It was a hot and humid day in the Taurerosa Rainforest. The air was full of so much moisture that by the time one's hand had reached their side after wiping their brow, the sweat would be reformed at the same strength as before. The animals and people in this forest were not to be taken lightly though. If one was so weak that a little heat would stop them then they would obviously not be here.

Artemisnat sat on a moss covered rock, legs crossed indian style underneath her as she chewed noisily on a tropical fruit. It was very sweet, a nice bit of variety in her mostly meat diet. By her side, laying on all fours, was her newly tamed companion, Garaphadon.

He was a white wolf, covered in smooth fur, soft as a gentle blanket. He had black markings on his ears and his two front legs, tattoes from some sort of past. The beast itself looked gentle, it's tongue hanging out, due to the intense heat that it obviously wasn't used to. Also it's eyes looked rather curious and playful. But Artemisnat knew that it was a fierce beast, a wild animal, and although she had tamed him, he could be a deadly weapon to others.

Artemisnat finished her fruit, and tossed the core in to a bush. She stood up and stretched, letting out a lazy yawn. This heat was rather bad, but she could deal with it, there were far worse things that could befall her than a little sweat. She leaned down and ruffled Garaphadon's mane in an attempt to rouse him. "C'mon boy, we have things to do." The wolf carefully raised itself on to it's haunches and forelegs, and began circling Artemisnat.

She was looking for animals in the jungle who had thick pelts, for skinning. Though she was shy about being around large crowds, she was bold enough to make a voyage in order to sell her pelts. With this she bought arrows, among other things that were useful.

Artemisnat began walking along the path that she had been following. It was a path of crushed plants and grass, made by the repeated travel of human feet. It may not be that safe to walk, but it was far easier then struggling over ledges and tree roots.

After about ten minutes of walking, the path opened up in to a clearing, and in the middle of the clearing Artemisnat saw a figure. Garaphadon went to charge, but the huntress gestured for him to stop.

"Hello!" she yelled. "Who is there?! Are you hostile?!"

A Rainforest probably wasn't the best choice for a person like Winter to take. Of course strictly speaking there was nobody like Winter so unfortunately she was the only one able to fit into that category. The forest was moist and warm, it was like walking through a fire without the pain or the flickering flames and being an ice aligned being Winter was not suited to this harsh environment, however that was precisely the reason why she was here.

It hadn't been very recently that Winter had sought out her other half and became one with her again, sealing her and all her magical abilities within her right eye, which now looked glassy and blank. Since forfeiting the little magic she had Winter had returned to traveling to extreme climates in order to push her body to its limits and become stronger, the only downside to this plan was she hadn't counted on being almost knocked out by the environment she entered.

A small insect bussed through the trees and latched itself onto her pale skin, preparing to stick its unwanted jaws into the arctic angels body before it was brushed away without so much a glance of concern. Winter heaved a sigh and hacked at the foliage blocking her path with Kiyomeru Akuchi, that had been the fifth bug that had attempted to feed on her and while Winter was incapable of feeling annoyance or any other such emotions she guessed she was pretty close to it right about now.

She glanced about for a moment before moving forwards again, keeping an eye out for any larger wildlife that might take a stab at her. Winter could already feel herself regressing back to what she had once been: a heartless killer, and could already feel her body pining for the satisfaction of drawing blood again. She paused to rest in a clearing and stowed her katana back in the scabbard mounted on her back, the forest was proving a bit of a challenge for her and she could use a good break for it.

A snarl interrupted her and she turned around in time to see a white canine-like creature snarling at her before being hushed by an elven woman standing beside it. Winter's cold gaze moved from the wolf to the elf, however her expression didn't change.
"If I were hostile, wouldn't I be sneaking up on you rather than standing in plain view?" She answered blankly "That and you've given me no reason to harm you, yet."

The blue haired girl's reply was blank and harsh, but nonetheless the answer Artemisnat preferred. And she was right, it would be too convenient for Artemisnat if Winter attacked from the front. Although the blue-haired girl seemed kind of cocky (although Arty didn't know the word for it)She would rather not have to fight anyone right now, especially considering her very limited fighter versus fighter combat experience. Of course Garaphadon would provide a good artillery boost in any fight. The problem was even he was quite new at this whole thing, and the essential bond between Owner and Pet was not completely established.

Artemisnat walked forward slowly, Garaphadon following her on lowered front paws, eyeing Winter. She came up to Winter, and laid her bow on the ground in front of her. Garaphadon gave a bit of a whimper as if in warning, but Artemisnat ignored him. She figured she would start up a conversation, she needed to work on her social skills, and who knew, maybe something good would come of it.

