Other New Story

Rose ran with incredible speed through the alleys of the city. She may not be run fast, but she moved through the dark, junk piled corridors like a moon cat. Not slowing down for fences, which were very common to slow down escaping human slaves. She simply jumped wall to wall to soar over the blockade, and never missing a step in her landing.

She had to find the Wingly with the stranger. He was her ticket out of here. For a whole week since she had escaped the eyes of her master, she had been clinging to the shadows, creeping at night to look for a way out. However, she never found one. But this man had broken in, and he could surely break out too.

"Why had I hesitated?" she thought. "I should have killed that Wingly when I had the chance."

Once again, compassion had possibly ruined her life. She had felt for the man so she waited till he found his family. Now she was running frantically to find him again.

"Why am I so sweet?" she said to herself, vexed out of her mind. "Feelings got me in here, feelings got me betrayed, and feelings got everyone in my life killed."

She could not help herself. Her mother had given her her name and raised her to live up to it. Everyone in her village thought she truly was a rose. But anymore of these heartbreaking events and she just might crush that little rose.

Suddenly hearing the ring of a Wingly, Rose stopped behind some trash containers. Searching, she found her destination. The man was floating across the alley, followed by his captor. Certainly they were heading for the jailhouse.

Quickly, she jumped up the wall and grabbed the support rafter to swing herself on the rooftop. Once on top she jumped to the next rooftop, and the next, and the next, placing her three alleyways ahead of her target. No doubt the Wingly had looked where she had been, but Rose learned to keep moving so you are never where they first saw you.

She had learned that from her older brother, always getting into trouble when they were younger. He had raised her after their parents were taken from the Winglies. Learning to be stealthy to stay alive had saved them for nearly a whole year. Then the two of them were finally caught, but they both had retained their skills. Her brother had escaped, only to be found a week later when he thought he found a way out of the city. She had begged for her brother's life, and that had killed him. Supposedly, he wouldn't have died, but when the head security Wingly Yemarin had found out they were siblings, he killed him. Simply killed him because he wanted it to be her fault, saying she didn't need feelings.

He succeeded, she no longer dwelled on feelings.

Sitting in the shadows, the captor-captive pair floated closer. Drawing her rapier, she waited until they passed. Moving suddenly, she ran behind the pair and along the shadowed wall to their left. As she expected, the Wingly heard the noise behind them, but not beside them and swung around to shine her magic light behind her. Jumping from the shadows, Rose quickly sliced downward on the Wingly's head. But suddenly, the Wingly turned back and Rose's blade shaved the side of the Wingly hair, taking a right ear with it.

Grunting and grabbing her head with her right hand, the Wingly pushed her left hand forward, sending Rose flying against the wall, pinned with invisible flows. The Wingly's hand then began to glow red, and reared back to deliver a fatal blow to Rose. Wisping through the air, the Wingly charged forward and thrust the glowing hand to deliver the final blow.

Rose closed her eyes, thinking about how her life had come to an end by the two inches that would have killed the Wingly. Surely she was not that cursed.

Rose felt the weight of the Wingly hit her, and just stayed. As if the Wingly was laying on her on the ground, it was laying on her on the wall. Confused, Rose opened her left eye, then her right eye and saw the Wingly's head lying on her shoulder, lifeless.

A long spear protruded from the back of the neck of the Wingly, pinning her against the wall. Rose slipped out from under the dead corpse and moved away. It was a rather interesting sight to say the least. The Wingly was just pinned there, a well aimed throw had gone through the back of the neck and somehow missed Rose's head at the same.She hoped he was that skilled, or lucky. She hoped skilled, it made her feel better.

"Are you okay?" the young man said as he walked to retrieve his spear.

"Fine, thanks" she responded, "What happened?"

"She never bothered taking my spear from me," he said pointing to the Wingly corpse, "and when you struck her, the bonds released me and I got to finally use this."

