Nadeem, Forest, & Abhay

When Ayxeil arrived and Tahmores did not, Nadeem had reason to be concerned. The adolescent's behavior was further reason for the biologist to fear that something had happened to his friend, and it had prompted him to call Martha and a good number of his friends and associates to see if anyone had seen or heard from the young man. Many long minutes had passed, and still Nadeem hadn't gotten a call on his cellphone about Tah's whereabouts, and it was getting to a point where he was tempted to saddle up Abhay and take off looking for his friend himself.

After a few more minutes of fruitless waiting, Nadeem stalked off towards the back area of the compound, carrying with him a tiny, rather sickly looking raptor with a hood over his head. The falcon hybrid was one of many creatures currently at the facility, after seeing a dramatic spike of ill animals in the area, and was one that Nadeem had deemed too damaged to be released back to the wild. For the past few days, he'd been working with the small bird for training and acclimation, but he certailny didn't want to take the creature out on a journey when he wasn't sure when he'd get back, or where it would take him. "Not now, Abhay." Naturally, the black stallion could be found trotting along side of Nadeem, a little worked up, and prone to being annoying with his constant nudges.

Tahmores*Others

Aside from the more chaotic events that had gone unnoticed by most of the human population, it was a beautiful day outside - the weather was finally beginning to warm somewhat where short-sleeved attire was practically comfortable toward the noon hour, and one could get by with only a sweater most of the evening and morning, unless a particularly cold snap passed through the region. It was one of the days when most people in the rural areas would be out gardening or tending their animals, and just enjoying the return of good weather. But it was interrupted this morning by a vibration and loud ringing of Nadeem's cellphone as he reached the edge of the property; if he picked it up, he'd hear a familiar clicking sound, like a fingernail being tapped against the receiver. Nearly a year ago now, this had been used as a signal to let the Indian know just whom was calling him, even though the caller could speak - and it was repeated now, to emphasize that Conan wanted to speak to him. The teen was currently tucked in the trees just a few yards away, waiting for some sort of response. He could still make noise, and might have yelled to get Nadeem's attention - but he was still wary of the potential for the CS being in the area, and didn't want to attract a whole lot of attention.

Nadeem, Forest, & Abhay

"We're going out for a ride, aren't we?" Abhay was smart enough not to stick his muzzle close to Forest, who'd already given him a good gouge for it earlier, so the equine instead lipped at Nadeem's shirt to make sure the man won't forget that he was there. Nadeem shoved the horse's muzzle away and briefly regarded the new wrinkles in his shirt before continuing on, "I'll feed you later." "I don't want food, I want you to pay attention to me! Or you could at least open the gate to the pasture, so I can be with the other horses... not the one near that funny big moose, though-" Abhay drew his head back abrupt and drew his ears forward when the cellphone rang, temporarily keeping him from pestering his master while Nadeem answered the device. "Hello? Conan...? Conan, where are you?" The sudden change in his demeanor fed off on the stallion, who snorted and took a few steps back.

Tahmores*Others

With his voice worse than ever, the teen couldn't begin to answer Nadeem's question, and realized after a moment that he'd hadn't quite thought this thing all the way through - he couldn't tell the other man where he was. So there was a silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments, though he continued to tap the receiver just so that Nadeem would know not to hang up... and finally, there was a rustle in the trees, and a very odd sight to see as Ayxiel exited the bushes, moving toward the arab and his horse with soft, mincing steps. Not so strange in and of itself - but Elderwild was perched on her back, riding along tamely just as though she were your everyday house-pet bird, though she was about as far from that as one could get. She made sure that Nadeem could see her before she twitched her back, dislodging Elderwild and allowing her to respond to a bird's shriek nearby - she swooped up over the treeline and began to circle around an area of trees not too far into the brush, where she could easily be seen. And at that point, Ayxi began to whimper and whine, looking at Nadeem and then back at the trees, making pacing steps back and forth to try to get him to follow her. And if he did, he'd come across Conan not two feet into the trees, just barely hidden from view - he'd come alone, but if Elderwild was any indication, he had company a few yards back in the woods. There was a length of bloodied cloth around his calf, indicating that he'd taken some kind of wounding, but he was mobile and walking just fine - and because he was, and because Nadeem trusted him, he'd volunteered to fetch the Indian.