"I am called Artemisnat." she said to Winter. "I come here to find animal hides. The hides give me gold. What..." At that moment the fruit that Artemisnat had consumed earlier was being digested and it resulted in a rather large belch. She continued on anyways without really noticing, (or knowing to excuse herself.) "What is your name? You here for hides? Or you just enjoying weather?" At "weather" Garaphadon gave a groaning whimper that sounded rather like a sigh. The heat here was a lot for a winter environment-based wolf to handle.

"Sorry if Garaphadon scare you, he new friend and he not know better." The white wolf whined a bit and Arty smiled and scratched him behind the ears, causing him to kick at the ground.

"This forest seems nice, but dangerous... Perhaps better not to travel alone?"

----------------
As Artemisnat and Winter were talking, a group of armed thugs watched from the shadows of tall trees, waiting for their oppurtunity to strike. The local slave mines were in need of new helping hands, and these two women looked riped for the picking.

Winter took the opportunity to get a better look at the pair before her. The wolf wasn't like one she'd seen before however the white fur indicated it may come from some arctic region somewhere, she doubted it came from the mountains like she did though as she had no knowledge of wolves ever residing there. She turned her attention back to the elven woman as she approached, listening to her speak and introduce herself.
"I am called Artemisnat." She explained, an unusual name in itself "I come here to find animal hides. The hides give me gold."
She hunts to make money? Winter thought Well, I suppose it's better than being a paid assassin. Despite Winter's nature she was against killing of any kind, of course this belief had resulted in near fatal injuries every time she made the mistake of letting someone live.

"What..." The elf paused to allow a belch to escape her lips, Winter's expression changed to slight surprise at the sudden ejection of gas but apart from that her face remained the same. The elf regained herself and started again "What is your name? You here for hides? Or you just enjoying weather?"
Winter glanced down at the wolf as it gave a snarl then turned her cold eyes back to face the elven girl.
"My name is Winter," she began "I am a homunculus from the destroyed town of Eden. My purpose here is exploration only."
Winter noted that the elf, Artiemisnat as she'd introduced herself, seemed to have an odd form of vocabulary, it seemed as though she missed small details in her speech and thought nothing of them, when she explained about her canine companion to Winter the arctic angel noted she said 'if Garaphadon scare you' missing out the 's' on the end of scare.

[I]Basic language? Sounds like she only learned it recently,
"I rarely have any companions," Winter commented, almost to herself even though it was responding to the elf's sentence "I'm not really the sort of person anybody would want to..."
She paused, her gaze turning slightly to look through the trees. She thought she'd heard something. No, not so much heard, more 'felt' the presence of someone, or perhaps there was more than one. Winter didn't like to take chances and she glared in the direction she'd 'felt' the someone and reached up for one of her twin katana mounted on her back.

Artemisnat was just about to reply to Winter and say farewell, but something had caught her ear. She picked up the slight sound of shifting weight and light leaves shuffling at about the same time as her wolf. Garaphadon's ears were perked up, and he stared straight at the tree which the thugs hid behind. As Winter drew her Katana Artemisnat held her bow out in front of her and strung an arrow.
"I think we being watched..." She said.

At the same time the men behind the tree were preparing for an ambush. One was a rather heavy set fellow. He had brown hair that was tied down in a red bandana, which matched the red insignia on his thick chainmail. He had leather slacks covering his legs, which offered little protection. This weakness was somewhat diminished by the fact that he had a sharpened scimitar in each hand, clearly an ambidextrous man. He had a shaggy brown beard, which had small particles of food in it from an earlier meal, and his eyes were topped by thick eyebrows, which seemed to make him look more angry and dangerous. The other man was extremely tall and muscular, even taller than Artemisnat. He stood at about 6'6. He also wore a red jacket, perhaps representitive of their organization. He was clean shaven and had short blonde hair. He carried a giant two handed sword, which although unwieldy to a normal person, was fast and deadly in this man's hands.

The thugs could tell that the two woman had discovered their presence, it was obvious what with the general silence. The larger man gestured to the man to sneak around. He would be the first one to run in, and perhaps hid distraction would prove useful. The fat man charged out from behind the tree, straight at Artemisnat. As he was charging, the second man ran around the side, attempting to come up behind Winter in the chaos. Artemisnat fired an arrow at the fat man, but it stuck harmlessly in his chainmail. He got closer and held his scimitar to her throat before she could draw another arrow. She realised at this point that it would probably be useful to have a sidearm.

"I have been commanded to take you two back with me to the mines, come quietly and you may live!" Artemisnat proceeded to spit in the mans face, which momentarily distracted him, and then she proceeded to knee him in the chest. This no doubt enraged him, but he temporarily had the wind knocked out of him, as he held clutching his chest. At the same time Garaphadon took a fierce bite in to the mans leg, causing him to yowl in pain. The man quickly recovered, and kicked the wolf in the side with his free foot, causing the wolf to let go and yelp in pain. He drew his scimitars, ready to advance on Artemisnat again, who was stringing another arrow.

