Green Rider

[Tigerjaw]

(Looking for a female to take the part of Karigan. PM me if interrested.)

The Green Rider

The forest was dark as the Green Rider forced his way through bushes and branches. The horse he rode on stepped instinctually over any obstacle in their way. It was a slow ride but the rider knew it could not go any faster. It was the same for his pursuers. If they still where on his track. He had looked back many times but all he ever saw was the trees and bushes he left behind. He knew there was at least three men on his trail. Three men and the Gray One.

The sky was getting darker by the minute as the man and his horse struggled to get to more even ground. Just then he heard the brush move behind him and felt an arrow pierce him low in his back. Before he could cry out in pain a second arrow hit him a bit higher than the first. The pain was engulfing him for a moment before the horse decided to take of in a sprint through the forest.

All the Green Rider could do was to hold on to the reins while he tried to stay on the horse. He leaned over the back as the horse jumped over a bush. His whole body hurt as they landed safely at the other side. After what felt as an hour of pain and agony the horse halted in a clearing. The rider lifted his head slightly and was met by a small campfire. His eyes scanned the surroundings and saw a young girl. No more than eighten winters standing with a dagger in her hand. the rider half dismounted, half fell from the horse.

The outcast

Karigan G'ladheon cried out when she saw two black-shafted arrows inpaled in his back.

"Please...." He beckoned her with a crimson glove.
She took one hestitant step forward. The rider was only a few years older than she. Black hair was plastered across his pain-creased brow. Blue eyes blazed bright with fever. With the two arrows buried in his back, he looked as if he had fought of death longer than any mortal should have.

He was of Sacoridia, Karigan was certain, though the green uniforms were far rarer than the black and silver of the regular militia.

"Help..."
Each step she took was shaky as if her legs could no longer support her. She knelt beside him, not sure how she could aid a dying man.

"Are you Sacoridian?" He asked.
"Yes."
"Do you love your country and your king?"

Karigan paused. What a curious question. King Zachary was relatively new to the throne and she knew little of his politics or methods, but it wouldn't do to sound disloyal to a dying servant of Sacoridia.

"Yes."
"I am a messenger... Green Rider." The young man's body spasmed with pain, and blood dribbled over his lip and down his chin. "The satchel on the saddle... Important message for king... Life or death. If you love Sacor... Sacoridia and it's king, take it. Take it to him."

"I..." One part of her wanted to run screaming from him, and another part felt drawn to his need. Running away to Corsa, instead of waiting for her father to collect her at Selium, had held an irresistible air of adventure that she had anticipated. But real adventure now looked at her with a terrifying visage.

"Please." he whispered. "You are..."

The last words died inaudibly as blood gurgled in his throat and sprayed his lips, but she thought she caught a breathy the one. The one what? The only one to take the message?

"I..."
"Dangerous." He shuddered.
Everything around fell silent in an expectent hush, as if the world held it's breath for her decision.

 

[RotheAllure]

(Thanks Tigerjaw)​

She had always longed for adventure, Karigan had. Ever since she was nothing more than a pretty child, bouncing on her Father's knee. He, had wanted a son. Didn't they all want a son? A boy, a male, to carry on the family name, to hunt with, to ride with. A son to maybe serve the King, as Guard, as Advisor, as a Warrior.

Yes, they always wanted a son.

But this, this little bundle of pure joy, was a daughter. Yes, he had been disappointed at first. But Karigan proved to be smart, pure, honorable, and sweet, even as a child. She was easy to smile and laugh, and a quick and fearless learner, of both the *normal* womanly things, as well as the more *manly* chores and lessons. This included hunting, which Karigan did not exactly enjoy, but could accomplish quite well, to making and handling weapns.

Her favorite was the curved dagger that even now, as she bent over the deceased Green Rider, was in her hand.

"The satchel on the saddle... Important message for king... Life or death. If you love Sacor... Sacoridia and it's king, take it. Take it to him."
"Please." he whispered. "You are..."


She was ? She thought she had heard him utter "the one"

The one?

Karigan sat back for a moment, probably a moment she should not be taking. The man had 2 wicked arrows peircing his back. Someone did not want whatever the message was, whatever was in that satchel, to be delivered, and had killed the Green Rider to keep it from being delivered. And here she was, sitting back, taking a deep breath, and thinking.

She had to think this thru. If she didn't, she'd end up doing something stupid, and more than likely would end up with these arrow's brothers embedded in her own back.

The one.

How strange that he uttered those words. Words that had been haunting her dreams for what felt like a lifetime. "You are the one" the voices always whispered, the words slithering around her, as if trying to find a way into her soul. "You are the one" But what did that mean? The one for what? She was just Karigan, Daughter of Stevic G'ladheon from G'ladheon clan, a Merchant clan.. There was nothing special about her.

Nothing special. How far from the truth.

What Karigan could not see, nor had she ever been told about, was the markings, almost as if inked into her flesh, that snaked upwards along her spine. The image was striking, a twisting vine, tipped with a midnight rose. That rose, having grown and bloomed as she grew and blossomed into the beauty she was now. Her Father, at first, had wanted to speak to the priest, the holiest in his clan. Her mother had objected, fearful of what would happen to Karigan. She saw the marking as evil, and was terrified that a priest, or a holy advisor would want to rend her clean, which could mean anything from torture to death for her daughter. No, her marking was kept well hidden.

