The Wild Series: Reign of Ashes (Outskirts)

SilverstarWarrior wrote:

Wildwing wrote:

DwelleroftheEarth wrote:Silence backed away from the closed off tunnel a pace or so, sitting back on his haunches and looking at the slab with a puzzled look. He looked over to the other tunnels; not much could be seen beyond the darkness in them. Suddenly he had an idea, and he slowly approached the north tunnel, marked with the wolf's head. The pull again, seeming to warn him. He stopped, and tilted his head slowly to one side. that would be a bad idea, he decided. Then his plans changed. He looked around, a quick scan revealing nothing much besides the piles of snow they had landed in. However, he did notice a few small bits of rubble in a nook near one of the tunnels. He trotted over, and, scooting a pebble along with his paws, brought it to the North tunnel, and flung it into the darkness.

SilverstarWarrior wrote:Jury frowned, staring at the moon symbols on the slab. They didn't look like anything at all, but why would they be there if they meant nothing? 

"Any ideas?" she asked to neither wolf in particular, trying to figure something out in her head before looking to see what Silence was doing. "Why exactly are you throwing pebbles?" she managed, giving him a dry glare, obviously seeing no purpose for it.

Kae shook her head helplessly and stared at the slab, as if trying to see through it to her pups. And then, hearing Jury's dry tone, turned to see what Silence was doing.

The pebble Silence had thrown had something of a bluish tint to it, like most of the rocky structure it had been part of. When it sailed into the tunnel, nothing happened. Not until it hit the ground. The pebble skittered across the tunnel floor, and every time it connected, thin webs of dull blue sparks shot into existence, forming the weak outline of...Something, and followed after the pebble. These sparks, easy to miss as they were so short and spontaneous, stopped when the pebble stopped rolling.

Jury stared after the thrown pebble, squinting a bit as if not quite sure what she had seen. Humming in question, she quickly turned and grabbed another pebble in her jaws. She trotted back to stop beside Silence, staring at the already tossed pebble for a moment as if to mentally will it to allow the one in her mouth to do the same as it. The black wolf quickly tossed it, watching closely and then grinning and giving a jump after it, keeping quick pace beside it as she watched the blue spark to life and fade. 

Standing beside her pebble with a grin and wagging tail, her head shot up to face Kae and Silence. "Did you guys see that? What caused that? Gotta be some cave secret. Maybe something to do with all these caves and that closed section?" 

(my heart... i love Jury getting excited and not being mean and grumpy. she just needs some friends and cool science magic rocks)

Oh my gosh, Jury's adorable XD)

Sometime as Silence was throwing the pebble and Jury was taking interest, this following scene played out:

"Mom?"

With a flick of her ear, Kae turned back to the slab, the smile fading. Before she could reply, her eldest son continued.

"I don't think there's a way through. I think me and Kwin should press forward."

Kae stiffened, the fur along her shoulders beginning to bristle. She did not like this idea. She couldn't think of a better way, but if her sons were to wander through a cave, the chances they could find an exit on their side...

"Mom, if we wait around, we'll definitely never find a way out," Ruhn spoke, as if reading her mind, "The best we can do right now is move. We'll find an exit, we just have to look. And maybe these tunnels are all connected? We might find each other, and get out together."

"So you have to move forward to!" Kwin yipped, "Come find us! Or if you find an exit on your side, take it and wait for us outside! We'll find each other again! We have to! We're the same flesh and blood!"

Kae chuckled at her youngest's words. She pressed the top of her head against the slab and let out a long breath.

"...Head North. Northeast if you can," she finally said, "We'll try to regroup, but of you find and exit, take it and wait for me. And don't come looking for me if I don't come out soon enough. If I'm not out a day after you, go to the Ice Bridge."

"Mom-"

"So help me, I will ground you if you don't obey. Go to the Ice Bridge and find the Land of Blossoms. Trust your instincts. And don't worry about me. I will come for you. I promise."

"...I love you, Mom."

"I love you."

"I love you too. Please, stay safe."