It was at this time that the muscular man emerged from behind Winter, ready to strike.

Winter's eyes scanned the area where she suspected re were hostiles lying in wait for them, her pupils grew thinner as they focused on her front and took in as much as was possible for the half angel. The elf was right, it seemed they were being watched and right now all Winter could think of was the best course of action to take, if there were more than one then it would be a harder task depending on how outnumbered they were, however if their numbers were equal or less then they stood a good chance of defeating them, Winter didn't doubt that the elf had experience in combat herself, a person didn't carry a bow around with them if they weren't going to use it.

The first oppressor made his move, a large man with heavy chain mail and a thick beard with signs of his most recent meal caught in its tangles. Winter noted the two sharp blades he held in his hands and made a note to keep a close eye on this man. The elf responded by firing her bow towards the man, as suspected she knew how to use it pretty well however the effectiveness of the weapon was dampened as the arrow was deflected by the man's chain mail armor. Winter's eyes narrowed as she watched the proceedings, her hand curling over the blade of her katana.
"I have been commanded to take you two back with me to the mines, come quietly and you may live!" The brutish man commanded with his sword to Artemisnat's throat.

This was proving to be a bit tedious, the brute seemed barely any threat on his own and although he looked strong Winter doubted he could keep up with her, that and neither his head nor his shins were protected and a well aimed blow from either bow of blade would make short work of him, there had to be more to it. Winter's brain clicked and she slid Kooru Akuchi from its scabbard and whirled about and bringing the blade up to defend herself as a massive sword blade swung down. The blade was far bigger than Winter's and yet was held back by the katana as well as Winter raising her remaining arm to catch the blade from further up with Hyouzou, thus blocking the sword completely. Winter glared into the face of the blond man staring back at her.

"No more warnings," was all the man said before he broke the lock and retreated a few more steps backwards.
Winter reached up and slid her second katana out of its scabbard, keeping her cold gaze on the man in front of her.
This could take a while, she thought.
The man gripped his swords tighter and ran at Winter, preparing to strike. Winter did the same, holding her katana out like wings beside her. The pair drew closer, ready to exchange as many blows as either could take.

Artemisnat shrieked at the suprize of the muscular man appearing out of nowhere. Where had he come from, the fat man she was engaging was obviously the distraction for this huge brute that had attacked Winter. Thankfully Winter had countered his blow, and she seemed well able to handle the man, at least for now.

in her distraction, Artemisnat had let her guard down, and as she turned back to face the fat man, she was too late to dodge the atttack. She did however manage to lessen the intensity of the blow, since he ended up cutting the side of her stomach, rather than hitting any vital organs. Red hot pain rushed to her side, and leaked out of the wound as blood. It seemed only to intensify her anger, she kicked the Fat man, and he fell on to his back.

Artemisnat felt the blood on her side, making sure it wasn't too bad of a wound. The fat man regained his feet, and began to charge at the huntress again, his scimitar outheld. This time she was paying attention though. She waited until he was extremely close to her, and dodged the blow, sidestepping the man and tripping him. Unfortunately instead of falling and impaling himself on his own blades he merely fell on his rotund stomach, the blades planted on either side of him. Artemisnat, whos arrow was still strung, let the arrow fly in to the man's left leg, where it painfully stuck.

The fat man howled with pain at the piercing of the arrow,(obviously a pansy for pain) and got up as fast as his girth would allow. Artemisnat strung another arrow and aimed it at his head. She let the arrow fly, and it hit him, but just barely. The arrow went through the side of his face, just hitting the outermost part of his round head, and stuck there. It was not a fatal blow, but it was nonetheless painful, and the fat man's cries resembled that of a dieing dog.

Artemisnat, sure of her victory, pulled another arrow and strung it. Right before she fired it though, she was sliced through the shoulder by a scimitar, a projectile scimitar at that. Apparently the man was getting desperate, and had launched his scimitar through the air, in a desperate attempt to kill her. Well....he didn't kill her, but he did cut her pretty bad. Her shoulder had a deep gash in it, so deep in fact, that the scimitar was lodged in it. Half of the blade had sank in to her flesh. Artemisnat cursed loudly at the pain. which was much more life a fiery explosion than the last wound. She quickly sank to the ground, clutching at the scimitar. Her instinct was to pull it out, but she knew she would probably lose too much blood if she didn't treat it immidiately after removal. She looked at the guy who had done it to her, he grinned a grin of missing teeth,and guffawed with laughter. He was sure he had won. He thought the tables had been turned, but he was wrong.

