Stowaway aboard

Loud horns of the barges and other ships sound in the distance. The motion of the water makes it hard to balance. It has been a long trip and the sooner it was over, the better. Sitting in the bottom of the cargo area, Silver is in a curled up position. Oh, if only her stomach would stop turning. She hadn't been sick throughout the trip, however her stomach did not stop its threat to empty itself with a few more waves. She wrapped her midgnight blue cloak tightly about her. The only thihng that one could see of her would be the giant silver rose upon her back. At her side lay her sword, hilt and all as well as the quiver of arrows that she always kept near her. The ship's captain did not know she was there, and it was very seemingly easy to stow away. That was surprising in itself. She had heard many stories about ships at sea and its dangers. The only danger she faced at the moment was the illness that the waves brought upon her. She moans softly and does her best to stifle it. It would be rather pointless if she were to be found now and possible tossed into the very waves that threatened her stomach. She hears some yelling from above. What did the man say? Land ho? Oh she hopes that he did say that. She soon feels the bottom of the ship hit something and realizes that they have sailed into port. She now had to find a place to hide until the unloading was finished and she could sneak away.

A gentle gust of wind swept across the shore of the dock in which the ships came in and out of. Trees began to sway back and forth as the gentle wind pushed the leaves through the air. A fairly young looking male figure appeared before an arriving ship as the wind began to pick up and then silently stopped. The trees fell silent, and calm suddenly struck the air. The man released a small smile and relaxed his arms from a crossed position on his chest down to his sides. As his hands reached down to his sides, he jutted forward in a quick fashion towards the now docking boat. As he stopped on the dock and looked up... he saw a few older males staring back down at him. He looked up with a flashing light ever so lightly escaping from his now subtly glowing blue eyes. The sailors called to down the man asking him what he wanted. With no reply, the man grunted softly and bent down, moments later sailing into the sky and landing on the edge of the boat. He landed softly on one knee, eye level with the now half stunned men and then looked up. With his eyes now losing the glow and returning to the darkest of oceans blue, he smiled lightly. His voice was that of a calm gentle and persuasive. He blinked a few times and asked the men:

"Pardon me gentlemen. Do you know where the nearest town is? I happen to be from not of this ummm *he pauses and scratches his chin for a moment* neck of the woods so to speak *he chuckled lightly and paused to look at the men.

The men now have startled back a few feet eyed up the newcomer. They noticed he was slightly muscular and no taller than 5'8" tall. The sailors now completely ignoring his question, because their egos were hurt from being scared of him jumping up the boat, stepped towards him him all laughing and gloating as if he was a pushover. The man noticed that the alpha leader began to move forward quickly as the others filed in behind him. The alpha male grunted and his raspy voice spoke:

"Just who do you think you are BOY... coming onto MY ship without MY permission? Have you ever thought that maybe you should look to where you are jumping before you jump? Hmmmmmm BOY?"

The man stood up and now rose over top of the now closing in sailors. They all began to put their hands up like they were going to grab the man. The sounds of swords unsheathing and guns coming out of holsters took precedence of the noises in the air and all the tension became super thick. As guns became targeted at this young man and swords started to grow closer to his body, the young man let out a laugh. The laugh echoed through the air and broke all of the silence that had settled. He began to laugh obnoxiously and the sailors all grew insulted. The alpha man roared into the air to kill the young man. Just as the men began to swing their swords back and triggers were starting to be pulled... the young mans face grew quite serious. He suddenly took a stance with slightly bent knees and elbows at his sides, fists clenched. His eyes burst with a heavenly light blue glow and an ear shattering roar filled the surrounding ocean, plains, and towns with a fearless power. The men dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, holding their ears tightly to drown out the noise.

As the young man stopped, the men looked up and saw red. As quickly as the storm had come... it had gone. As the roar continued to echo and then slowly fade... the men on the deck were all lifeless, laying face first in their own blood. The young man stood peerless on the other side of the boat staring out at the ocean. Blood dripped from his fingertips and down the side of his mouth. A low growl was heard and his eyes faded back to their dark blue origin. The trail of his feast led directly to where he stood, as blood began to seep down through the cracks of the deck. He smirked as he wiped the blood from his mouth and commented:

"Well, I was not expecting my first meal to be quite so soon. Nonetheless, they threatened me. I had no choice."