Nothing else was said through the slab. Kae waited a moment, straining her ears to listen for her sons. Three heartbeats passed before, beyond the slab, a horrible grinding of stones sounded, followed by a boom that caused the ground to tremble. Kae whimpered out of concern, placing her paw one more time against the stone. Then she turned and made her way back to Silence and Jury. It was then that Kae was able to watch Jury's actions.

Kae just blinked at the sparks as they appeared, then watched after Jury as the black wolf trotted alongside them. She was surprised at the other she-wolf's manner, but seeing how curious and excited she acted brought a smile to the golden-brown she-wolf's maw.


"Perhaps we'll discover more of this secret if we press forward?" she suggested. She looked up at the carving of the wolf's head. "This leads North, correct?"


(Now that the sons are out of the way for now, my posts will be shorter and take less time to type XP)

Silence took a hesitant step into the tunnel, and when nothing happened, walked to stand beside Jury, giving a smile as well. He nudged one of the pebbles around a bit, which yielded a small amount of blue, before peering into the tunnel further, figuring the only way out would be to explore further.

(Ah those poor wolves. Don't worry boys they'll find you!)

Jury looked back at the two before heading further into the tunnel, sniffing at the ground as she went in an attempt to find anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing. She nodded to Kae in confirmation that it was the North tunnel.

"Alright, lets see what we can find, then. Maybe our tunnel will connect with your sons' tunnel, too." With that, she turned and trotted into the next room, kicking a small pebble to watch the sparks as she went.

Kae nodded in reply to Jury, hoping the tunnels did connect. Seeing as the other two had gone ahead of her, she started after them. The minute she cleared the entryway, a stone slab dropped down right behind her with a large bang, badly startling the she-wolf. The slab was perfect in size and cut, completely blocking the wolves' exit. After giving it a once over, Kae ran to join Silence and Jury, silently deciding to stay near the two as she entered the next room.

(Alright Silv, since Jury entered the room first, you can say what is or isn't in it! You also have the option telling one of us to do that instead if you don't want to. It's completely up to you! )

Jaystep wrote:

Wildwing wrote:

Jaystep wrote:

Wildwing wrote:

Jaystep wrote:Hearing no reply, Roth entered the hollow on mere curiously. Having not seen Fayru ever leave, he wondered what she could be doing that kept her so busy. 

"Fayru?

The masked bird pushed past the moss doorway and studied the dim room, searching with his eyes for an answer. He finally spotted the falcon after a moment, standing by the bookcase across the room. "Oh, there you are."

Sorry, I could have replied to the last post, but I forgot about Fayru. My bad XD)

Fayru was standing between the bookcase and a small dip in the floor diagonal from it, nested in the corner of the room. She was turned somewhat away from Roth with an open book in her wings. She was looking down at the letters through squinted eyes, seeming to be reading slowly and carefully.
The second time Roth spoke, she lifted her head towards him in surprise.

"Oh! Roth! How long...?" Without finishing her sentence, she chuckled sheepishly and closed the book. "My apologies. I was really focused, wasn't I?"

Roth churred politely, his mask partially hiding his humor. "I've spent many nights just as lost in a good book. I trust the read gave you some knowledge of our circumstances? Or perhaps not. I doubt the owner of this hollow had many books on curses or storms."

"Well... This particular book appears to be the journal of one named 'Nora'. Actually, it even says on the first page, 'Hello, this is Nora's journal'. I actually hesitated to read this, because I am not one to poke into another's private life. However, I... rationalized that it would be like reading an ancestor's journal, as Nora is long gone. I do hope she forgives me, should we ever meet..."

The she-falcon faded on that thought, forgetting to answer the question.

".... Well, nevermind that. We had best be off as soon as you can fly. Clues can only help us for so long... we should visit the source." Roth turned to face a nearby window as he spoke.

"In the center of this island is a cave. Everything I've read and witnessed leads me to believe this cave somehow harbors the origins of these storms. If we're to ever leave, we need to know what's in this cave."