Garaphadon had been waiting this entire time for an oppurtunity to attack, and this was his time. The wolf succeeded in jumping on to the man's back, shoving him to the ground. Before the man even had time to realise what happened, his brain stem was severed by a bite to the neck. The wolf had ripped open his neck, and had instantly made his life forfeit. Artemisnat had succeeded in defeating him, but at what cost, right now she only hoped that Winter could win on her own.

At the moment, Winter's entire focus was on what was in front of her, her snake-like eyes had grown so thin that they appeared as nothing more than a pair of pencils lines against a sea of cold blue, and right now the thing in front of her was the blond man with the big sword. The pair were still charging at each other, Winter's face a picture of concentration, her opponent looking more like he was enjoying himself than focusing on the fight. Once the pair reached each other the man swung down but hit nothing but air as Winter dodged sideways, bringing her katana up as she did so and aiming for the man's torso, this blow was parried as he brought his sword back up and Winter ended up retreating again. She made a leap backwards, propelling herself a good few feet into the air and landing well away from her opponent.

This may be a problem, she thought His weapon is far heavier than mine and he seems to be far stronger, I need to try and get behind him.
A yell of pain caught her ears and she looked round to see Artemisnat's opponent on the floor with an arrow in his leg. For an elf fighting a melee fighter with nothing but a bow she was holding out quiet well, however it was only a matter of time before the man drew closer.
"Pay attention!"
Winter looked back round in time to dodge sideways as a viscous lunge came at her from her blond opponent.

She froze for a moment before regaining her concentration and pivoting on her foot and then shifting her weight to the other one before bringing it round to strike a kick at the man's head. This move was blocked by one of his overly muscular arms and Winter felt his fingers close about her ankle. For a moment a grin crossed over the man's face as he raised his sword again, Winter however reacted quickly, jumping up and spinning about to deliver a kick to the man's face, he released Winter and stumbled back a few feet, clutching his jaw. Winter landed hard on the ground and scrambled quickly to her feet, turning towards the man.
I could probably end this without too much bother if I just... The thought was out of her head before she even considered it, there was no way she was risking her lifespan just to kill one person.

The man seemed to recover his composure but was no longer smiling, an angry red sore was plastered across his face and it looked like his nose was about to start bleeding. Without another sound he charged at Winter, swinging his sword down with all his strength. Winter merely stepped backwards, allowing the sword to plunge into the ground and then placing her foot on top of it. For a moment the man looked confused and watched in awe as the half angel jumped up again, landing on the man's hand's still clutching his sword and swung her free foot into his face once again. The man toppled over again and Winter landed cat-like on the ground behind him. She looked back at the unconscious body and turned to face the elf, noticng the sword stuck in her shoulder.
"Need a hand?" She offered calmly.

Artemisnat watched as Winter laid the finishing blow to the muscular man, and she had to admit she was really rather impressed. Winter had succeeded in beating the man without even getting a scratch on her, a powerful warrior to say the least.

Garaphadon had now gotten off of the now dead man and sat licking his belly where he had gotten kicked. It was rather disturbing to look at him since he had blood coating his muzzle. He was a fierce beast clearly, but he did have a softer side, which although somewhat supressed, was evident to his owner.

Winter offered her aid to the wounded elf. Artemisnat looked at her shoulder, feeling the severe fiery pain throb with every beat of her heart. Then she looked up at Winter and said "Yes, could use a little help. Pain is rather bad..." She attempted moving her arm, seeing if she still had feeling. She moved it gently up, and down, then side to side. Gentle is perhaps a bad term for it, because every small movement caused an explosion of pain, but it proved that she hadnt killed all the nerves. This meant that she wouldn't suffer any permanent loss of arm use or mobility, provided they were able to fix it fast enough.

Garaphadon got up, and sat down next to Artemisnat. He prodded her arm with his nose and whined, in a caring sort of way. Artemisnat smiled momentarily and patted her wolf on the head with her free hand.

"Winter..." She said looking up at the blue haired girl. "You have any medicine, or healing powers? Need to take care of this fast, so can figure out what going on. Maybe we should travel to mine, answers might be there."

Artemisnat was still rather confused as to why these men had out of nowhere attacked them. The only thing they knew was that they wanted to take them back to the mine. Perhaps it was foolish to plan on going to that exact place, but the elf wanted answers, and perhaps revenge on the leader of the organization.