He stood confident in his decision to kill them all and sat down peacefully on the edge of the boat, feet dangling down towards the water.

"Shame" he spoke quietly to himself as he stared out at the icy water.

Footsteps overhead tell Silver that the crew was quickly moving about. A few came down to pick up some crates, whilst she hid, and brought them up to the deck. A loud thud sounds as Silver assumes that it was the crate being dropped and she keeps silent in her hiding spot as she expects them to come back down. However, nothing happens. She hears a pause in the footstep above . . . no shuffling around, no steady and rhythmic pitter patter of heavy, worn down boot steps. Her ears perked up as she could hear some yelling and commotion. What was going on? They didn't know she was down there, so it couldn't be that as no one has found her there yet. Then the shuffling begins again, more quickly and what sounds like weapons being drawn. She could hear the sliding sound of swords being unsheathed, holsters being opened and guns released. Then something awful came over her. Her stomach was still swishing with the waves of the ocean that had long stopped since the ship came into port. That was not the main problem as she could deal with this. Something else was wrong. She listens more to see what the issue was, but strangely hears nothing and then a loud terrible noise. It was so loud and terrible that she curls up tightly, her hands tightly over her ears. What was that thing? As suddenly as it had began, it stops. Her throat hurt and she realized that while this noise was going on, she too was yelling; perhaps telling it to go away.
She looks around with one eye open, everything in the cargo bay was as it seemed before the noise. What was that? She listened for the crew upstairs for what seemed like a millenia.
The hair on the back of her neck rose as she tightened her cloak about her. She picks up her belt and weapons, placing them in their places. She stops to assess the situation; the cargo deck where she was is normal, there was a loud noise, now silence on the above deck and the uneasy feeling she had was growing and it was not her stomach. Her mind was far from it.
She looks at the ceiling of the cargo deck and spots something out of place. She moves closer and it drips down. She removes her glove and holds out her hand to catch a drop, then sniffs it, rubbing it between her index finger and thumb before realizing what she had been thinking was actually correct. Blood . . . but what and who . . and why? She had heard stories of crews being attacked and left for dead and hoped this was not the case.
"I can't stay down here and do nothing." With that, Silver cautiously makes her way up the stairs to the deck above, her boots lightly thudding against the aged wooden steps. As she surfaces, she looks around, her face even more pale than normal and her stomach rises to her throat. Oh the gods! What or who has done this? Slowly, Silver's hand reahes for her hilt as she prepares for whatever. She holds her hand to her mouth instinctively, telling her stomach to behave. Her mind telling her to get out of there now and yet something drew her to investigate. The bodies of the men, lifeless and surrounded by darkened red pools of liquid. She makes her way gingerly though the deck, where she saw the rather young man just standing there. There was just a little blood on his fingers and the edges of his mouth. She stands there, just staring at him, not knowing what to say and the words didn't even want to come out. Yet, her gut was telling her that he was the cause of these men's deaths, whether they deserved it or not . She looks more into his eyes, "What have you done? What do you want?"

Rustling was heard as it broke the serene sound of the waves crashing into the shore. The young man stood up and sniffed the air. A smell of woman pheromones filled his cavities. A complete mindset change took place in his head as he realized he was dripping with blood and his mouth had it pouring from it. The man stepped forward and off of the boat into the water. Keeeerppplaaaashhhh, as his body shattered the surface of the icy ocean. Just as soon as the water calmed... the man flared from the water and sailed into the sky. Behind him millions of tiny water droplets. The young man fell back down from the sky and landed quaintly on both feet, cleaned from the blood, knees bent. He stood up and locked his gaze into the woman's.

