A Healthy Encounter [Squishy Panther] [COMPLETE]

Horus found himself surrounded within seconds, waiting for the flames on the Green Bubbles to die so he could hit them while trying to avoid the Jinx the Blue ones would inflict on him if they were to hit him. Fighting them was simple in theory, but in practice they were always so incredibly annoying. One doused itself to try and collide with him, but if it was a collision it wanted, it was a collision it could get, and a moment later the skull flew through the air, only to slam into a nearby tree and shattering. Horus lowered his leg and spun, swinging his sword to nail another one.

With Horus occupied with his own personal posse, Luna couldn't rely on his protection when a Red Bubble came bouncing towards her. Fortunately, she was a quick thinker, and she enchanted her whip before lashing towards the thing. The ice and the fire cancelled each other out, but the speed with which the leather tip connected to the skull caused a loud snap to ring out and the bone to crack. Thinking herself safe, she turned around to Horus and raised her free hand, conjuring up an ice spike. A good kick sent it soaring and it collided with one of the Blue Bubbles surrounding the redhead.

Horus took advantage of the opening this created to raise his foot again. Fed up with being surrounded, he focused what magic he had in his body into his foot and delivered a vicious kick to the nearest skulls. The impact sent them, and the ones surrounding them, flying, breaking most of them and disorienting the rest. He wasn't home free yet, but at least he got some breathing space as he sheathed his blade and turned to Morgan. "You alive over there?"

Horus dove to avoid being struck by Morgan's Hookshot, turning and using his crossbow to take out the last Bubble hovering towards Luna's back. The mage spun in surprise, not having noticed its approach, but both soon calmed down when they established that it had, in fact, been the last one. Horus turned to Morgan, who seemed more winded than they did. "Not used to combat?" he asked, wondering how someone like that had survived on his own in Ikana for years.

Luna had noted Morgan's remark about lunch and wanted to say that they hadn't brought anything to eat, when she saw a flock of large, black birds flying overhead. "Horus, your crossbow," she said. Horus looked up and saw the birds, too.

"No time," he said, drawing his sword. "No worries, I've got this." He set his feet firmly onto the ground, pointing the tip of his sword up although he kept it at chest-height, and took a deep breath. As one of the Guays flew above him, he kicked against the ground, launching himself and the sword upwards at an impossible speed. His blade connected with the Guay's belly, instantly killing it, and he seized the bird by the neck with his other hand as he changed his stance to accommodate his landing.

The landing was rough, but left his legs intact -always a relief- and he showed his prey to the others. "I took out the biggest one. Someone get a fire going while I pluck and gut this thing."

As Morgan rushed off to gather firewood, Horus sat himself down, placed the bird in his lap, and started rapidly plucking the feathers off of it. It was something he'd done often and grown very used to, so as Luna watched him his hand moved in a blur as the pile of feathers at his feet grew increasingly high. It didn't take him long to pick the bird clean, and he finished by tearing off the talons and decapitating the bird before handing it over to Luna. She would skin it and take all inedible organs out.

Morgan asked about the technique Horus had used to fell the bird. He shifted uncomfortably, absently taking one of the large tail feathers of the Guay to hand and playing with it. "...I don't like to talk about it much. It's a special kind of thing... the mages don't sense anything when I use it, so it's probably not magic. But we have no idea what it is. Roc's Feather be damned, I can't jump that high on my own." He absently looked over to where Luna had dug out the entrails of the bird and tossed them up, where a smaller Guay caught them and made off with them. He made a face. He was used to it, but he still didn't like the idea of tearing bird guts out. This was why Luna normally did that- her sense of 'this needs to be done' won out over the squick. "At any rate," he said, getting up, "It hasn't snapped my ankles yet, so it gets the job done. What say you we get the bird on the spit? It looks like Luna is done."

As he said it, Luna held up the skinned and gutted Guay, having just satisfied herself that all that was left on the bones was edible.

"I don't know if 'just jump' is the way I'd describe it." Horus got to his feet. "It's ridiculously powerful but even if I knew exactly how it worked, I wouldn't teach anyone." He shook his head, trying to expel the mental image summoned by his memory of the dream in which he seemed to have obtained it. "Trust me when I say it's not pleasant. I paid a price for it."

He tore into the bird meat Morgan gave him with his usual ferocity, glancing at Luna to see her to the same, although the gusto with which she did so was always surprising. It seemed so out of character for the normally silent and modest girl. However, at least she wasn't slurping and chewing loudly like Morgan was. The man acted as if he'd never tasted meat before. "Don't you hunt?" he asked, forgetting that he had always been in a privileged position.