Winter moved closer to the elf, giving the blood-stained wolf a brief glance before moving on. She knelt down beside the elf and took a close look at the weapon embedded in her shoulder. The blade had cut so deep into the muscle that it remained lodged in there. Winter didn't want to move it lest she cause the elf a great deal of pain, she'd received an injury in her own shoulder once and it had been one of the most painful injuries she'd ever had, only she'd been stabbed by a bone that had merely passed through, with this injury there was a chance of ripping Artemisnat's arm off. Winter looked down at the wolf as it moved to try and help its master.
"Winter..." Artemisnat interrupted her "You have any medicine, or healing powers? Need to take care of this fast, so can figure out what going on. Maybe we should travel to mine, answers might be there."

Winter looked the elf straight in the eye.
"I'm afraid not," she replied "I was not created for healing."
She looked back at the weapon in the elf's shoulder. Leaving it in would impair the elf badly enough, taking it out thought would cause more blood loss and cause her to pass out. Either way her bow skills would be impaired for a while and the elf was left practically defenseless aside from the wolf.
"Wait here," Winter said.
She stood up and moved off towards the undergrowth, looking about for a moment. Eventually she found what she was looking for, a plant with long thin like leaves with a smooth inside, Winter had used this before to bandage an injury on her arm and it had been affective for at least a few minutes.

She bent down and pulled out her Ice Dirk and pulled over the leaf and cut it as near to the bottom as she could. She stood up again and moved back again, kneeling down against Artemisnat again.
"This might hurt a bit," she warned, probably underestimating it completely.
She put a hand over the tip off the blade and cupped her hand under the handle of the blade. She paused for a moment, waiting for the elf to brace herself for the surge of pain. After another moments pause she levered the blade out and tossed it aside, acting quickly before Artemisnat lost too much blood she wrapped the leaf around her shoulder, managing to get it around enough times to cover the wound and prevent any further loss of blood.
"Best I can do I'm afraid," she commented, standing up again.

She looked over at the dead attacker the elf's wolf had taken care of and then to the unconscious blond hunter. They might be able to get some more information from this man after he woke up, whatever they wanted from the pair it would help to find out what it was.

Artemisnat sighed heavily. Winter was not made for healing, and apparently she didn't have any medicine. She could just walk around with the scimitar in her arm, but that would probably heavily limit her usefullness. Then again, if she took it out, she would probably faint from loss of blood.

Just when she was about to give up hope, Winter found something. The blue haired warrior walked over to the edge of the clearing, and prodded around with something, Artemisnat couldn't really tell from this distance. Then Winter returned with a small plant, which looked rather strong and tense, like a rope. Maybe it was flax? That was the material they used to make bowstrings, if she remembered correctly.

Then it became clear to Artemisnat what Winter was going to do. She was going to pull the scimitar out. She cringed a bit as Winter gripped the blade handle, her strong exterior fading for a bit. She closed her eyes, and grit her teeth together, waiting for Winter to remove it. It seemed like it took forever, but finally she felt a swift sliding pain. With the removal of the scimitar, Artemisnat could feel her flesh getting caught and tearing on the scimitar. It made her want to scream bloody murder, but all she did was yell out a curse word as a knight might when he slams his finger in a door (although a little louder.)

With the removal of the blade, Artemisnat could feel red hot blood gushing out of her arm, but thankfully Winter was speedy at work. She quickly took the long strand of plant and wrapped it tightly around the elf's wound, causing another sharp pain that was akin to the pain of being cut with a flame cutlass.

Slowly the blood stopped flowing, but the pressure that resulted caused even more pain. When Winter had finished tieing it, Artemisnat proceeded to slowly stand up. She stretched her arm, moving it from side to side again, up and down. THe plant that Winter had used was very well tied, and resistant to the movement. Although it really hurt, Artemisnat could use her arm, which means she could use her bow. She leaned down and picked up her bow, and took an arrow out of her quiver. She aimed it very carefully in the distance, her target unclear to anyone but her. Although pulling back the arrow caused a fiery pain, Artemisnat did all she could to withstand it. She needed to make sure she could still shoot. She let the arrow go, and the next thing anyone knew a bird fell to the forest floor, the arrow piercing it right through the center. Well that was good, she could still shoot.

She looked down At Garaphadon, and examined his wounds. He had been kicked, but he was a sturdy beast, and hadn't been hurt too bad. Then she looked down at the blonde man who Winter had her eye on, thinking the same thing as her. This thug was in their posession, and he would surely spout his intentions and bosse's name under threat of death. Winter could chop his fingers off one at a time until he blabbed...
"So we have prisoner... When wake up, we force him to tell us what going on. He will talk or else.

The makeshift bandage appeared to have worked for the moment, at the very least the elf wasn't about to lose anymore blood so there was no risk of her dying from that. She stood by calmly as the huntress took up her bow again and knocked in an arrow, preparing to shout. Winter had her doubts about Artemisnat's ability to use the bow as effectively, and as she watched she saw that the strain of drawing was causing the elf considerable pain, but once she loosed it the sound of an arrow hitting its target could be heard and a bird could be seen tumbling out of the tree a second later.