The woman could now see the young man's complete features. His deep blue eyes were probably the first thing that she noticed. The ocean behind him and the eyes before him matched in a remarkable way. His body was slightly muscular and slender. He stood amazingly straight and tall as he crossed his arms before the young lady with a stern look on his face. He then brushed his hand through his medium-length darker colored hair. His eyes closed as the now millions of droplets of water began to pour down from the heavens onto them. He blinked a few times, as the water began to drip down his face like a small little river. His hand came from his hair and pointed to the lady as his finger extended outward in a pointing fashion. He spoke to her calmly with an easy and persuasive voice:

"The real question here madam is... who are you?"

He retracted his fingertip back and placed his hands back down at his side. He peered around the boat and saw the blood beginning to form puddles around the bodies of the men. Their throats had been eviscerated by his nails and strong teeth. Some of the bodies were torn even further in which looked like a human had tried to eat the inside of another human. He continued to look around as he waited for her reply.

She notes the droplets of sea water as she could smell the salt upon him. She remembered the sound of splashing as she came to the upper deck from her hiding spot. She didn't notice the blurr that he had caused, yet was surprised the water had rained on him. There was not any rain anywhere else. Hmm, some sort of magic. She must be wary. She tries as much as she can to look beyond the men who used to be and see what was. Oddly, his eyes, it was as if he were transparent because they matched the ocean that was behind them.
For being young, he wasn't too bad looking. Of course, in her lifetime many young men came into her life. She stands up straighter, her right gloved hand gripping her cloak as her face turned to one of a dignitary. "I am called Silver. Of the land, Haldain. And you are?"

Returning a glance of approval... the young man extended his hand out to the woman in soft type of aura. He shook her hand and introduced himself.

"Ace"

He said abruptly and retracted his hand from her in the same soft fashion. He then turned his back to her and looked out at the ocean once again. He started to rant about his personal story.

"There is a familiar scent in this area. The cold frigid air reminds me of a realm I once visited and made home for a while. The queen there was a lovely person, and I think it is her scent that I am smelling. That realm was destroyed by a unknown force and all of the residents split their separate ways. I traveled on through different realms and worlds and learned the ways of many types of creatures until i caught the scent of this place."

He turned back to her with a quaint smile and remarked:

"Did I tell you that this cold reminds me of that queen?"

He then turned his back to her once again and tilted his head up into the air, his nostrils moving up and down as he took in the scents. Many scents filled his naval cavity. The smell of blood, the smell of Silver, the smell of the icy ocean water, the smell of cold, the smell of the surrounding towns, the smell of the animals being preyed on miles away in the forest. He then stopped his sniffing and turned back to Silver once again. He walked up closely to her and put his face a few inches before her. He reached down and lightly pulled it up to his face level.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Silver. I think I may try to track down the leader of that city over there"

He gently placed his lips on the top of her hand and then lightly placed it back at her side. He nodded to her and walked towards the edge of the boat making his leave.

He was a curious sort. Chivalrous to a point. She watches him take her hand softly and shake it, then letting it go as he turns, hearing him sniff the air and then tell of the interesting story. She smiles softly as his back is turned as he talks about the queen of the land. She too once knew a queen, who breath and words chilled men to their bones. She knew her story of troubles that no woman should go through. In a soft voice, "There are many lands with its familiarity. There is a magic about it."

As he drew closer to her, she did not at first know what to suspect as no one has ever gotten into her face before. She readied herself to begin her defensive stance, and as quickly as he had drawn closer, he steps back.

She watches him as he turns in a direction of another city. She too had to track someone down. "Are you a tracker? " The curiousity couldn't be contained from her will as she had to ask. "Do you know these lands very well?" She wondered why he tracked them as well, and what would be the reason to track a leader? Perhaps for some information, perhaps . . something else. oh dear. She inwardly shakes her head as he takes his leave. He wouldn't do that. She tightened her cloak about herself and began to take her leave as well, exploring the new city. The more she moved towards the city, the stronger the power felt, even her neck began to feel warm. She smiles as she gets off the boat and stares at the vast land. Which direction was she to go?