As the other bird spoke, Fayru set the book at the edge of the dip in the corner of the hollow and walked to stand near Roth. She gazed the the window, the shapes outside still looking fuzzy to her.

"That would be a good place to go then," she agreed with a nod, "I think I will need a day or two to recover..." There was a pause. Her beak moved slightly, as she was going to say something. Then she reconsidered before continuing on a different thought. "In the meantime, you could fill me in on everything you've read and witnessed. As well as tell me the story behind this curse over a meal, like you suggested before."

Wildwing wrote:

Jaystep wrote:

Wildwing wrote:

Jaystep wrote:

Wildwing wrote:

Jaystep wrote:Hearing no reply, Roth entered the hollow on mere curiously. Having not seen Fayru ever leave, he wondered what she could be doing that kept her so busy. 

"Fayru?

The masked bird pushed past the moss doorway and studied the dim room, searching with his eyes for an answer. He finally spotted the falcon after a moment, standing by the bookcase across the room. "Oh, there you are."

Sorry, I could have replied to the last post, but I forgot about Fayru. My bad XD)

Fayru was standing between the bookcase and a small dip in the floor diagonal from it, nested in the corner of the room. She was turned somewhat away from Roth with an open book in her wings. She was looking down at the letters through squinted eyes, seeming to be reading slowly and carefully.
The second time Roth spoke, she lifted her head towards him in surprise.

"Oh! Roth! How long...?" Without finishing her sentence, she chuckled sheepishly and closed the book. "My apologies. I was really focused, wasn't I?"

Roth churred politely, his mask partially hiding his humor. "I've spent many nights just as lost in a good book. I trust the read gave you some knowledge of our circumstances? Or perhaps not. I doubt the owner of this hollow had many books on curses or storms."

"Well... This particular book appears to be the journal of one named 'Nora'. Actually, it even says on the first page, 'Hello, this is Nora's journal'. I actually hesitated to read this, because I am not one to poke into another's private life. However, I... rationalized that it would be like reading an ancestor's journal, as Nora is long gone. I do hope she forgives me, should we ever meet..."

The she-falcon faded on that thought, forgetting to answer the question.

".... Well, nevermind that. We had best be off as soon as you can fly. Clues can only help us for so long... we should visit the source." Roth turned to face a nearby window as he spoke.

"In the center of this island is a cave. Everything I've read and witnessed leads me to believe this cave somehow harbors the origins of these storms. If we're to ever leave, we need to know what's in this cave."

As the other bird spoke, Fayru set the book at the edge of the dip in the corner of the hollow and walked to stand near Roth. She gazed the the window, the shapes outside still looking fuzzy to her.

"That would be a good place to go then," she agreed with a nod, "I think I will need a day or two to recover..." There was a pause. Her beak moved slightly, as she was going to say something. Then she reconsidered before continuing on a different thought. "In the meantime, you could fill me in on everything you've read and witnessed. As well as tell me the story behind this curse over a meal, like you suggested before."

Roth rumbled a short reply from deep in his throat, blinking slowly. "I suppose I could catch something... when I return, we'll talk about the island."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wildwing wrote:Kae nodded in reply to Jury, hoping the tunnels did connect. Seeing as the other two had gone ahead of her, she started after them. The minute she cleared the entryway, a stone slab dropped down right behind her with a large bang, badly startling the she-wolf. The slab was perfect in size and cut, completely blocking the wolves' exit. After giving it a once over, Kae ran to join Silence and Jury, silently deciding to stay near the two as she entered the next room.

(Alright Silv, since Jury entered the room first, you can say what is or isn't in it! You also have the option telling one of us to do that instead if you don't want to. It's completely up to you! )

Silence looked around the room they were now in, noticing it was still light enough to see, but the light wasn't quite as bright as on a night with a full moon. Instead, there were deep shadows in places, and the light seemed almost eerily magical, as if it wasn't entirely of the natural world. Silence took in the walls around them first. There was, like the room they had come out of, four arches, one on each side, the one behind them now closed. The design of the room was similar, except there were no markings above the arches. Silence took a moment to try and lock the orientation into his mind, then moved towards the western opening, his paw-steps landing dull on the stone floor without echo.