So it appeared the elf's injury wasn't as encumbering as Winter had first thought, despite obvious pain the elf could still fire perfectly. Winter had never used a bow before and had no knowledge of how it operated or any of the attributes behind it, so she supposed using a bow was far different than twin katana in terms of impairing injuries, that and Winter relied more on the lower half of her body that her top half. It was a complicated style of fighting and it took advantage of almost every attribute of Winter's body, or at least those that had an effect on her movement anyway as using the color of your hair to fight would be impossible.

The half angel walked over to the unconscious hunter and knelt down beside him, waiting for him to wake up. She glanced about and noticed he'd dropped his longsword just next to him. It would be unfortunate if he were to awake and grab hold of the weapon when neither of them were looking. She moved closer to the weapon and picked it up, then turned back to their attacked, waiting for him to wake up.
"So we have prisoner... When wake up, we force him to tell us what going on. He will talk or else."
"Of course," Winter nodded in reply.

It took a few minutes for the desired events to happen, but neither of them were in any hurry and had the whole day ahead of them. It started with a slight shaking of the head and then an inaudible mumbling followed by the man's eyes snapping open. The first thing he saw was the two fighters and the wolf standing over him, a pretty ironic turn of events considering he'd been hunting the pair not ten minutes ago.
"I gather you were ordered to capture us, correct?" Winter asked.
The man nodded, glaring up at her.
"Why?" Winter asked, her eyes narrowed.
"Like I'd tell you," the man spat.
Winter sighed and placed a foot over the man's wrist.
"W-what are you doing?" The man asked.
"A curious thing about humans, is their fingers tend to hurt a lot more when they're cold," Winter said, kneeling down and taking her shadow dagger out.

"Huh?"
Winter held the man's finger's down with a pale hand, it almost hurt to touch the warm surface of the human's skin but it was no doubt equally cold for him, he almost gasped the moment her hand touched his.
"Wait, stop!" The man blurted out as he realized what Winter was about to do.
Winter eyed the man with her cold gaze, waiting for him to give an answer.

Artemisnat couldn't help but show a bit of a smirk at Winter's reply of "Of course." It wasn't that she was evil and enjoyed the suffering, so much as the concept of revenge. No one was perfect, she knew that, even the good knight lords of Lomedor had a dark side. Artemisnat didn't like hurting people unless she felt threatened (beasts for skins and meat), but this man had tried to either kill or capture her and Winter, and there was a primitive satisfaction about the interogation process. She nodded at Winter when she picked up the katana, agreeing that giving their opponent any chance to get them was stupid.

She sat down while they waited, petting Garaphadon's head absentmindedly. The wolf in question seemed rather anxious, perhaps because they hadn't killed the man. The wolf's sense of danger was evident in the raised fur along it's mane, and the wideness in it's eyes. It wanted to finish the job, but Artemisnat would make sure the wolf did not try to kill the man when he woke up though, it was Winter's job afterall to torture him for information, and if he gave it to them, they could let him go. If by some chance, he kept is mouth shut, and they ran out of fingers to amputate, they could always resort to ending his life.

Slowly the man began to stir. Artemisnat stood up, bow in hand, and walked over to him, glaring down at the man. Garaphadon's ears perked up, and the wolf jumped to his feet. He began snarling at the blonde man, but Artemisnat shook her head at the wolf, making it clear that he was not to attack the prisoner.

Winter began interrogating the man. He seemed to like to act tough. He wasn't talking very easily, he even spit at them. Artemisnat replied by spitting right back in his face. She glared at him, daring him to make a move against them. Then Winter took her shadow dagger out and held it as if to cut off the man's fingers, and he let out a cry for her to wait. Artemisnat decided it was her turn to talk. This man needed to understand the generosity they were allowing him.

"You bad man. You try to capture us, you try to hurt us. You tell us...everything. Tell us and we let you go, don't tell us, and we will make you. Be stubborn, and you end up like friend." Artemisnat pointed at the body of the fat man, lying on his stomach with a huge bloody hole in his neck. Then she looked in to the face of the blonde man, and brought her finger across her throat, making a scratching nose with her mouth. "Tell us, and you no die, or even lose fingers. Do it stupid man! Don't be dumb like fat friend! Tell us who sent you! Tell us why!"

The injured man stared up in horror at the two of them, certainly being at the mercy of two heartless people like this who didn't care how much pain he felt would be incredibly intimidating. He screwed his eyes shut a gritted his teeth, not wishing to say anything and bracing himself for what was about to come.

