In a hole lot of trouble! [Larien]

[Apakai]

The Fourth Cycle of Kalendryas, Era I of the Celestial Mandate, Era XV Post Fractum

It was no small feat for Apakai to leave the sanctuary of Natura or the Henges. In truth, since the moment he came running into the small town, he hadn’t left. He would meet people, learn about the world, and had recently gotten a job. But he never left Natura. Mostly, he was afraid. He believed that his former slave masters would always be looking for him. To step out of the confines of the only home he knew meant certain capture; or so he believed. However, no man can be contained from fear for too long. While some eventually run somewhere new, others, like Apakai, eventually fight their fears.

It was a dusty path, winding it’s way through the forests surrounding the southeastern side of Natura, that the former slave chose his battle grounds.

He had swords, true, but one orc could easily become two or more, and his experience with the blades was limited at best. Instead, he would use his wits and intelligence. For two full cycles the man spent lonely nights on that path, digging the deepest hole that he could. It wasn’t easy; the winter had fought him the whole way, offering little in terms of warmth, and freezing the ground. But dig he did despite it, and eventually he had his hole.

It was large enough to keep a tall orc contained indefinitely, he decided. It was over 3 meters high, and wide enough to lay down in. He then draped the a sizeable amount of branches over the top of it, to the point it could no longer be seen.

This was an excellent trap, he decided.

The last thing the kemite did was secure a wooden sign. He had made it himself, and spent the last few brightening carving a very important message across it’s front.

Humans, Elves, and anything NOT Orc! Do not use this path!

He smiled in his traps completion as he drove the wooden sign the rest of the way into the frozen ground. As a few light snowflakes began to float their way to the ground, Apakai turned and began to walk home. He would return in the morning.

As he made it back to the Naturan town proper, he never realized the blanket of snow that was beginning to build on the frozen ground.

[Larien Gil'dae]

Larien snuggled deeper into her fur-lined cloak, the thick green velvet wrapped tightly about her lithe form against the chill of the season. Thoughts, varied and mingled, swirled through her mind just as surely as the snowflakes swirled about her figure, biting against the tip of her nose and at the angular planes of her face. Huffing her breath in a cloud of moisture from her parted lips, she shook her head a little, slipping the warm fox fur further over her face. The young woman was counting the moments until she was within Natura once more and could finally get a room at the Pickled Porcupine... a nice warm room. And a cup of tea, of course.

"We're almost there, Fionn," the elfess lilted quietly into the teasingly icy wind, one of her pale hands snaking out from the folds of her cloak to pat the white Sandbred mare reassuringly upon her shivering neck. Thin-skinned and bred for the desert life, the little mare was definitely not suited to the current temperature of the region. Frowning worriedly, the young woman resisted the urge to nudge her mount on faster. As much as Larien wanted to be within her old hometown as soon as possible, she didn't want to hurt Fionn in the process.

Squinting against the wind and with her vision obscured by the thick fur lining her cloak's hood, the young woman didn't notice the crudely carved sign marking the trail she had just set Fionn down. Fortunately for the horse and rider pair, though, the little Sandbred did seem to sense that something was off. Tossing her head, Fionn whinnied worriedly, her hooves stamping upon the frozen ground as she took a few steps backwards. Thrown slightly off balance, Larien cracked the reins lightly upon the mare's neck. "Fionn! Stop!" Tossing her head more, the bit jingling brightly in the clean air, the Sandbred continued to prance and refuse to move forward, only backward.

After a few moments of their fruitless dance, the elfess finally gave up. An exasperated sigh bursting from her lips, she swung down from her horse's back in a single fluid motion, her cloak fluttering about her riding gown as she settled upon the path. "Now," Larien whispered to the agitated mare, tugging on the reins as she herself started forward, leading the way. "Come on, Fi--AH!" The cracking of branches combined with Larien's lingering scream as she plummeted into the earth would surely be enough to alert anyone within the vicinity to the fact that Apakai's trap had been sprung, just not by his intended prey. Instead of an orc bent on Natura's destruction, Apakai's hole contained... a fairly harmless elvish noblewoman of the Syl'rosyan Combine.

Startled by the sudden fall of her mistress, Fionn took a flying leap over the hole, starting down the path towards Natura at a dead run, her reins dragging the ground.