Near the Southern Fringes of the Burned Lands...


Vex surveyed the landscape below cautiously. There were few clouds in the sky, and the sun was bright. nothing to be seen really, in these parts, but he was getting more nervous as they approached Agathar's so called "Burned Lands". This would be Vex's first time actually seeing the dreadful place, and he was somewhat excited, but also wary. Agathar and the shades were dark, chaotic things, filled with evil intent and often unpredictable. At least with the Phoenix they knew fairly well what they were up against. But with a Dragon...it was a slightly different story. The terrain began to change as they flew further towards the place. They were quite low in the skies, to be able to land and seek cover if necessary. Vex, Manik's trusted Captain, and two other birds, had been sent on this mission to scope out the Burned Lands, and attempt to catch an idea of what the shades were up to in this area. As they entered the edge of what was now truly a wasteland, Vex's expression hardened. Water was gone from creek beds, and there were large areas of nothing but scorched earth. No trees, no water. Nothing but destruction in this particular place.

A slight rustle was heard from Vex's right as a Harris hawk glided down next to him, stern and emotionally rigid at seeing the devastation below them. 'There is nothing here...how could anything live here?' Anastas thought, imagining the dark, mysterious shapes of the rumored shades that roamed this arid and desolate landscape. 
   "Vex.. Should we scout close to the dry banks around here? There isn't much to see in the tree-line..."

Vex nodded and changed their direction slightly, scanning the area for any movement. He almost hoped they didn't run into any shades, but still wondered what the fight would be like. He shuffled his silver battle-talons, given to him with his rank of Captain. Hopefully they worked as well as the legends said that silver did. "Look for any signs of movement," Vex said, "As well as any clue as to what the Shades are doing with this area. We'll try and cover a lot of ground, but don't forgo thoroughness for speed."

"Yessir..." Anastas flapped his wings once to give himself enough force to pull farther right to check for any movement. The shades that were so feared and reviled, so detested that most sane animals would run away in fear, or maybe it was all his imagination that made them so feared...
   The Harris hawk blinked, fiercely analyzing each and every inch of landscape that had any slight movements, whether it comes from a slight brush of a branch against another or the slightest movement of the wind moving decaying leaves. As per to Vex's orders, he tried to find the shades, although failing to do so.

As Vex flew along, scanning the area, he spotted something interesting. At first glance, it looked to be just a rocky outcropping, but as he got closer, he noticed some movement. He slowed and banked around, signalling for the others to follow his lead, and gained a bit of height, inspecting the rocks from different angles. Soon he saw it, the small cleft in the rock, and that's when they emerged, three Shades, all black fire and violet eyes, and larger than normal birds by a good amount. The Shades, clearly seeing Vex and the others, let out a series of screeches mixed with threats and foul language, and towards the group threateningly. Vex gave a call for the others to stick close to them. This was going to end in a fight unfortunately, and the Shades meant business.

"Huh?" Anastas noticed the shades before they decided to make their presence known through their screeching and cussing. He dove to the left and stopped short from behind Vex, raring to dive into the nearest shade and throw it out of the way, if it weren't for Vex's command for him to stay close. Although, the birds seemed to be approaching at an unnervingly fast speed.

Vex let out a battle cry as the Shades neared, his silver-clad talons shining in the sun. The center one, heading straight for Vex, opened its talons. It resembled a hawk somewhat, but in Shade form it was difficult to tell. The other two shades widened the angle of attack, swooping out slightly in loose formation, coming at Anastas and the other bird from the sides. Vex met his opponent with outstretched talons, and they collided with a force, the silver battle-talons slashing at the Shade's face. He let out a shriek as the shade's talons caught a bit of his wing, and slashed again as they fell a distance together. He managed to knock the shade away, and regained his flight, but their formation was now broken and Vex banked hard around to try and get at the other Shades.