Winter stared down at the man and sighed, he seemed pretty pathetic now compared to the fight she'd had earlier. She found it almost unlikely that the brutish man from back then was now whimpering at her mercy.
"Tell us, and you no die, or even lose fingers. Do it stupid man! Don't be dumb like fat friend! Tell us who sent you! Tell us why!"
Winter's dagger hovered over the man's smallest finger for a moment, waiting for him to do something. A few moments passed and he remained silent.
"Well, I guess that can't be helped," she sighed.
She brought the dark blade of the dagger down and severed the digit with a single swift strike.

A scream of pain escaped from the man's lips as his finger became parted from the rest of his body. Winter picked up the dead finger and held it up, remembering briefly a rather cheeky and evil minded individual that spent a lot of his time sucking on severed fingers. She chucked the finger and the memory away without a second thought and looked down at the man again, still whimpering from the surge of pain. Still he didn't open his mouth to talk.
"This could be a problem," Winter muttered.
She turned to gave down at her left hand where the middle finger was armored by an ice blue talon topped with a dragon head. She tensed up for a moment and then clentched her fist, she wasn't going to resort to something like that just to get one man to talk.

She took up her dagger again and held it over the man's next finger, hearing his pathetic moaning begin as though he sensed the sudden pain about to come.
"Mines," he blurted out.
"Pardon?" Winter asked, almost sounding surprised.
"We were sent from the mines," the man repeated "Gathering people to work there."
"What are they mining?" Winter asked.
"I don't know!" The man said "We were just told to capture you."
Winter waited for a moment for him to continue, but he did not.
"Fairly predictable," she sighed "Anything else you'd care to tell us?"

The man whimpered again.
"I don't know anything else," he said quietly.
"I hope so," Winter replied, coldly.
She took her hand away from the man and stood up, turning to face her elven companion.
"Looks like it is the mines then," she said "Any idea what they're looking for down there?"

Artemisnat glared at the man, disgusted at the stubborness and fear that seemed mixed in his eyes. He was scared of them, yes, but he seemed to be even more scared of whoever his boss was. He grit his teeth, as if the pointless gesture would somehow stop the pain. This big muscular man, who had so easily weild a two handed sword, now seemed no more then a scared little kitty cat. The funny thing was Garaphadon loved chasing cats, and it usually didn't end well. The wolf kept it's teeth bared at the man the whole time.

Artemisnat watched as Winter pushed the knife towards the mans finger. "Well, I guess that can't be helped," she said, to which Artemisnat just nodded. In a quick instant the tender flesh and bone of the man's finger was completely torn. The man erupted in an almost girlish scream. The elf couldn't help but give a small wince, despite her strong stomach. Seeing a finger being cut off was never a pleasant thing, unless you were some sort of sadistic maniac.

As Winter prepared to cut the mans second finger, he was quick to spill the beans. They were sent by the mines, to gather workers. Artemisnat's gaze hardened as she understood. Her and Winter were meant to be slaves. They would have to repay whoever this man's boss was for the thought. Winter left the man alone, and spoke again. "Looks like it is the mines then, Any idea what they're looking for down there?"

Artemisnat considered for a second what kind of thing they could be looking for in a mine around here. She looked down at the chubby dead man, and noticed that he had a ring on his finger, with a red gem implanted in it.

"Yes, we go to mines!" Said Artemisnat. "I not quite sure, but think there is red shiny rock. They be greedy. We go together and kill owners, then set free slaves." Artemisnat looked down at the muscular man again, who was still cowering and whimpering. His finger was bleeding profusely, but that wasn't really Arty's problem. He had tried to capture them afterall, and it was no big deal to her if she died of blood loss. Garaphadon leaned in towards the man's face, and growled fiercely. The man shrieked almost like a little girl, and Artemisnat pulled the wolf back by it's shoulder, a small smile on her face.

"You lucky muscle man, if you hadn't talked, you be feeding Garaphadon tonight!"

"Yes, we go to mines!" The elven huntress replied. "I not quite sure, but think there is red shiny rock. They be greedy. We go together and kill owners, then set free slaves."
Winter followed Artemisnat's gaze to the ring of her victim's finger where a small red jewel glinted in the sunlight. Winter's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Well, let's go then," she said, looking away from the corpse.
She paused and looked down at the man.
"Which way?" She asked, coldly.
The man didn't speak but pointed with his bleeding hand before letting it drop back down again.