Luna chimed in. "You should. It's hard to get the nutrients stored in meat through other means." She licked her fingers clean, having finished her meat. "Guays and the odd Wolfos are safe as long as you kill them yourself and cook them thoroughly."

"Wolfos," Horus repeated, groaning. It had been so long since he'd last eaten the canine beasts, and they were his damn favourite. Especially if Frederick seasoned them like he usually did. The thought of his battle wizard friend made him jump to his feet after Morgan. "Right. We need to find that antidote."

"I agree." Luna used an ice spell to kill the fire and followed behind the men. It was interesting to see Horus be almost cordial towards a stranger. He was normally harsh and cold-hearted, but something about Morgan made him act differently.

Horus was not familiar with this path, but he had confidence in his climbing abilities. The problem was that Luna didn't have the strength required to pull herself up, so he had to heave her onto his back and drag them both up the ridges and trails. Fortunately she wasn't very heavy -an unfortunate side effect of her selflessness and her slight build- and he didn't have to worry about holding on to her. She held on to him, making sure that she didn't hinder his movements.

As they reached the first valley, he lowered her to the ground and she immediately started to inspect the patches of green. Horus followed behind her, making sure she didn't walk into any traps or monstrous territory. "Is it always this cold up here?" he asked Morgan, pulling his coat tighter. He glanced at Luna. She was an expert in ice magic, so she could handle cold a little better than he could, but she was far from immune and he wanted to be sure she was alright. "I'm fucking freezing." It wasn't very late yet, but knowing Ikana, the sun would start setting soon. And he imagined the mountains were even colder than the lowlands at night.

He crouched, running his hands through the greenery at his feet. "So, Morgan," he said as he searched, "How long have you been living in Ikana on your own? It seems like a harsh life, and I say that as an inhabitant of this place myself."

"Trust me, I know." Horus had lost track of the exact number of years he had spent in Ikana, himself; survival was a pressing need, and one that blotted out all thought of anything else, especially early on when they had not yet established their home base, as well as when their number had been reduced by two and they'd had to re-divide the tasks, everyone now having to do more work in the same amount of time. There was simply no time for anything else. That was why Horus was surprised to hear that Morgan had come here voluntarily. Given the chance, and provided the accurate knowledge that it was safe, he would return to Rauru in a heartbeat and start a normal life there.

...provided he still could, he thought. He'd grown used to the eat-or-be-eaten mentality that he had been forced into over the years. Would he still function in a normal human society? ...yes, he decided, he would, given the time to settle in. He still knew that his position was not normal. That meant he was still salvageable.

While he was lost in thought, he hadn't realised Morgan had taken off, and he and Luna hurried after him. As they clambered the rock wall, however, suddenly their ears were pierced by a shrill scream and the sound of howling wind. Before Horus could ask if Morgan had heard it too, or whether he was hallucinating for some reason, the wind caught up with them, pressing him against the cliff hard and numbing his fingers with cold. From the way Luna's arms clenched desperately around him, she suffered from it too, and to his horror, she could not hold on. "Luna!" His hand shot up, trying to grab hers, but he was too slow, and she slipped too far from his back, out of his reach. "LUNA! NO!"

As she tumbled down, Horus weighed his options. The fall wasn't too deep, not to the first solid ground at least, but Luna was a frail woman and there was no guarantee she wouldn't fall further. And it was a long fall to the very bottom of the mountain. "Hold on, I'm coming!" Trying to ignore the ice cold wind, he let go and leapt down after her.

"Owwwww." Horus winced as he pushed himself up. That... was not his most elegant, intelligent, or heroic moment. Fortunately, it seemed the impact had not broken any of his bones. "Luna!" He called, remembering why he had jumped down the cliff. "Luna, where are you?!"

"I'm here," he heard, swivelling around to see Luna sitting not far away. She felt up and down one leg with the hand she didn't use to support herself, so he made haste, supporting her so she could stand. "I think I sprained my ankle when I fell," she explained, "B-but I should be able to walk. It's the only injury I took." They were interrupted by a loud shriek and the sound of something large colliding with something hard, a while above them. A shadow came over them, prompting them both to look up-

And not a second too soon, for a huge shape came tumbling down on where they were standing. Fortunately, Horus's reflexes were incredibly fast, and he tightened his arm around Luna, reaching into his coat and grabbing his Roc's Feather with the other, before kicking the ground with both feet to leap out of the way. The extra distance provided by the enchanted feather got them clear from the shape's landing site, if not from all the dust and debris and... snow? It had kicked up snow when it fell?