Anastas glanced towards the shade flanking to his right as a mean to scramble their scouting party and pick them. 'I need to incapacitate this one.' He thought in the spilt-second between the moment the shade had decided to flank them, to the moment he suddenly dove towards the nearest flanking shade and forcibly colliding into him, talons digging into its falcon-shaped form. An explosion of pain raked across his side and forced the Harris hawk to slash his talons down the shade's chest and toss it away.
  "Dang it!" Anastas cursed under his breath with silent hope that it wouldn't recover too quickly, racing back towards Vex to strengthen his position.

The third bird in their party, another hawk called Torris, didn't have as much luck with his shade. As the shade flanked to the side, he slowed, and although he made a dart in to attack quickly, ended up with talons locked with wings, the two plummeting out of the air as neither was able to fly properly.

Vex, seeing Torris in trouble, dived towards the falling hawk and shade. Halfway there, however, the shade Anastas had knocked away interrupted his path. Vex let out a screech, extending his talons in a split second and slamming them into the shade at full force. As the silver pierced the Shade's chest, it let out a horrible noise, and all but disintegrated into black fire in that moment. It's form flickered, and then exploded into wreathes of black fire and swirls of violet.

For Torris, however, that interruption cost precious seconds. As the pair fell towards the rocky earth, Torris struggled to free himself from the shade's grip, but found his own talons stuck in its wing after the struggle.

With only half a moment before impact, Vex's silver talons slashed across the shade as he reached them. Everything happened so fast after that. Torris, freed from the shade but too late for him to recover flight all the way, only caught a bit of air before impacting with the ground. Vex, on a shallower angle of descent, was able to recover normal flight. He let out a cry of despair as Torris crash-landed, but due to his speed, was forced away from the place, and back into the air.

Anastas circled back around after the few moments that came to the sickening thud of Torris's body crashing into the ground after the battle with the shade. He turned away, then immediately dove back down next to Vex and stopping beside the captain.
  "Sir...what shall we do?" His voice strained to ask the question, still replaying the moment when Torris hit the ground. "There is bound to be more shades incoming if we stay here..."

Vex, who had also forgotten momentarily about the third Shade, gave a grunt, about to reply. Then he spotted the shadow of the shade attempting to fly away, and let out a shriek, chasing quickly after it. He caught it after a moment, the shade was flying somewhat slowly due to Anastas's injury to it, and Vex caught its wing in his talons, dragging them towards the ground for a forced landing, a distance away from Anastas and Torris.

[Torris isn't dead, yet, just very badly injured. The shade also infected him, meaning if he doesn't die soon, he'll turn into a shade himself.]

Anastas took that immediate opportunity to dive down towards Torris, quickly reaching his injured scouting member, pulling his wings out to descend slowly upon him when getting within several feet. "Torris...Torris, can you hear me?" He stopped next to him and began to help him onto his talons to see if he could fly, although the injuries presently exposing themselves across Torris's body told him enough about his fate.
   "Torris..." Anastas glanced over to where Vex had felled the shade, a slight twinge of anger and fright stabbing into his chest. Would he be able to hold his own?

Torris attempted to stand, but after a moment, collapsed back to the ground. His leg was at an awkward angle, and his left wing was completely mutilated. His breathing was shallow and rapid, and a trickle of blood leaked from the corner of his beak. He slowly shook his head, "Stupid...Shade..."

Vex, upon landing with the Shade, forced it to the ground, standing with his talons grabbing its wings. "You dark, demented little freak," he hissed at it, his beak inches from it as it struggled, "You and your buddies just hurt my friend. NOT a good idea. Now you're going to tell me what you're up to here, or I'm going to make your final moments last...painfully long."