Winter looked in the direction the man had been pointing. It didn't appear to have any obvious traps, but then again humans were smarter than they were given credit for, they were definitely the smartest when it came to war and bloodshed. Winter began moving forwards, using as much caution as she needed.
Humans are dominated by greed, she thought as she walked By far the worst sin of all. It does nothing but drive them to become power hungry, paranoid, warlike, sadistic or murderers, all in the cause of their own greed. Perhaps Autumn is right, maybe I should just kill them all.
She thought back to the agents she'd met at the B.A.D.I organization; many of them were human, if not completely. If she was going to wipe out humanity she'd have to turn on her comrades to do it, and that also meant fighting the whole of B.A.D.I including Merenwen.

A flicker of something flashed across Winter's face but was gone in a second. The arctic angel couldn't stand to think of fighting the guardian, and not just because of the large power gap between them.
Well, it looked like I'll just have to be subtle then, she thought.
She paused and looked back at Artemisnat and her wolf. She seemed unperturbed by her injury and certainly Winter would imagine she wanted a bit of payback. She knew little of elves apart from the fact that most of them were very vain and proud creatures, however this one seemed different.
"It looks safe enough," Winter commented "Looks like we can continue undisturbed. For the moment."
She turned back to face the path ahead of them.
I, her eyes narrowed Hate humans.

Artemisnat looked in the direction the man had been pointing. There was a slight worn path through the weeds and shrubbery, no official sign of a road, but a path taken a few times. The plants still stood kind of crooked, not completely stomped flat. It seemed that these two guys were the only ones who had used it. That meant that perhaps the mines were hidden, with no actual road going to them at all. As Winter began walking towards the path, Artemisnat snapped her fingers at Garaphadon, getting the wolves attention. It gave one last deep growl at the fingerless man, before following at Artemisnat's heel.

It was disgusting really, the way some people thought. The idea of enslaving a free creature, sentient or not, disgusted Artemisnat. Garaphadon was her faithful follower, yes, but he was willing. Although Artemisnat had indeed tamed him, he was treated better than most people she dealt with, and he could very well leave if he wanted to.

What would drive people to do such a thing as enslavement? It was an illogical fallacy in the elf's mind. She had never known greed herself, only taking what she needed and living a simple life. Why would someone want to make someone else miserable just to make a few gold pieces.

Artemisnat looked ahead, seeing in the far distance a hillside looming above the trees. There was a mine shaft right in the middle of the hillside. In front of the mine shaft, about 5 tattered looking people,(slaves it looked like) were working on loading up carraiges to take to market. They were covered in so much dirt that their clothes which had been originally red were now a dark brown. These slaves would likely not pose a thread to Artemisnat and Winter, as they were liberating them. The two people that worried Artemisnat though, were particularly muscular looking men weilding duel warhammers. They seemed to be overseers, and would more likely pose a heavy threat. Inside the mine there were surely many more of these overseers. The two women would have to be careful. Getting wounded too early could prove fatal.

"Winter.." Said Artemisnat, breaking the long silence. " There two battle men, plus a lot of slaves. We must be careful, we have many to fight. " Artemisnat reached down and scratched Garaphadon's head. "And you boy, if you do well, you get juicy deer steak. "

The end of their path was in sight, the trees seemed to be giving way to an artificial clearing at the base of a hill. Winter stopped just short of the end of the trees, looking out across the clearing to see the entrance to a mine cut into the side of a hill. She could see a line of grubby and very sorry looking people coming out of the entrance carrying heavy loads of something with them, presumably to some town or village nearby, or to somewhere else.
Who'd have thought they still did this to people, Winter thought.
She felt an uncharacteristic rage break over her all of a sudden and she only noticed it when her fist began shaking. She forced herself to remain calm and relaxed her fingers, she would achieve nothing by going berserk.

"Winter.." Winter's elven com[anion spoke up "There two battle men, plus a lot of slaves. We must be careful, we have many to fight."
Winter gave a curt nod.
"It would be a fine mess if any of those slaves got caught up in a fight," Winter added, noting that many of them already appeared to be on the point of collapse "And there may be more guards inside."
She remained silent for a good few minutes, thinking the situation over. If any of the guards were cowardly enough to try and use the slaves as a shield, Winter would have no choice put to take the slave down before getting to the guard, and there was no real guarantee that whoever was behind all this would hide down inside the mine, it seemed a little obvious.

"We should probably find out where they're going," she said, indicating the line of slaves "If we try and invade the mine we'll be outnumbered and cornered, and if not their bound to have reinforcements ready somewhere. If we can stay out of sight and follow the line of slaves to see where they're going we may be able to cut off their supply of reinforcements and perhaps try and convince some of the slaves to rebel and help us invade the mine, then we won't be so outnumbered." She finished reciting the plan and took another look at the two guards flanking the entrance. "We'll have to deal with them later, until then let's keep out of sight and follow this lot."
She glanced at the slaves meandering into the distance, the line seemed endless and she couldn't tell where they were going.