When the dust settled, Luna looked at it in surprise and curiosity, wanting to know what had almost crushed her and her companion. To her immense surprise, it was a gargantuan bird, its face marked by an almost comically large bill and its blue feathers crumpled and messy. It was badly injured, but its chest was slowly rising and falling, as if breathing. "Horus..." she concluded, "I think it's still alive."

Horus whipped his head around when Morgan was shot at and called the presence of monsters. And sure enough, he heard the unmistakable grunting and snorting of Moblins, along with the deafening sound of their feet stomping on the ground as they came up. "Stay here," he said to Luna, lowering her to the ground nearby the bird. "You can't fight on that ankle. Leave them to us." She nodded in response, watching as he clutched his sword and ran over to meet the Moblins head-on.

While Horus started to hack into monster flesh, Luna turned to the enormous bird next to her. It was definitely alive and could be saved, she knew that much for sure. It radiated a cold, icy energy, not unlike her own. Was it the source of the sudden snowfall? "What are you?" she asked, touching the bird's bill. It gave a weak, sad sound, and shifted a little, showing her an arrow stuck at the base of its neck and one in its wing. "Oh... I... I understand." She reached over, pulling the arrow in its neck out with one hand and placing her other hand over the wound. Something was strange about the bird's flesh and feathers... they felt so different from those of normal birds. She felt they were kindred spirits, somehow... maybe she could help close the wound, even if she was no healer.

Meanwhile, Horus dug his knife into a Bokoblin and slammed the back of his hand into another one, sending them both rolling back down the steep hill they had come. There were more of them than he had anticipated. A particularly big one suddenly came running at him... if that thing collided with him, he'd break a few bones. He was sure of that... But how was he going to stop it?

Counterintuitive though it may have been, Horus opted to sheathe his sword and stow his knife away. Holding on to the sheath with one hand and the hilt with the other, he then forced his breathing to slow, focusing on the Moblin approaching him. Luna looked up just in time to see the two almost collide, and gave a helpless scream -"HORUS!"- but couldn't help.

Horus stepped forward. Bending his knee, he twisted his body under the Moblin's outstretched arm. He drew his sword from its sheath, and in the same motion, viciously lashed forward with it. As it connected with the Moblin, it cut clean through it, coming out the other side without even unbalancing the redhead. The Moblin fell to the ground, quite dead, and most of its brethren slowed down or hesitated, perhaps unnerved by this sudden display of power. Still a little stunned that he had actually pulled it off, Horus made a point of showing himself sheathing the blade again to the other monsters.

"Who else wants to have a go?"

"Morgan!" Damn it! With Horus deemed a big threat and best avoided, the beasts had started working around him to get to Luna and Morgan, who had saved her from a particularly shaggy one! "Hang in there-"

"Stop!" Horus froze in his tracks as Luna screamed a warning, followed by a screeching noise and an immense gust of icy wind, knocking the moblins off of Morgan and tumbling away from the group, a few of them frozen solid as they landed in the snow.

"What the bloody hell- whoa." For a moment, Horus was stunned. As the wind died down, they saw the source of it. The creature that had formerly been a heap of flesh and feathers and bill on the ground was now standing straight, proud, and clacking its bill threateningly. Luna sat next to it, holding two arrows in one hand and supporting herself with the other as she observed the ongoing battle. The bird looked down towards her for a moment -as if asking for permission- and then spread its wings wide, giving another shrill screech as if to warn the moblins not to come any closer.

"Hot damn, Luns. I knew you work fast, but this has to be a damn record."

"That's fucking right!" Horus shouted, pointing after the fleeing beasts. "And don't show your face in my country again, you hear?!"

"Ikana doesn't belong to you, Horus," Luna said as she limped over to him.

"I've lived here for most of my life, it's close enough to a native country." He hurried over to support her, looking up at the bird. "Did you just patch that bird up? I thought you didn't know any healing magic!"

"I don't," she said. "It has a... fascinating biology. I just removed the arrows and... froze the wounds... and it made its flesh knit back together." She shook her head. "I don't understand it either. It's not a normal bird, that much is for sure." It folded its wings in once more and turned around, turning its bill towards the two. "I think it's friendly..." she said, "And intelligent." It nuzzled its enormous bill against her.

"Well, if you say so... maybe it can carry us back up the mountain," Horus said, looking up the cliff. "If we have to climb that, we'll never make it back to Freddie in time. Especially not with your ankle."

"I'll ask it," Luna suggested, before turning back to the bird.

Horus rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm and looked over at Morgan, who was kneeling next to one of the Moblin corpses and seemingly searching it. "You find anything good there?"