Tale of Tails
Chapter 3: Quick Snake, Slow Poison
“Hey Turick, aren't you afraid of your brother if you return?”
“For the LAST time, I'm not going home!” He blushed a bit.
“I'm sorry... I'm not very fast with your family tree and all of its... hehe... 'knots'.“ She grinned at her half-awake sense of humor.
He continued to blush. “Haha- funny. It's not a tree, it's a BUSH!”
She giggled. “Or a wreath...”
“It's not THAT bad....” He gritted his teeth as he felt her leaning against his back, “Tell me again, WHY do you have to ride in your UNDERWEAR?”
“You're the one who pushed me into the river as I was getting ready to go... I'm not going to go all the way to town in soaked clothes... seeing as ALL my clothes are soaked, thanks to you...” She scowled at the back of his head.
“I TOLD you, you had to get the sulfur smell off you, but you didn't listen. I wasn't about to go into town with a girl that smelled like rotten eggs!” He returned his attention to the road.
She continued to bore a hole into the back of his skull with her eyes. “I was about to soak when you pushed me! If you'd just waited a moment instead of assuming I wasn't going to, you wouldn't HAVE this problem! Besides, you shouldn't have come over before I was done! I was NUDE!” I must sound like a nag... nyao... even my hair-scarf is wet now...
“Sure as hell didn't bug me in the hot spring! I've seen plenty of females before I was even ten!” He growled out. “So leave me alone!” He slumped over in anger as she continued to scowl.
And how many of those were your own mother? Bah! She leaned forward in spite of him. “Well excuse me for being raised the way I was...” She let her balance help her as she fell backward towards the ground, turning mid-air and landing on her feet on the ground with a soft “thud” on all fours.
“Likewise-! Hey! Min, what are you doing?” He asked as he reared the horse to a stop, whinnying in protest.
“A heh... my balance is returning... “ She said matter-of-factly.
... “Kind of noticed that, seeing as you're not eating dirt right now. Would you get back on the horse? I was hoping to get to the next town before nightfall...” He looked at her with a sigh.
She gave him a strange, almost wild, grin. “Race you to town...”
Turick blinked in surprise. “Eh? Are you sure Min? This horse can go pretty fast...” He scratched his head. “I'd hate to leave you in the dust in your underwear... people might get the wrong idea about me...” He trailed off.
“Whoever gets their first agrees to book the room?” A cheetah can outrun a horse, boy... “And besides- even in my undies, I'm decent enough for most cities...” She smiled, almost giggling.
“Fine Min...” He shrugged, unsure what she was up to. “I'm paying for it either way...” He grumbled. “Readysetgo!” He yelled quickly, before she could prepare herself.
“CHEATER!” She yelled after him. She mewed quietly just before running off after him. However.. I didn't necessarily say I was taking the TRAIL.
Turick sighed as he entered the run down hotel room. “God... kinda wish she'd showed up first... I wouldn't have wasted so much money just on bad karma... huh?” He looked up from his pity towards the silhouette he saw cast across the far window. “Looks like... a tail?” He tilted his head a little as he approached the windowsill in utter confusion. He crept up, and pulled it lightly, and jumped back as he heard a yelp above him with a familiar voice. He leaned out of the window to see what was on the roof, and was startled by what he found.
“Min! What the hell? You're a cat again?”
“Nyao...” She glared down at him painfully, her tail swishing protectively behind her. “Yes, I am... the gods are linieant beneath the moon. I was meditating.”
“You mean trying to avoid the townspeople, including the hotel owner- right?”
Her ears drooped shamefully.
“You had a hunch, so you ran? You're confusing as all HELL!!” Damn female, confusing me all the time... what's worse- you're starting to make SENSE!
She cringed as he yelled, her ears lowering further.
Sigh. “So, are you going to come in anytime soon? I'll have your clothes drying in a minute...” He popped his head back into the window to hang her clothes by the fireplace.
“... You had them wadded in a ball, didn't you?” Nyao.
“Huh? Why do you ask?” He laughed nervously.
“They'd have been dry by now if you'd left them tied to the saddle...”
“And more of a hassle! Well, they'll be dry SOON! I'll even let you have the bed if you're afraid I'll turn straight by the light of the full moon!” He took the blanket from the pack and laid it on the ground at the foot of the bed.
“Wah?” Nyu? She flipped down to look through the window to the inside, “What are you jabbering about? You're talking funny... why would I care about the bed?”
“You beat me here, remember, the race? Winner gets bed.” He shrugged. “Never go back on bets...”