He notioned to the spear he had pulled out of the wall. He must be well fit to have thrown that hard to hold the Wingly up, and also pull it back out without straining. He was not that bad looking, but that was not on her mind right now.

"Look, we got to move. Someone must have heard that." she said quickly, "and if you got in, you can get us out."

He looked for a second and nodded. "Well my name is Syuveil. Nice introduction we had, huh?"

Humor, it had been a while since she smiled. "Peculiar indeed." she agreed, "My name's Rose."

He nodded again, "Well yeah, let's get going. I would say keep up, but moving in the shadows like you did..." he shook his head, "I'm sure I don't have to."

"You lead and I will keep up," she said.

He gave a slight nod and immediately took off running. He was fast and moved through corridors much like her. She kept up the whole time. Stopping when he stopped, stayed when his hand went up as he crept forward, and going when he motioned. It was no time before they were at the wall and moving silently. They stopped after about an hour since they began. Syuveil crouched and spoke quietly.

"Ok," he began, "here's what's going to happen. I got this little buddy here that is going to help us a lot." He pulled a pouch out of his pocket, about the size of hand and tightly packed. "It's going to explode pretty big when I stick it in one of these cracks, and when it does you need to run with me as fast as you can and don't stop until I do."

All she did was nod, even though she didn't think something that small would be too big. He felt around until he found a crack that he liked and placed in the pouch. He unrolled some wire and took out two rocks. She got ready to run as he started striking.

After about the third strike, he took off running as fast and she was with him. And just like that, they both stopped. She felt the accursed bonds around her and Syuveil was stunned.

The sound of ringing came close, and with it, voices.

"Well it looks like we got a pair of slaves to add to our collection, brother." said one.

"Oh yeah, I get the woman, she's a pretty one." responded the other.

Once again it came to end. She actually had hope on this run, but not anymore. She looked at Syuveil and he didn't look scared. He was actually smiling. What an idiot! How could he smile when the plan went downhill and they were about...

BOOOOM!!!

An earsplitting explosion sounded as the pouch she had totally forgotten about went off. She bonds released and the heat of the eruption pushed her forward. She looked up and Syuveil was already at full sprint. Quickly trying to keep up, he moved with suprising speed. Possibly the fastest she had ever seen. She kept pushing herself as he was starting to pull ahead.

Thankfully, he slowed and turned to a doorway, quickly opening it and rushing through. This gave her time to catch up and follow. Without even looking for patrols, he took off across the field. Doing the same the two ran all the way to the field, through the woods and good ways, and hoped into a small ravine beside a creek. No bonds had stopped them, they were out of Arvinen...safe.

Darkness crept over Arvinen, it was not long before Syuveil decided to move in. Staring and studying the sentries for hours had seemed to speed up time. Their patrol was seemingly flawless, always a Wingly looking in a direction at all times. However, nighttime would bring distance and darkness. Syuveil hoped his little friends would help him out and provide enough distraction for him to get in.

Creeping towards the city was the easy part. His dark green clothing was almost invisible as he crawled through the tall grass surrounding the city. But the lights given off by the Wingly patrols illuminated the feild the closer he got, and he was not invisible in the bright light.

Reaching the edge of the dark feild, Syuveil stood and waited for his window. The night patrols were just as he had hoped, nonchalant and tired. Seeming to barely glance at anything, they were sure not to want to do more than required. Unless the supervising patrol flew by, then they were sharp as hawks, but only for the moment.

Waiting for the supervising patrol to pass, Syuveil tossed some mecru seed a couple of spans on either side. The deer will love those, for mecru was hard to find for the forest creatures. Within ten minutes, Syuveils first helper had arrived. A doe, calmly walking towards the seed, simply following her nose. She was closely followed by two more, and more were surely just out of sight.