Her mother knew what the marking ment.

Her daughter, Karigan was the one. The one that would protect the King. The order of the Midnight Rose, had been, long ago, centuries ago, a gathering of the most powerful, in strength, as well as intelligence, and magic, used to protect the King from any enemy. But they were infiltrated by an enemy of the King, and tricked into betraying the King. All were slaughtered as punishment, the King surviving. All bore the mark that her daughter did. Many now thought of the Order of the Midnight Rose as Assassins.

A picture of Karigan

Karigan knew none of this. She had grown up as any normal child of the time, except of her exceptional abilities, in both intelligence, and weapons and fighting.

Those exceptional abilities had gotten her expelled from the school of Selium. She had beaten, and beaten easily, Timas Mirwell of clan Mirwell. Too bad he was a sore loser. He had no idea how to use a sword or a dagger. She could have easily sliced off his nut sac if she had wanted. But Karigan was not one to hurt anyone. The fight in the courtyard had been a dare, a challenge, the reaction to an insult that Timas had slung at her. Sometimes she hated the Nobles. She did not see herself as the lowly Merchant that others did. She hated that.

Her Father would be so disappointed. That was something she cold not stand. She was not sure she could even look him in the eyes. That was why she had left, before her Father could be notified to come and get her.

That was why she was out here, out here where the Green Rider found her.

The hush settled over the wood, an eerie hush, that even made Karigan shiver. That was when she heard it. Voices, and the bootsteps of men in the wood. She looked at the Rider, then at the horse. Gently she reached down and closed his staring eyes.

"I will accept what I must do" she whispered, not even sure why, but it felt right.

And she was up for an adventure.

Karigan did not even take the time to douse her small fire. Instead she got to her feet, and quickly gathered her meager belongings, as well as, the sabre, the Rider's green coat and a gorgeous golden brooch She was on the horse and moving thru the wood within minutes, which was a good thing, because mere minutes later, the men burst into the small clearing, finding the dead Rider, a missing horse, and a small fire.

 

[Tigerjaw]

Stevic G'ladheon bursted out from the deans office. He was red in the face and his veins stood out. Vanis had never seen Karigan's father so angry and frustrated before. In the past everyone had tried to keep him calm as Stevic was a large man. If he was agitated enough he could strike at what made him upset and accidently kill the person.

"This is outragious." Stevic blurted out to Vanis. "She have left. They let my little girl run away." Stevic take a seat outside the dean's office with his face in his hands.

Vanis stared down at Stevic's tilted head. It was Stevic who had raised him after his parents died when Vanis was just ten years old. Now standing tall at twenty one he had this man to thank for the man Vanis was today. The thought of Karigan alone in the Greatwood somewhere was just shrilling. He had known her since she was a toddler, three years younger than him.

"You must go after her Vanis." Stevic look the younger man in his eyes. "You owe me that much and i owe her." He lowers his head again.

Vanis Crawthorne tilt his head toward his step father and turn on his heels. He walk over to the cart they arrived to Selium with. He stops at Chana, his horse that is tied to the back of the cart. He mounts the horse and steer toward the main road without looking back.

 

[RotheAllure]

The horse was winded, Karigan realized that right away. The animal needed rest, and soon. She had put a little distance between her and the pursuers, but if she were to allow the horse to rest, she would need to find a place to hide. Pulling the animal to a halt, she let her mind concentrate. She knew the Greatwood fairly well, altho she had never ventured quite this deep. She knew the way to the Kingdom of Sacoridia and to the King, and she imagined the Ones chasing her did as well.

She was facing North, and took a look to the East, and the the West. She chose the West, and turned the horse. She could not take the direct root, that would leave her open for attack. She would go west, then north, it would take her longer, more than likely by a day or more, but she hoped that would still be enough time. She had no other choices.


She found a small creek, that fed into a small pond. Getting off the horse, she tested the water herself before letting the animal drink. It was fresh, and more than likely was run off from the mountain so many miles away. This would be a good place to rest, the horse needed it.

After allowing the animal to drink, then she feeding it some of her own provisions, she had a number of apples that she had picked before she had encountered the Green Rider, she settled down, not starting a fire, to map out in her mind, just where she would go. She herself snacked on an apple as well. The sun was setting, she had stopped earlier and set up camp because she knew night was approaching, now it was almost here. The light would be gone, and she dared not chance traveling in the dark, not in the Greatwood.

"I don't dare start a fire" she murmered to herself.

After settling the horse down to sleep, she too curled up to sleep as darkness descended, she curling her body next to the horse, where he lay, for the warmth.

She was awake before the sun came up. The night had passed uneventfully, altho she had slept with the dagger strapped to her leg, just in case. After a morning snack of some bread, she mixing a oatmeal type mixture for the horse, she packed up and was moving as the sun came up. Still heading west. She thought to head west for 6 hours or so, then turn north. That should put her well away from the trail she figured the Others were following.

She should be arrive at the Kingdom of Sacoridia by evening tomorrow. At least that was what she hoped. She had draped the Green Rider's cloak over her for warmth, mornings were quite chilly. Any who saw her would think she were indeed a genuine green rider.