[Apakai]

Apakai laid staring quietly at the ceiling. Nope, no sleep tonight. Too excited.

He looked out the window. The snow was heavy on the ground, reflecting the soft glow of the moon above. The iridescent light of the satellite was broken sporadically by the trees and foliage, casting eerie shadows across the quiet town.

Apakai sat up, realizing a hole in his plan. He hadn’t expected the snow to come down at such an alarming rate. It was finished now, the wind still and unmoving.

The human quickly got to his feet and put his clothes on. He equipped his swords and headed out in the night. It wouldn’t do to have his sign covered with snow. Nope, that wouldn’t do at all. He had spent too much time on his plan to let the weather foul up his wonderful trap.

Before he made it to the edge of town, a horse broke through the edge of the forest. It was a brown mare, and it was fast. It slowed as it broke the clearing of the town, eventually coming to a halt next to a frozen watering well.

Living amongst free-roaming wildlife was a natural part of Natura, but this mare was harnessed and saddled, and obviously belonged to someone. Apakai grabbed the frightened horses reins and quickly walked him back to the pet shop, allowing him to graze in the back with the white mellan that frequented there. He then set off through the snow to his trap.

It took him only a little while to arrive, the moon having moved only slightly across the dark sky.

His fears were realized as he walked up to the site. The sign was covered with snow, Apakai’s message covered and incomprehensible. He moved to wipe the sign clean when he heard a faint rustle from the hole.

His eyes popped open wide as he jumped down. His arms and legs were spread out as he stayed as close the ground as he could.

It worked! He though excitedly, It really worked!

He slowly pulled out a sword while quietly creeping to the mouth of the hole. Once there, he peered into the darkness of the trap.

Darkness was all he could see. Had he thought things through, he might have realized that whatever was inside the hole would be able to see him much more clearly; eyes and the point of a sword peering into the darkness from the mouth of the trap.

[Larien Gil'dae]

Larien shivered violently despite the fact that she was bundled from head to toe in her warm winter cloak, her back pressed against the frozen dirt wall of the hole as she gazed skywards. "Why.....?" She moaned aloud, having taken to talking to herself some candlemarks before from sheer and utter loneliness. Was it always so quiet in the countryside? Where were the sounds of the creatures, night time or otherwise? Were they all lurking overhead, spying quietly on the young woman and silently observing her icy fate?

"Why meeeeee?" Shaking her head to dislodge the snow from atop her emerald hood, the elfess watched the crystalline flakes drift down before her eyes, a few even clinging desperately to her dark eyelashes despite her furious attempts to blink them away. "What did I do to anger you?" Her melodious voice lilted forlornly into the wintry darkening. Was she being punished for something? Had the gods decided her life had finally lost its usefulness? Or was Larien just the victim of some sick twist of bad luck? Sighing deeply, the chill air stabbing along her lungs, the elven maiden began to bang the back of her head against the sloping wall of the hole. "This. Is. Ri-dic-u-lous," she moaned with each fall of her head against the frozen dirt.

"Who digs a hole in the middle of nowhere, anyway?!"

Utterly miserable, Larien continued to bemoan her fate until the crunch of snow from overhead alerted her to the fact that she was no longer alone. Had someone heard her talking? Had they seen Fionn running about riderless and thought to come investigate? Feeling a bubble of hope rise in her chest, the young woman lifted her chin slightly, the snowflakes stinging against her flushed cheeks as her pale emerald eyes remained fixated on the upper edge of her sunken prison. The light from the twin moons overhead glinted wickedly off of something metallic. Something sharp. A sword. "Who are you?!" The elfess finally demanded in a lilting flurry of sound, violent shivers racing up her spine as she shrank as far back against the opposite wall of the hole as she could. Her shivering wasn't from the cold alone. She was afraid... and within good reason. What sort of madman would take the time to lay a human-sized trap in the wilderness for some unsuspecting victim before coming at them in the middle of the darkening with a weapon?!

"I'm... I'm unarmed..."

