Acchiron and Alcestis

[Firetear]

moderatively says

This is a thread for adventures of Acchiron and Alcestis for as long as they interact with each other. If they seperate, they'll go back to posting in their individual threads.

Right now the posting order will start with Crallhorn, then be Alcestis, then Acchiron.

[Crallhorn]

Crallhorn awakens on his old, musty bedroll. He's laying in a small clearing just off the road. Alcestis and the goats sleep nearby. It's morning, the sun just beginning to show itself over the horizon.

He stands, shaking his head (and therefore his horns) and stretching. Despite several days on the road with the goatherd and both members of her flock, he doesn't seem any more worse for wear.

His nostrils flare slightly and his old eyes narrow. He looks down to Alcestis, and the goats. He takes his staff in hand and walks a slow circle around his three companions, muttering strange words under his breath. He finishes the incantation with a wave of his gnarled old walking stick.

Binkle and Trellis stir, staring at the Silenus. He looks at them seriously.

"Someones coming. Smells like blood. Be here in a few minutes, I think."

"Don't butt them. Long as you don't hit, you'll be safe. If he gets unruly, I'll take care of it."

The satyr hobbles into the forest and dissappears from view. Even his scent fades from the wind.

[Alcestis Paglo]

Alcestis wakes, rubbing her eyes. She sees that Crallhorn is missing, but oddly is not disturbed. Her goats are both awake and alert, but entirely unafraid. Though, honesty forces her to admit, of all her goats, these two are the most fearless.

Both goats seem interested in a specific direction, ears pricked, eyes watchful, legs straight, heads up. She gets to her feet and pulls her sling. A moment more and she has stones at the ready. Now she too, with her lamentable human ears can hear faint sounds. It is not Crallhorn, he's silent int he woods, and very specific when he does chhose to rustle.

She waits, flanked by goats.

[Acchiron]

His thoughts are a mess as jumbled as his steps.

He staggers about, bumping into trees, hissing loudly as each jarring contact causes the fiery pain in his side to blossom.

Infection. One clear thought lunges briefly to his consciousness before being pulled back into the tangles of pain. Another pain, this one imagined, flares across his right side, the sting of burns registering vaguely. The sting of imaginary smoke burns his nose. He snorts, then pauses, sniffing carefully, his survival instinct strong even through his delirium.

Human...

His eyes narrow, though they do not see the forest and the clearing ahead of him... they go back to a darker time, the flames of memory flicking against his irises. A low growl rises in his throat as he stumbles forward.

Must... kill... firestarter... human...

His thoughts come more jumbled now, and flashes of true sight interrupt his vision, confusing him. He shakes his head and continues... coming out of the clearing. He ignores the human standing off to one side watching him with two goats at her side, the mirage before him of his old home.

Home! He thinks with relief, not even noticing the ground lurch to the left as he trips over a loose stone and falls to the ground, already passing out in anticipation of the drop.

Home.

[Alcestis Paglo]

Alcestis stares, stunned at the huge, inanimate mass crumpled at her feet. She stowed the sling and the rocks away without thinking. She moved closer, seeing the wounds and the mess somethinug had made of the strong limbs and smooth hide.

She moved efficently, years of goat-tending makin gher hands deft. She pulled her clean tunic from he bag and sent Binkle to the nearest stream. "Wet, get it all the way wet." she bade the goat.

She turned to Trellis, "You, I need the good herbs. Go. Quickly."

Alcestis tends the Centaur. She tears strips from the sodden tunic Binkle carries back to her. She packs the wounds with the herbs from Trellis, stalling putrefecation.

She sits heavily when she is done, regarding the snoring beast with wonder and amazement.

[Acchiron]

Smoke...

...Wake up, Acchiron! They are burning--

His eyes snap open, his vision blurred and out of focus for a few moments. He manages to keep his head steady enough to focus on...

A goat...?