Syuveil hoped the patrols were as stupid as he thought. And they were. One patrol, a young man with long silver hair, looked and alerted another patrol, a slightly thinner male, of the movement. With the attention on the deer, Syuveil made his move. Moving as fast a possible without disturbing to much grass, he kept his eyes on the pair. Praying that no other patrol decides to glance his direction, Syuveil made good time on his first run. Stopping and lying flat on the ground, he waited for his second window.

The mixture in the bottle he had dropped on his first run was a combination that he would rather not discuss. He did not enjoy what he had to do to get the ingredients, but the effects are worth it. The best comparison he can think of is like putting a fresh baked apple pie in the middle of a starving community. It will send the wild dogs running faster than a flaming hare. The deer will be the first in sight and will fall victim to the dogs unless they run, and straight at the city was the best option.

This took a little longer than he expected, but the rasping barks of dogs were soon heard, and quite a bit more than Syuveil expected. Before long, the best window was more like a door as chaor erupted in the feild. He knew it would draw eyes quick, so he did not hesitate to quickly go through the grass.

As soon he was at the wall, he felt along the old, crumbling sides until he found one of the numerous side doors. They were made to rid the city of traffic, but ended up being easy access for thieves at night time. Luckily the Winglies relied so much on their patrols that they saw no need to watch these doors.

Slipping into the city, Syuveil took a look around. A few guards flew around, and many residents had awoke and flew up to the wall to see the commotion. Saying a little prayer, Syuveil started walking up to the wall. Head revered and walking fast, he reached the wall, looked around, and started walking back. Any Wingly looking would assume he was sent by his Wingly master to report what the uprising had been. Walking through the city, Syuveil made certain he was not being followed before turning down an alley and retreiving his spear he had dropped off.

No sooner than he had touched his spear, he could not move. Its like some sort of rope or chains were binding him, yet he saw nothing. The ringing behind him told immediately where the bonds had come from.

Heart throbbing, voice shaking, he managed to stammer, "C-c-can I help you s-sir?"

"Don't play me human," a coy, ladies voice said, "and don't call me sir either. As soon as I saw your spear I knew it did not belong to a Wingly. Only humans would use such a simple weapon. I just waited for it's bearer to return, and here you are."

The bonds suddenly tightened and lifted simultaneously. Turning towards the Wingly that held him. The floating female starred at him like live bait at the end of a hook.

"Clever though," she continued, "I thought you were a slave as well until you slowed down and picked up your spear." Her smile seemed to slice at his heart, mocking his pitiful hope of finding his family. "You must have been the cause of outside. Escaping is common, but breaking into a city is unheard of. What were you doing?" she said.

While Syuveil had been listening, he noticed movement in the shadows. The Wingly must have seen it, for she looked twice where he had done so. Shining a light, she found nothing. Movement was seen in another place, and once again the Wingly's light revealed nothing.

Trying to make it seem like he had seen nothing, Syuveil answered her question. "I was hoping to find my family. They were taken as slaves and I was in hope of rescuing them." he said as meekly as possible.

Still looking fidgety, the Wingly responded, "I may be able to help you. I remember you dying five years ago for killing a Wingly, but I guess it was your brother. I will take you to the place your family was enslaved." and she added cruely, "Where you can join them of course."

"Take me to them!" he demanded hastily. Whatever the shadow had been, he was sure it was not a Wingly. No matter what, right now it meant it was his ally, and he did not want it to kill this Wingly until he knew where his family was.

Smirking, his capturer lifted him and flew over a couple of buildings and toward what used to be the barracks. Landing, the Wingly walked into the building. The Winglies around did not look twice, seeing him as just another captured human. Walking down some stairs, the Wingly took him through halls and into a great office. A Wingly with actual scars and ragged hair stood behind a nicely polished desk. Looking up, the first look on his cruel face was of suprise, and then of rage.

"Who are you?!" he shouted, "Karin, I thought I killed this boy years ago!"

"Not him Yemarin, his twin brother." his captor responded.