[Apakai]

His voice came slightly muffled, his mouth still hidden behind the ground at the mouth of the trap. “You really think that I am that dumb, don’t you orc?” Apakai answered, oddly polite. “I wasn’t born yesterday, you know. You know who I am, and I know you know. I also know why you’re here, it’s because you know who I am!” His eyes perked up, he was obviously smiling. “Ha ha, bet you didn’t think I was smart enough for all of that, did you?”

Apakai’s eyes squinted slightly, as he started to get a glimpse of what was in the darkness. Nothing that he could see to clearly; a movement here, a partial silhouette there, nothing that could be seen for too long or by looking at it directly. “And that pretty voice isn’t fooling anyone, especially me. Nope! I know you’ve got some kind of axe, or stick, or spear, or …”

Apakai, still attempting to grasp at the form of the figure, shifted forward, his face now exposed above the mouth of the hole. “Wow! You’re awfully pretty for an orc!”

Confusion painted his face as he dipped his face down into the darkness, his curiosity overcoming the fear of what he still couldn’t fully see.

Cute little nose, and mouth, pretty eyes, long hair over pointed ears.

The ring of metal broke the silence of the darkening as Apakai dropped his sword. He quickly bolted up, dirt crumbling beneath his hands. It dusted into the air as it rolled to the bottom of the hole.

“Wait! Your no orc at all! You’re an elfie lady! Well, what are you doing in my hole?!”

[Larien Gil'dae]

"Orc? Orc?! I am no Orc! I have no idea who you are, you lunatic! Now get me out of here this instant or I'll... I'll..." Larien's melodious voice trailed off softly into the chill air of the winter darkening. Unarmed and cut off from the resources of her family, there really was no honest threat the young woman could make. Sighing with exasperation at her own bad luck, Larien folded her arms tightly across her chest, her pale emerald eyes narrowed as she glared up at the foul man hanging partially over the lip of the hole, surveying her... insulting her! How could she be mistaken for an Orc?! Honestly?! I know I'm prettier than that.

“Wow! You’re awfully pretty for an orc!”

"That's because I'm not an Orc, you twit! I'm an elf."

Oh gods, I'm going to die alone in the wilderness with an imbecile. Somebody please help me. Startled by the man's sudden movement, Larien bit back her initial scream of surprise, though her pale hand did fly to cover her mouth as she watched him stand up, towering over her sunken into the ground as she was. His silhouette was dark against the night sky. “Wait! Your no orc at all! You’re an elfie lady! Well, what are you doing in my hole?!”

For many long moments, Larien said nothing... until finally, after what seemed like a miniature eternity, she found that she was screaming. It was very rare for the young woman to lose her temper -- usually she was a rather patient creature, as were most of her kind -- but with this... this human (indeed, he could be no other than a human, of that the elfess was certain), she found herself at her wit's end. "I don't want to be in your hole! Who digs a hole in the middle of nowhere anyway? I was just minding my own business, riding back to Natura when this gods forsaken hole came out of nowhere! So now that we have determined that I am not, in fact, an Orc, could you get me out of here?!"

[Apakai]

Apakai turned as he heard a rustle behind him. He stood for a moment in silence. It must be an animal. Small. Very small animal, that’s all. He turned back to the hole, falling down to his knees.

“Well now, there is no reason to get like that! Name calling and such…” The man shook his head as he patted the dark ground, searching for his blade. He eventually found it a few feet away, and once resheathing it, stood up.

He looked off into the distance as a slight noise reached his ears. It was a light thump. He fought the urge to be frightened once again, and turned to walk back to the hole.

“…I’m not an Orc, you twit,” he mumbled, quietly mimicking the woman in a high pitched voice. “I’m an elf…” He looked into the darkness of the hole contemptibly, saying “Well, for someone who isn’t an orc, you sure have the manners of one!”

He sighed as he squatted down, thinking about the woman’s questions.

Welling with pride, he said, “I do. I dig holes in the middle of nowhere. Well, actually this is my first one.“ He smiled, ignorantly. “How did I do?”

However, the woman angrily prattled on. Wondering how a woman could say so much without breathing, he answered, “Get you out? Hmmm…” Apakai scratched his head in thought. “I never planned on that. You see, it’s a trap! What happens is this:” the woman could see the giddiness in the kemite, “Orcies are walking along in the forest. And then he says to another orc, ‘I can smell Apakai, he is close!’ and then the other orc says, ‘Let’s go get him then!’ and they run down the path. Now, that is where the sign comes in. You see, the sign says for everyone who isn’t an orc to not walk here! Ha Ha! The orcs see that, then they know that they are supposed to walk here. They do, and they fall in!”