He begins to make his way to his feet, then falls back to the ground as spikes of pain lodge themselves in his side. A dull ache, unpleasant, but different from the infectious burn of earlier.

He looks around slowly, then tenses as he notices a human studying him curiously.

Strange, he muses to himself. One so small, so defenseless... and she shows no fear.

He considers her carefully, then looks at the goats that have made their way to her side. A hideous leer creeps across his face. I shall free those goats from her bondage as I free her head from her neck.

He slowly tugs his hatchet from it's belt loop, squinting to aim. After a moment, he reaches back making ready to cast and then...

...nothing.

He reaches back and makes to throw again, but it is nearly as if his arm is bound by invisible chains. He hisses, then turns to the closer goat and pulls back to throw...

...still nothing.

What manner of magic is this?! He thinks to himself, as panic blossoms in his gut, working it's way up his spine with itchy fingers.

[Alcestis Paglo]

The whole world seems filled with color and light. Alcestis can see every tree, every leaf on every bush, every blade of grass. She can hear the placid breathing of her two goats.

Alcestis studies the creature. Her heart leaps into her throat as she watches him try to rise. She's doctored goats most of her life, and her brothers too, but he's so very big, and his wounds so grievous....

She blushes. Now that he is awake and aware, he seems much more male than he did when he was an inert lump. And he doesn't wear pants.

Hastily she averts her eyes, looking back to his face. He's obviously no smarter than her brothers, and clearly not as smart as her goats.Or Crallhorn, she adds to herself as she watches him fight with his hatchet. She pushes him back onto the ground, as if her small hand has more strength than his huge ones.

"I tore up my only spare tunic for you," she tells him sternly. "And I did my best stitching on you too. None of it will hold if you go leaping about like a kid with more grass than sense."

"Oh," she adds after a moment. "I'm Alcestis Paglo. This is Binkle, and this is Trellis. And you are the," she stumbles over what to call him, then falls back on a name she has used before on her brothers. "You are the blockhead who is going to rip all my good work loose if you don't keep still!"

[Acchiron]

He blinks in abject shock at the small human girl pushing him, his body acquiescing in part from weariness, and in part from surprise that she would actually try. He stares down at her, his expression at first angry, then comic as he bursts into laughter.

"Alcestis is your name, brave one?" He looks down at his side, towards the torn strips of cloth fastened to his flank. His nostrils flare, then he turns back to her.

"I would have struck you dead if not for the spell you have bound me with. It would seem rather ungrateful of me to try again, don't you think? I am Acchiron. Thank you for tending my wounds."

He struggles to his feet, growling at the pain in his leg, and turns to limp back to the forest, then pauses, turning and nodding almost imperceptibly to Alcestis before continuing.

[Binkle]

Binkle lets out a few sharp grunts and pads about the clearing. He eyes Acchrion with a certain ire.

As the Centaur begins to move he steps backward, his little eyes widening in anger and alarm. He lowers his horns into their fighting position, and sets himself to charge.

[Trellis]

With a look Trellis hastily moves in front of Binkle.

"It's enough that he leaves."

With his horns lowered, Binkle's face is inaccessible- so she settles for tugging at his ear, with the threat of biting down if necessary.

[Acchiron]

Acchiron glances back at the goat, hearing his angry snort. He laughs to himself as the comparatively tiny thing lowers it's head to charge.

Even injured as I am, it would not be so very much to break his back. Or outrun him.

He blinks, and watches the other goat stand to block his the charge of the first.

Definitely the smarter of the two.

He folds his arms and watches their interaction, very much like a squabbling husband and wife, a fain grin creeping across his face.

[Alcestis Paglo]

Alcestis watches her goats thoughtfully. Binkle's temper is legendary, and even Trellis will not interfere with him… before now.

"He is a bit bigger than you," she reminds Binkle mildly. She knows he won't listen.