“I thought it was 'winner makes room reservations so we don't get stuck in the stable'?” She titlted her head in confusion, watching him from behind the hair that hung down into her face.
“Well OBVIOUSLY you didn't do THAT... so you might as well have the bed...”
God... he's confusing. “But you're the one who made the fuss about the bed to begin with! And how do you expect me to ask for a room looking like THIS?!”
“You're the one who didn't want to be normal!”
“Then you should stop telling me it's suck a great thing!” She huffed, climbing back up to the roof.
“I never said it was a great thing!” He shouted after her. “Wish I could crawl into a hole right now...” he sighed as he threw a log onto the fire, watching it crackle a moment before he curled up under the blanket at the foot of the bed.
“Gods. Does he have a way of making me feel guilty...” She thought as she peered back down at him from the window ledge. “Two can play at that game. Besides, I couldn't fall asleep with the blood burning in my veins right now...” She smiled as she pulled herself back up the roof once more, smiling up at the starlit sky.
Turesa walked slowly into Yarven's room, a bit unnerved by the panting she heard from within. She peeked around the corner of the doorframe to see him workin himself on a dark elf female. He glimpsed at her as he pulled out of the girl, who protested feverishly all the while.
“What is it, wench?” Yarven said in his controlled, soft-spoken way, leaning back on the bed as he glared into her eyes for her interruption.
Damn alluring bastard. Turesa couldn't help but look at him... her eyes wouldn't allow her to look away. “Yarven, I've found prince Turick, he and his companion will be arriving in two days.”
He moaned softly as the girl slinked up to him, going about her business of pleasuring him, even as he spoke to Turesa. “Good... make sure he doesn't get to the king before he gets to me.”
Turesa turned and left before they decided to invite her to join. She was already furious as it was just from being forced to watch. Not that I wouldn't mind... she chuckled to herself.
Minaiya's ears flicked upwards at the tiny movements all around her. She sniffed the wind uneasily as she continued to try and pin down the haunting feeling that kept her up this night.
The wind is cold here... She closed her eyes as her tail swished tensely across the tile that edged the high, elegant roofing of the building she crouched over. The trees number so few... but they shake in fear and anticipation... Her ears dipped back alongside her head; her eyes barely slitted open in concentration. She looked out over the city restlessly. “What is it the forest senses that I haven't foreseen?” She peered over the rooftops absently, her eyes not focusing on the people or creatures that crept through the city night.
“Turick should be waking soon.” She thought out loud as she slinked down the tiles of the roof, gripping a drainage pipe to swing herself down to a lower level of the building, where there was a flat, open area that struck out from the second story. “I wonder if he even misses me?” No... of course not...
She got to her feet on the welcoming stone of the outcropping. Her fur bristled as she sensed a strange aura approaching her. She hissed in frustration, remembering that she had minimal clothing and no weapons on her. She crouched low to the ground as a dark-haired woman stepped out of the shadows.
“My, my, isn't the prince's pet out late?”
“I am not that boy's PET, you snake!” She spat.
“Ah...” She grimaced. “I see you remember me...” She's unarmed and unclothed... what is she thinking, putting up a fight?
“As even a child would know of a Cobra's poison- what do you want, witch?”
What a conceited child!! The nerve of her! Turesa fought to keep her composition. “It seems I must teach you some manners before giving you this message!” She smiled maliciously towards Minaiya.
“Message? What message?” She asked, letting down her guard momentarily. She gasped too late as she noticed the woman wave her hands in the beginning of a spell. She screamed as she was smashed into the wall of the upper story. She looked back at the woman through one open eye as Turesa rushed forward to attack her once more. Minaiya ducked, hearing the woman's fist crunch into the stucco wall she her head had just been. Genuine fear began to pump the adrenaline through her veins. She rolled as she woman kicked her roughly in the ribs, wincing as she sprawled o a stop against the short outer wall surrounding the lower roof. She tried to get up, but instead she was forced up by the neck as she laid a choke-hold on Minaiya.
“Now. Look here, cat!” Turesa spat the term out venomously. “The prince WILL go to see his father, whether you hinder or not. If you give up now, it will save him the annoyance of having to drag along such a useless woman.” She smiled in a way that made Minaiya shiver. “We'll give you a day, skank, and then we're coing for you...” Turesa cackled as she held Minaiya over the edge of the roof before tossing her to the ground, a story below. She tumbled against the boxes and crates before coming to a rest once more, battered and bruised amidst the content of the alley.
What did she mean... that I was hindering him?
Chapter 4: Cat Fight or Flight
Return to The Playwrights' Scripts