He laughed, clapping his hands together. He stood up tall, proud of his plan. “Then I have an orc!” He squatted back down, the glee in his eyes settling down. “You see? No part of the plan is getting someone out. But then again, no part of the plan was a pretty elfie lady getting in…. But there you are, all the same!”

A rustling, accompanied by the same thud sounded in the forest once again. However, this time it was much closer. The man could no longer control his fear. Within his mind he truly believed that orcs had been looking for him since he arrived in Natura. Being outside of the town heightened this fear, and this darkening's chill and bleakness had pushed it over the edge.

“Scootch! Scootch over!” He frantically whispered to Larien. Before she could have a word in disagreement, he fell back to the ground, shuffled his feet over the edge of the hole, and dropped himself into the cold darkness below, dust stirring up as he landed hard on the ground.

[Larien Gil'dae]

"What?! I most certainly do not have the manners of an Orc! How would you like to be riding along, minding your own business and then suddenly fall into a hole in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the darkening in the middle of winter? It's not the most pleasant of fates!"

As though to prove her point, a cold shiver trickled down her spine, causing the young woman to wish even more desperately for a warm fire and soft bed. But she would get out of the hole. She just had to get out of the hole. All she had to do was just remain calm and keep her head and she could think this through. There weren't any handholds on the sides of the hole, but maybe if the lunatic above her could hand something down, like a rope or some such, then he could help to pull her out. Of course, the more the man above her spoke, the more Larien became certain that he was out of his mind... perhaps she was better off in the hole and out of his reach.

But she couldn't stay in the hole forever!

"Alright, that's all lovely and good," the elfess lilted with a slightly exasperated edge to her melodious voice, "but let us focus on getting me out now." Pursing her lips, the young woman turned full circle as she eyed the walls of her dirt prison, looking for any natural advantage that might be there. "Do you have a rope or anything that you could drop down in here? I think I could climb out if I could just... hold on... to..." “Scootch! Scootch over!”

Cringing, Larien pressed herself up against the far wall, the chill of the earth biting into her body through her clothing. Narrowing her pale emerald eyes, she glared at the simpleton as he dropped into the hole beside her, essentially rendering them both helpless. "Do you think before you act?!" Wonderful. Delightful. Splendid.

Now what?

[Apakai]

"SSSSHHHHHHH!" he loudly hissed at Larien.

Apakai pressed himself up against the wall of the hole snuggly, looking up into the night. His kemite eyes peered into the darkness, as if someone, or something would show itself at the top. He sat waiting for a good moment, listening. Clearly deciding that such an occurrence would not happen, he turned back to the Elven woman.

"Do I think before I act? If I'm remembering correctly, you are the one who went and got herself stuck in an excellent orkish hole trap! Not me!"

Apakai loudly huffed in anger before peering once again to the mouth of the hole, expecting an unknown arrival of some sort. The realization of the situation finally dawned on him as he turned back at the Larien. He threw his arms into the air, saying, "Wait! I am stuck in the hole! I am!"

The kemite turned away and began jumping furiously, attempting to reach the rim of the trap. It was no use, of course, he had expertly designed the hole. It wouldn't be so easy to get out of. He looked around. The walls were smooth, the dirt within the ground frozen and hard.

He rubbed his chin as his brow furrowed. "Well, I really didn't think that this would happen. Hmmm... what to do now...."

He took a few paces around, lost in thought. This trap was made for an orc, but surely a human could get out. Or an elf. Elves were smart.

And there he was, going and getting one stuck in an huge hole.

Guilt seeped into Apakai's mind as he looked Larien up and down. No, it wasn't her fault, he couldn't be mad at her. It wasn't her fault that he could make such fiendishly clever traps. It was his fault.

"Well, my name is Apakai, pretty elfie lady. I am a former slave of the Horg clan. I am a great warrior. A pretty good trap maker too. I'm sorry that you got stuck in my hole."

He looked at the elf with regret in his eyes. "Are you hurt?"