in the damned jungle, which was hot and humid to the point that he was almost tempted to take after Mystrider fashion. Clothes were mere inconvenience when they caused one to sweat like pig iron. Rahil was hot. He was angry. And now his people just continued to make blunder after blunder even with native help. Xanth surely was punishing him for meeting this other God.
Well, damn her! Rahil thought. I didn't move even further from Zanarya just to let some barbarians set me on a pike, or be eaten alive by their damned bugs.
The latter seemed far more than likely, as he swatted one from his wrist for the umpteenth time. Rahil's gaze began to bore into the man speaking to him, whose name he'd long been past caring about, as his anger swelled and nearly burst beyond his usual quiet imprecation. The advisor began to pale considerably under his own lord's gaze as it bore down on him due to Rahil's temper. There would be no mistakes; Rahil accompanied the search party purely for the purpose and intention of getting out of the blasted jungle and sooner back to Danae—and hopefully, though he would not admit it—Elysia.
As the foliage changed from beautiful flowers to the color Rahil had most despised as of late, verdant green, the vosa's tracks were easily noticeable. Soft dirt had changed to crushed plants and off beaten paths that avoid terrestrial creatures that lurk about in search of pray. Rahil's group had lost a few of its numbers, in fact, due to such dangerous creatures. The march had still worn on most of the Zanaryans, while Mystriders flew throughout the area in search of Malaki. It'd been some time since their last arrival, and the group had began to become on edge as they reached a clearing.
The tracks had seemed to end there. Quietly, Rahil stepped from heel to toe as he approached one of the advisors, keeping an eye on their surroundings all the while.
"Sir, we've yet to see any sign that the creature has left the area, but we also have no sightings of it around, either..."
"I see, carry on with the search with the others." Rahil whispered briskly, brushing off a strange feeling that poked his mind in favor of dealing with his subordinate.
The group carried on, and as usual Rahil did his best to ignore them and focus on the otherworldly flora. A shift near his peripheral vision caught his eye, however, and he turned his head to focus on it. Within the brush, there was a blue that didn't quite match the rest of the scenery. As his gaze fell on it, however, it seemed entirely still. Too still. Rahil waited, staring at the spot as his men moved about.
"Are you certain it's still here?" Jael asked nervously, breaking the silence after a light gust of wind passed by, curtesy of the storm intensifying above.
It was what Rahil had been waiting for, increased downpour and all. All the leaves moved as the wind and heavier rainfall came by, but the part of the "brush" he'd seen had not. With a flick of his finger, he sent a pebble straight at it, catching Jael's attention, among others...