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The camp was just a few feet away when there came the sound of something howling faintly in the distance. A huge shadow passed over them, and something blocked out the moon for a moment. Bernon shielded the fire with his hands so it wouldn't be seen, and Mike was a black shadow dropping into the grass nearby.
After a few seconds, the thing passed over and all was quiet again.
Tanrial swallowed and quickly made the last few feet, gently placing the deer to the ground.
Bernon looked at her with wide eyes. "What the heck was that?" he asked very quietly.
“Nayla…” She said looking up in the direction it flew.
"Sorry, what?"
“Nayla. They’re like a mix between a dragon and a demon. But mostly demon…I thought they were a myth, a story told to children to keep them from misbehaving… clearly not.”
Mike joined them, his expression dark. "Is that what you guys call them? I've been calling them Sky Cats. Luckily I noticed that only the young ones go for humans. We're not a big enough meal for the adults."
"That's…good, I guess," Bernon said, starting to boil some water.
“They are far from cats, Mike.” Tanrial grabbed a dagger and started to skin the deer.
"Mm. They're solitary, nocturnal, acrobatic, and mean-tempered. That's close enough for me."
Bernon sighed. "I've never seen one before. They must not live further west where I come from."
(brb)
“Probably…” She sighed and began cutting the meat.
"Well, that'll motivate whoever's on watch to stay awake, anyhow," Mike said, helping Tanrial with the deer. After a minute he changed the subject. "This is a lot of venison. If we cook and dry it all it should last us for another day at least. Good work, Tanrial."
She smiled a little, “Thanks but it was nothing, really.”
Mike nodded at Bernon. "You did goo too, finding those plants earlier. Maybe you guys aren't as helpless as I originally thought."
Bernon straightened indignantly. "We were both perfectly fine and capable long before we met you, sir. Give us some credit."
Tanrial made a fake, shocked face, “I am insulted you thought we weren’t capable before. Oh the pain on my poor heart.” She said grinning.
Mike rolled his eyes, and Bernon snickered. "Don't waste your wit on this guy, Tanrial. He's got as much sense of humor as a hunk of petrified wood. Pass me some of that meat? The water's boiling."
Tanrial snorted, “True true, here.” She said, passing a piece over.
He dropped it into the small pot, along with the plants and some spices. "So…it's gonna take a while to cook all this meat. Anybody got a good story or an interesting fact about themselves while we wait?"
“Hmm…” Tanrial thought for a moment, “When I was younger, I used to hide my siblings daggers in the most absurd places. In the dinner, pillow wherever… I remember one time, my oldest bother was looking for his favourite and I’d placed it in the fish he was supposed to make for dinner, I gave the fish to him and he chased me round the palace for a good two hours.”
Even Mike snorted at that. "Nice," Bernon said. "I wish I'd had a sibling to prank." He paused, thinking. "Have either of you heard the story of the little girl with wings and the evil spirit?"
(Okay, gotta go to bed now, see ya in several hours ^^)
“No, I haven’t. What’s it about?” Tanrial asked.
(Okie, see ya in a few)
(this ended up being longer than I planned ^^)
"Once there was an evil spirit who's only purpose in life was to make other people miserable. He loved his job and he worked very hard to cause suffering and chaos wherever he went. He especially enjoyed messing with the good spirits, even though they had the power to defeat him if he wasn't careful. The evil spirit and the good ones became bitter enemies. Long story short, eventually he was driven away for good. He was weak, tired, and unhappy. Suddenly being evil sounded like a lot of work. He hid away like the sore loser he was, plotting his revenge.
But then, a very young girl with wings got lost near the spirit's lair. She was a good spirit, too young to fly or use her powers, and she was lonely and scared. When she saw the evil spirit, she ran right up and hid behind him, more afraid of the night than of him. At first, the spirit wanted to drive her away, or worse, eat her. But she didn't run when he snarled at her, only asked if he was hurt. She gave him a name, Veil, and told him her name, Dawn. Veil was surprised and didn't know what to do. Nobody had ever been nice to him before. Slowly, got used to her hanging around, and even helped her find food sometimes. They lived in his lair the whole winter, and Veil began to think of himself as her big brother. Dawn loved him and thought he was the bravest, kindest spirit in the world.
When spring came, Veil decided sadly that Dawn didn't belong with him, and traveled with her back to the land of the good spirits so she could meet her family. When the good spirits saw Dawn, they were overjoyed, but when they saw Veil, they attacked him and chased him away, thinking that he was still evil. Dawn got really upset and hid from her brothers and sisters, crying for Veil to come back. No one believed her when she tried to explain their friendship, thinking that she must have been tricked.
Only one of her brothers, a wise young man named Cerule, listened to her and saw the truth in her words. He flew for miles until he found Veil sitting sadly in his lair and apologized. He convinced the other good spirits to let him come back. When Dawn saw Veil, she ran and hugged him tightly, and he hugged her back with so much love and goodness in his heart, that all the good spirits saw it. They made him part of their family, and that's the story of how an evil spirit became the adopted brother of a good one."
Bernon sat back and took a drink of water. "I heard that from some old lady in a village once. She claimed it was true. I thought it was a pretty cool story."
“Damn, that’s some story… but spirits don’t exist, so it can’t be true.” She said with a shrug.
"Yeah?" Bernon glanced at the stars. "It would be kinda nice if good spirits were real, at least, but you're probably right."
Mike stared at the fire, still mulling the story over. "I think I've heard versions of that tale before, up north and on the East Coast. A villain is turned good by an innocent child….sounds a bit over-optimistic to me, but I guess it happens sometimes."
“Well, I’ve never heard it before…”
"I guess It's kind of a local fable," Mike concluded. "Your people might not know it."
Bernon glanced at Mike. "What about you? Got anything to recount?"
Mike looked reluctant. "…I don't know."
"Oh come on, I'll bet you've had lots of adventures! We'd love to hear one, right, Tanrial?"