Nadeem, Forest, & Abhay

With only taps to go by, Nadeem was trying valiantly to make sense of the noise and translate it into morris code that he'd been brushing up on. Unfortunately, he didn't know enough of the simple language, and Conan wasn't trying to tell him anything with the taps other than not to hang up, so the curly-haired young man was left quite confused and so focused on the taps that he didn't hear Ayxiel until she stepped out of the timberline. Shortly after that, he recognized with awe who was on her back, and what her back and forth pacing meant. "Hang on Conan, I think we've got company here. Just hang on a minute-" He wasn't sure to who or where Ayxi wanted to lead him, but the phone call and her behavior was more than just coincidence in his mind. It took a quick spring across the yard to put Forest in his enclosure and to remove his jessess, and then he was sprinting across the yard after Ayxi. Not far inot the wood, he found his hunch was right, because there was Conan waiting for him, "What happened..?! Is Tah with you?"

Tahmores*Others

Feeling urgent in the back of his mind, Conan was nevertheless quiet in his place, aside from the constant tapping on the receiver to remind Nadeem he was there until finally Ayxi coaxed the man into view. As if his wrapped leg wasn't enough to speak of his tension, he had one of his guns held less-than-idly at his side as he darted his eyes about through the trees; this particular firearm was one of his larger handguns - a Beretta 92FS with an ominous-looking length of black metal clamped onto the end: a AAC Evolution-9 silencer. That accounted for the bullets that had earlier assaulted Lanny - and also spoke of a courage in the teen, who was currently very high on the CS's 'most-wanted' list. But he didn't explain any of that to Nadeem, or even answer the questions he asked - he simply pointed onward into the forest, where Ayxi's tail was quickly disappearing; with her purpose served in fetching the man, she was heading back to Tah. And with a wave of his hand, Conan prompted Nadeem to follow. About two minutes of steady walking later, they came upon Raven, crossbow still readied, guarding the way, though he dropped the weapon out of immediate-shooting position when he recognized Conan. He'd never seen Nadeem before, but he knew Conan, and so all was well. And with that, he turned to let them pass, and the arab would finally find the younger indian, seated on the ground and propped gently against a tree. He truly looked far worse off than he was; blood tinged his lips where he'd spat out a broken tooth earlier, and one leg sported an oozing gunshot wound, while the other held some of the bruising that was spread pretty liberally over the rest of him, thanks to the beating he'd gotten. He was well enough to look up and offer Nadeem a quiet, calm greeting - but his legs were both injured, and otherwise he was too sore to stand upright, anyway, which was why he'd been settled against the tree. "I was hoping Ayxi would be able to convince you to come," he murmured, petting the soft silver fur of the young female, who'd curled up beside him and was nuzzling him and working over his wounds with her tongue, putting out a steady whine. "For such a young creature, she is level headed; she knew exactly where to go to find help."

Nadeem & Abhay

Despite his profession and how he would often times put himself out in the wild with some very dangerous and unpredictable animals, Nadeem didn't own a gun in self defense, nor did he know how to use one. Seeing Conan with one made him start a little, though the injury on his leg was more alarming to the arab man, who posed another question that Conan obviously couldn't answer when his voice was out, "Are they after you again? The Zelokovii's?" A low huff of breath came from behind them, though the following equine words would be lost on the two humans, "That's blood on his leg, and judging by that reeking smell, he's fired that gun recently! Phhfft, it makes my nose burn!" "Easy Abhay, come along." Understanding enough that Conan was urging him forward, and recalling the goshawk from earlier, Nadeem reckoned that Tah must be on head in the forest... and probably not in good shape, if he hadn't arrived at the headquarters, and had to send Conan and the wolfess to fetch him.