"Darn it all!" Anastas cursed under his breath before gently letting Torris back down in the most comfortable position he could, knowing that his companion would suffer no matter what was happening. "Alright, Torris..." he tried to reassure him, as if finding solace in what he was about to do. At his worst, Torris would turn into a shade, another one of the vile creatures that served mercilessly and killed for the sake of a purpose that didn nothing but harm.
   Anastas froze while considering his options on whether or not commit to killing him to prevent him from becoming a shade, in which he would have to fight him and murder him anyway. 'its for him...he doesn't deserve to be a shade...' the Harris hawk stood behind Torris now, gently helping him up. "Torris...I don't-" he stopped abruptly before continuing, anguish in his tone. "I..you're going to become a shade soon, Torris...please, forgive me..." 
  Without another thought, Anastas forcibly gripped the bird's throats and wrenched his neck to the side until a crack was heard to signify that he broke his neck, hopefully producing an instantaneous death.

Torris let out a single squeak when Anastas gripped his neck, but in that single moment, his eyes showed a glimmer of forgiveness. He passed immediately, gone from the world of suffering, and his body fell limp on the dusty ground.

Vex dug his talons into the Shade's side, producing a hiss of anger. "I'll ask again, you filth. Why. Are. You. Here?!"

The Shade struggled in vain, his wings pinned in a painful angle. "I could ask you the same thing, Falcon," it replied, glaring into Vex's eyes from it's own violet ones. "This is King Agathar's territory. You don't come here attacking us unless you're ready for a fight, and with only two of you now, do you really think you can fight a dragon?!" the shade laughed manically despite his circumstances.

Vex, anger on his face, made a quick movement of his talons, twisting the shade's wing even further, until there was an audible snap, and the black fire that wreathed its body flared up along with a screech of pain. 'So they can be injured like us...' Vex thought to himself, wondering what their physical bodies were actually like under the black fire.

"We're just an outpost!" the shade spluttered, face twisted in pain, "Just watching the area, reporting back to the Alpha Shade!"

"Alpha Shade?" Vex demanded, wondering what kind of creature could be a darker and more powerful shade. "Who is this Alpha Shade?"

The Shade shook its head frantically. "I've said too much!" it squeaked, and clamped its beak shut.

"Too much indeed," a new, higher pitch voice clucked. That was the only warning Vex got before a small set of talons clamped the back of his neck with an immense strength. The heat of black and violet flames washed over his feathers as the male Peregrine was yanked off the Shade and easily tossed into Anastas' side with a force great enough to knock them both down. With an arrogant smirk, the newcomer settled down beside her downed comrade and extinguished her flames.
Having silently waited the battle out in an out of sight area, the fourth shade now stood with her head held high, the smirk still on her face while she gazed down at the two intruders with a bored look in her eyes. Now the her flames were gone, they could clearly see that she was a Shikra, also known as a 'Little Banded Goshawk', with grey feathers, a whitish underbelly with fine rufous bars, and the violet irises of a shade. In size, she was smaller than both Anastas and Vex, but despite that...

"You know, it's a good thing you have those silver battleclaws," the female shade sneered, "Otherwise even this idiot-" She paused to give the shade Vex had pinned down a swift kick to the side, "Would have immediately ripped you apart. You wouldn't have even pinned him! We're just that strong, you know?"
Then the female shade gave the intruders a wide-eyed, creepy smile that was fueled by the frustration of her comrades being beaten by a group of normal birds. "But I guess there's a lot you don't know, huh? You don't even know about the Alpha Shade? Wow, what rock have you been living under? But I guess since you don't know, then I definitely won't tell you."

Anastas swiftly turned around at the sound of the unknown shade interjecting the interrogation, but wasn't fast enough and was thrown back several feet by the force of Vex getting thrown into his side. "Ah!" The Harris hawk skidded across the ground, standing up seconds later with a careful gaze and pulling Vex back up onto his talons.
   'She talks a bit too much' Anastas signaled his dismay and irked behavior with a tilt of his beak, eyes darkly watching her with extreme caution.

Vex, taken completely by surprise, let out a small 'oof' when he was thrown into Anastas. He scrambled to a standing position with the help of Anastas, glaring at the newcomer, itching to attack but knowing it would be rather foolish. Who knew how many more there were? He groaned internally at his own stupidity, berating himself for letting his anger make him lose alertness.

