The Hidden Mountain Pass

You couldn't shake the feeling that someone, or something, was following you. But everytime you look behind you all you could catch was a glimpse of moving darkness and that could just be your imagination. Course you'd seen enough so far to know that your imagination wasn't vast enough to come up with some of the more normal looking creatues you'd met so far, let alone some of the stranger ones.

For a moment, you walk until you come out on a ledge. At first it seemed there was nowhere to go, but then you saw a cleft in the rough mountain face. Pushing through as you had so many before, you find that this one opened into what appeared to be a valley. Carefully you work your way down a well-worn path to the bottom.

You twist your head back as you felt the presence of the one following you, but you didn't see anything. But now in front of you stood two creatures, so unlike each other that they could not possibly be of the same species.

They both turn their baleful red eyes upon you, the taller female growled deep in her throat, the green male smirked.

"A little lost human has wandered its way into our valley, what do you think of that Daevarna?" the green one asked. You begin to ask forgiveness but he interrupts you. "No, no. Wouldn't want you to think us inhospitable. My name is Effemaeron," he adds with a bow.

"We are Corpadra," Daevarna explains. So they were the same species after all. Effemaeron continues, "But I'm sure you don't know what that is. Our ancestors were mage creations, the mergings of creatures you are familiar with such as leopards, and others you might never had encountered before, such as unicorns." He pauses a moment to grin, baring nasty looking teeth, "We were the tools of war. Of course the wizards are gone and the war forgotten, but we live on."

Then he turns to speak to a shadow, "Come forward now Taemeril." As the black creature emerges from the shadows, horns and wings bristling, Effem turns to you, "We'd heard you were wandering the Realm, so I sent Taemeril to do what he does best, follow the unwary without their noticing him. His talents are unique, they allow him to blend into shadows. You could be standing right next to him and not know it."

"In our home realm, we are refered to only by our titles. Taemeril is Spy. I am Scout and Daevarna is Truthsayer."

You ask about their original purpose, as soldiers in an ancient war, were they still...well...dangerous. "Of course!" Daevarna laughs. "And that's partly why we wanted Taermeril to bring you here. Ah, you thought he was only supposed to follow you. If that was the case you wouldn't have even sensed his presence. He only showed himself to encourage you to take one path rather than another, he's too good to be caught by the eyes of your kind."

"No," Effemaeron says. "We have some bitterness towards the human creatures that designed us to kill. So we thought, why not indulge our natures and kill one of those that made us the way were are?"

This wasn't looking good. Taemeril stepped back into the shadow of a tree and appeared to merge into it, till you could no longer make out his form. You look about madly for a way out of this mess.

Suddenly, the was a gush of air and a rush of wings and you found yourself flying high of the heads of the three cursing Corpadra. Though two had wings, apparently they'd decided not to give chase.