The look Yemarin then gave was of joy. But an evil joy. The look of a man about to tortur a rat, and laugh about it.

"So, I did not kill his entire family after all." Yemarin laughed. "You see this boy?" Yemarin continued, pointing to his scar across his neck, "this was your brother. He almost got me, but I ended up getting him, and your entire family as well for killing one of my men."

Syuveil's breathing stopped. His face started to burn. All this time he had been so sure they would not kill any human they need not to. And this Wingly killed his entire family, just because Feyrbrand had defended them. Syuveil did not feel any sadness for the lost, only hate for the Wingly in front of him.

"I'll take him to the dungeon," Karin broke in, "that way you can think of a good way to finish off the line."

Yemarin nodded and Karin floated him out of the building and down an alley. These two play with humans like cat nip. Syuveil was going to deal with them both, somehow. Especially Yemarin, Syuveil will finish what Feyrbrand started. This time, Yemarin won't live to laugh about it.

Slipping through the woods, Syuveil made less sound than the butterflies that parted as he walked through them. Staying in the woods was crucial to being hidden. If he climbed too far up, the trees turn into rocks, which provide little to no places out of sight. Only dire situations called him to the mountains, and he planned to keep those to a minimum.

Slipping around the mountain he saw the city before him. Arvinen was one of the few Wingly cities not floating in the air. It had been a prosperous city for humans, too many valuable assests to simply destroy, so the Winglies inhabited it.

The city was simple, a huge square with high walls and the central palace, tall and slim, growing as it moved upward like a flower looking straight up at the sun. The walls were of no use to the Winglies, since they could fly of course. A couple of sentries parolled the city. Not many were needed since it was not hard to spot someone across the mile or so of feilds that led to the city walls.

It was going to be difficult. But he would go through impossible to save his family. And he planned to do just that.

The wind blew softly through Syuveil's hair as he eased through the woods. Ever since he spotted the dragon a month ago, Wingly sightings had increased. It was only a matter of time before they finally found it, it's not like its hard to miss.

"Unless they mistake it for a rock," Syuveil thought to himself, "A huge, white rock, with wings and teeth and claws." That would be an interesting rock.

Usually he would be happy to see a Wingly. The beings intrigued him to no end. There ability to use magic almost made him envious. Almost. He would never envy a species so cruel and selfish as Winglies. He would not mind having magic, or even the ability to fly, but never to be an actual Wingly.

"Fat chance of that ever happening." He thought once again, "only Winglies fly and use magic, and I am certainly not a Wingly."

He walked silently through the woods as he thought to himself. Alone. No one else but him. No friends, no family, no aquaintences.

"Just me and the stupid bugs," he muttered. And he had the Winglies to thank for it.

It had been five years since he had returned from the forest to find his entire village empty. Five years since the Winglies had decided to rule all of Endiness instead of living within it. He had gone out to study like he always did. Fascinated by science and learning, the forest was the only place where he found quiet. Now he is alone.

Hiking up a hill, he dug his spear into the ground to heist himself up easier. He may be in good shape, but after walking all day, he could some help every now and then. The metal spear in his hand would have been heavy to most, but he had been used to it for five years now. He had found it sticking out of a Wingly when he had returned to his village. It was his brother's spear, and he was certain the one dead Wingly was his brother's work. Feyrbrand may have been his twin, but he possessed more skill with a spear than Syuveil did. Granted he was equally talented as his brother had been, but Feyrbrand had always been stronger. He missed them all so much, but after five years he had grown to deal with their loss and Feyrbrands certain death.

Now that he is older, stronger, and wiser, he is going to get them back. Hopefully, his older sister and youngest brother had not met the same fate as his twin more than likely had. He was certain his parents still lived. If his parents can put up with him and his siblings, they can withstand anything.

At the other side of this mountain was the Wingly city of Arvinen. He had a hunch his family was there. And if they were, they were coming back with him.