She glances at Acchiron, stopping to admire him. Despite the many wounds, and her makeshift bandages, he really is an impressive creature. And beautiful, she has to admit that too. The sunlight on his flanks touches the mahogany to dark gold, and she has a sudden, fierce hope that he not scar because of her lack of skill.

She looks up into his face. He seems so angry, so distresses. She can understand distress, though she does not think she has done anything to anger him. Unless it is that her tunic is not good enough to bandage him. That could be the case, he was magnificent, and her tunic was not new. It had been her brother's once, and had served her well, until now. "You need to rest, or the stitches will rip. I won't let Binkle hurt you."

[Acchiron]

"You need to rest, or the stitches will rip. I won't let Binkle hurt you."

He pauses upon hearing this, closing his eyes, feeling the pain along his flanks. Not the sickly fire of infection, no, it has become the dull ache of a healing wound. A few sparks from where his hide has been stitched, the thread straining with each long stride.

He exhales sharply, then turns back, considering the human thoughtfully.

Heed her advice. But stay on your guard, Acchiron, you know you cannot trust her kind.

He very carefully makes his way to the opposite edge of the clearing, his limp more pronounced as he makes his steps gentler, and rather awkward. He arranges himself to allow his injuries exposure to the sun, and eyeing the goat warily a moment, leans against a large cedar tree and closes his eyes, resting, but with his ears pricked, vigilant.

[Alcestis Paglo]

Alcestis sits down watching her guest. He looks to be asleep, but somehow, she doubts it. Nonetheless, she is suddenly tired herself. She beckons Binkle and Trellis to her, and strokes them gently, comforting herself and them.

Binkle calms under her hands, watching her adoringly. His eyes close and he rests his head in her lap. Trellis nudges her way closer and demands more attention. She stretches her long neck and crowds in to rest her head on Alcestis' breast.

Alcestis rubs their smooth heads and kisses their silky fur. The goats snuggle close and the three share a moment of closeness and affection.

Alcestis smiles at the goats. "Go and fetch me more of the good plants, please. I don't want him to fester. He won't care for himself, so I must."

Trellis leaves first. She paces into the woods jauntily, her ears up and her eyes bright. Alcestis smiles to see her go. "We're very lucky to have Trellis, Binkle." She nuzzled the goat gently, hugging him.

He shakes himself free and fixes the centaur with a hard look. Then he pads off after Trellis.

She leans back against the nearest tree and watches the dozing centaur. She cannot help but smile, this is not the way she had thought things would go, but she cannot complain. She has met a satyr and now a centaur. Nothing so amazing every happened at home, at least nothing so good. He looks so very real lying there in the leaf shadow, she almost wants to touch him and make sure he exists. But she can wait, the goats will be back with new herbs soon.

She picks up her bowl, and her new stone pestle, and begins mashing the few plants she had left after treating him the first time.

[Acchiron]

He listens to the woman calming her goats, his lips twitching in a small grin. Despite his hatred, he is pleased that she is adept at caring for her pets. He cracks open one eye, studying the rather tiny woman, until he watches the goats retreat off into the woods at the other end of the clearing. His eyes flutter closed, as he suddenly finds himself far more exhausted than he was willing to admit to himself earlier.

The rhythmic grinding of her mortar and pestle lull him to sleep.

The nightmare follows shortly afterwards.

Flames all around, his kin and his settlement up in flames, humans running pell-mell through the forest, putting spear and sword and arrow to those fleeing, and he stands in the middle, helpless to stop them. One soldier, his face masked in shadow, his eyes like two burning coals, stands poised over Acchirons' mother with a spear. The soldier seems to move in slow motion, but every step Acchiron takes sets him further back. Then with sickening speed, the spear begins to drop towards his mothers heart. He opens his mouth, a--

--bellowing roar of agony torn from his lips as he wakes with a start. He blinks, shuddering violently, a cold sweat breaking out across his flesh, then sighs, seeing the clearing in broad daylight. He rubs his face, then rests his head back on the trunk of the tree behind him, looking up at the sky.