"Hello, what's that?!" Abhay firmly planted his hooves to the ground and tossed his head when he saw the crossbow, and Nadeem didn't bother trying to drag his steed forward - he had more important things to cover, such as who this other man was, and what had happened to Tah. "What happened to you? We've got to get you some help - can you stand?" Nadeem reached a hand out for Tah, "You can ride Abhay back." "What about me?" Much like he knew the word 'food', the young stallion was well aware of his own name in the human tongue, too.

Tahmores*Others

Denied the possibility of speaking to explain himself to Nadeem, Conan instead chose to reach out and put a hand to Abhay's nose, knowing that the stallion's snort was for the irritating mix of smells, and petting him softly in a silent apology. And he stuck very close to the horse as they moved on toward Tah - likely because he trusted the stallion more than he did Ravenwing. The older indian was silent and unharmful enough, and even understood sign language, which had definitely facilitated things in their tag-team to rescue Tah, but still Conan did not trust him, and had made it clear. But Tahmores pretended as though he did not notice the tension between the two - instead, with one hand braced on the tree and the other given to Nadeem, he slowly rose to his feet, while Ayxi stood very near to him and continued to whine nonstop. "That is a tale that is best told after I call Martha. I can walk with help... but not very far. Raven carried most of my weight all the way here, from several miles down the road - I do not believe he could have carried me further, which is why I called a halt; we were close enough that I believed Conan could fetch you."

Nadeem & Abhay

In the fast pace of things, even Nadeem picked up on the tension between Conan and Ravenwing, but he was was not a quick man to judge others, and tentatively kept an open mind about the leather-clad stranger. "Can you manage on Abhay? If we get back to the house, I can drive us to Martha's farm. We can call her on the way." His relationship with the woman was not a very concrete thing, mostly because their view on wolves was quite different, but he strove not to make enemies of anyone. Still, he was more than willing to forgo any awkwardness at showing up at her house if it meant getting help for Tah; if the young man had been attacked by the CrypticSilvers as Nadeem could only assume, then taking him to the hospital could be a little dangerous. "Or between the two of us, we can carry you - it isn't that far." Not knowing that Ravenwing wasn't all that fluent in English, Nadeem glanced hopefuly to the other man.

Tahmores*Others

It honestly wasn't Raven's fault that Conan didn't like him - after all, the teen had significant reason to distrust any man that he didn't know well, and had certainly taken his time about learning to get along with Nadeem, who was just about one of the least offensive people in the city. Of course, even then, it had been mostly Aralyn's influence that had persuaded him to give the Indian a chance, until finally he'd decided that, while Nadeem was naive, he was not intent upon harming him. Either way though, he still stuck close to the stallion, and without having to be told, he shifted his stance until he could stand by and hold the horse's head when it was suggested that Tah ride him back. "Ravenwing... shiaka zeen methu. Betsay mook malir." The shorter man nodded, and after giving a careful look about, used a leather strap to hang his crossbow over his back, freeing both of his hands as he moved to take hold of Tahmores' other arm. "He will help us to get me on Abhay's back. If you can get me there, I can hold on well enough - my arms are unharmed, despite their looks." That said, he listened as Ravenwing gave another, different sort of command to the goshawk, this one causing her to swoop away and head toward the ranch. To Nadeem, he explained, "Elderwild goes to rouse the ranch animals and alert them of our coming. By the time we get there, we need fear nothing from anyone."

Nadeem & Abhay

The blood and gunpowder continued to make the stallion uneasy, enough that he bobbed his head out of Conan's hands and gave it a shake, forcing the red head to reach him again and work on keeping him stead, "If it's not the flesh eaters, it's the guns! I much rather liked when we visited the deer herds!" Luckily, Abhay let that previous flare be his last, and with those words, he more or less remained still enough for Ravenwing and Nadeem to help loft Tahmores up over his back. "Good then, she should reach it before we do." Despite the headquarters being on the same road as Martha's farm, the road itself was quite long and and absurdly winding. Elderwild would easily reach the ranch before they would, giving ample time not only for the pets to be alerted, but for them to try and get a hold of Martha as well. "Do you want to call her, or shall I?"