The shade's creepy smile receded back to a smirk. Seeing that the two intruders wouldn't attack, though annoyed they weren't saying anything, she lazily glanced over to her only surviving comrade, who seemed to still be downed.
What's up with that guy? she thought, His wing should be healing. It was only a break after all, that hatchling. It's not like he was cut by silver, in which case he should be dying, or dead by now. Unless...
Her gaze wandered back over to Vex's silver battleclaws.
Unless that guy held him down with those claws. Which probably happened. So he's out of commission, meaning it's just me against those two. But even with those claws, the advantage is still mine.


"Now, look here fellas," the shade chuckled with a confident raise of her wings, "I don't know what you're doing here, but if you stay any longer, you're definitely going to die. So why don't you just glide along back the way you came, huh? Because at this rate, either the other outposts will notice that my team isn't at our station and send reinforcements, or you, Mr. Leader-" She paused to point at Vex, "Will kill your comrade-" She moved her wingtip to Anastas, "Just like you murdered that poor soul over here."
With one final movement and a sneer, her wing lowered to point at Torris' corpse.
"Which leaves me to kill you, Mr. 'Leader'."

Vex let out a low hissing sound at her comment about Torris. When she called him 'Leader' the final time, something small clicked inside of his mind. She saw him as a leader, which meant that she was, at least a little bit, intimidated by him. Maybe he could use it to his advantage...And she kept eyeing his battle-talons as well as the downed shade. Which meant that they probably were as effective as the legends...

"I don't do things just because someone tries to tell me to," Vex replied coldly, glancing over at Anastas and then staring the Shade down, eyes narrowed. "Enough good lives have been taken already," he said. His silver talons clicked on a rock in the ground. Once, twice.

Anastas scowled in anger at this sudden female shade's annoying and dogmatic attitude. Who dared revive this loudmouth into a darn shade? Each word she spoke brought a twinge of annoyance and anger into his heart, coursing through his body wildly in an urge to fight her then and there.
   "Vex..." he glanced over towards his scouting party leader with a low rumble, inhaling and exhaling deeply to calm himself while the shade probably continued to talk her beak off. Anastas suddenly righted himself with a defiant gaze at hearing Vex spit back at the shade's behavior.

The female shade covered her beak with a wing as she giggled at Vex's words and the defiant actions of both intruders.
"Yes, yes, I agree! Enough good lives have been taken today!" she churred. Her violet eyes flicked to the silver battleclaws as the Peregrine clicked them against the ground. "But on the contrary, I'm not telling you to kill your comrade, no! I'm just saying that the lives taken here today were all on you and him. Including the life of one of your own."
With a sneer, she gestured again to Torris.
"Oh, by the way," she chirped as she looked straight at Anastas with a mischievous grin, "I heard your little chirps. 'Oh Toby, I'm so sorry!'" she mocked, "'But you're going to be a shade! I have to kill you!'" She laughed as she finished. "Oh my, I'm so sorry but it was just so...so pathetic! But I got a good kick out of it, so I'll tell you a little secret."
The shade took one step towards them, leaned forward conspiratorially, and raised a wing to the side of her beak as if to block invisible people from reading the words that left her beak.
"Your comrade," she called in a loud 'whisper', "He wasn't turning into a shade. Only certain someones can turn animals into shades. We-" She briefly cut herself off to move her other wing in a circle, motioning to specifically herself and the other shade, "Are not those certain someones. Those in outpost typically aren't."
With a sick grin, she straightened back up and lowered her wings back to her sides.
"In other words, you killed your comrade when all he was suffering from was a broken wing! ...And maybe a few broken ribs, but you get the gist, right?"

Vex's talon clicked again, a third time. He was silent through all of her rambling and obnoxious acting. The grin was unsettling, yet, but it had a certain quality of someone who was bluffing. Maybe not about the ability to turn animals to shades, but there was something she was trying to hide. Why exactly was there an outpost this far out anyways? His talon clicked a fourth time.

"My comrade," he said slowly, "Was a brave bird, unlike you. He died with a certainty that he would never be something as vile and disgusting as a shade...You won't have that chance." His talon clicked a fifth time, and he took off from the ground.