Tahmores*Others

With ceaseless patience, Conan reached up and put his fingers to Abhay's nose again, cupping one hand under the stallion's chin and petting the soft part at the end of his muzzle in order to convince him to stay still, so that Nadeem and Raven could get Tah up on the horse's back. With his hands thus occupied, he could say nothing, and so instead chose to let the young indian do the talking. "You've already called her to ask where I was?" Tah asked, though just to confirm his theory that the Indian had likely done so, when Ayxi had arrived at his house alone. "Best to let me call her... she is likely somewhat upset, and I wish to assure her completely. Ravenwing - jak mit autoo?" The question got a quiet nod out of the older man, and an answering one from Tah. "He is going to follow a little behind us out of sight, to be sure that no more shenanigans of this kind occur again today. Are we ready?"

Nadeem & Abhay

Things were made a little easier for Ravenwing and Nadeem on the account that Abhay was a relatively small horse, and didn't require either men to haul Tahmores up so far to get him situated on the stallion's back. "Yes, I called her some time earlier when you didn't show up." He was already handing the phone up to Tah, then immediately reaching for the side of Abhay's halter to guide him around in the correct direction. Abhay flicked both ears back to hear Tah's voice, and felt a little odd at having someone else on his back, since Nadeem had been the only one ever to ride him. Odd as he felt about it, mostly on account of the metallic stench of blood, the horse nonetheless tolerated the young man and started forward at an easy trot after Nadeem's command. "The sooner we get there, the better."

Tahmores*Others

Abhay wasn't the only one who felt odd - as he'd once expressed to Martha, Tah was mildly frightened of heights, to the point where he'd never even learned to ride Nass, as long as he'd lived at the ranch. Thankfully enough, the stallion's size was not too large, and the young man was distracted enough by the pain of his injuries, and the worry he knew Martha had to be feeling, to just take the phone from Nadeem and, after offering the horse a pat across the withers, to dial the numbers. He waited for the phone to pick up, and spoke up in a quiet voice that he hoped sounded calm. "Hernes?"

Nadeem & Abhay

The uncertainty in Tahmores, even as offset as it was by the pain of his injuries, fed through to Abhay. It took a firm hand for Nadeem to keep him moving steady and not trying to bolt forward, and it certainly helped to have the calming influence of Conan at his other side. "He smells like the mean ones. The ones that harried you Nadeem. They're a bunch of bullies!" A forceful snort was used to clear the 'smell' of the Zelkovii's from his nares and to express that he was not particularly at ease right now. Unhearing of the stallion's words, the Indian simply led the group on, until they were back in the mowed lawn behind the facility and quickly approaching his truck. During the short trip there, Martha was picking up on the other line and responding with no lack of emotion, "Tah, is that you? Where have you been?" She managed not to come across as frantic, but it would be impossible to miss the blatant fear and the cautious relief in her voice. Tah was alive - but why was he late in arriving at Nadeem's today?

Tahmores*Others

Ayxi trotted tamely enough beside Abhay, having learned from being raised at the ranch that she needed to tread cautiously and respectfully beside horses, whom could easily be panicked and hurt someone if she wasn't careful in her behavior around them. And Conan did the best he could to put forth a calming influence and help to hold the uneasy horse steady, with lots of quiet petting and a sure hand on one of the mighty shoulders to guide him along. So despite the skittishness of Abhay, Tahmores' ride was relatively smooth, enough where he could answer Martha clearly as the moved toward the facility. "Yes, Hernes... I was detained on the road before I could reach the place; I'm alright, for the most part, but you'd do well to get your supplies together. Conan and Ravenwing are with me, and Elderwild will be home soon, to rouse the dogs into awareness - Nadeem is going to drive us over. Be careful, Hernes... the Cryptic Silvers have decided that they do not like me."

Nadeem & Abhay

A pause over the line was for the shock to hear of what happened, followed by a voice stirred with disbelief and anger, "They hurt you? Why would they..." The way she shook her head couldn't be seen over the phone of course, but the determination that rose in her words could sure be heard, "Nevermind, you just come home to me and we'll sort this mess out. They have no reason to bother a good boy like you!" That sounded like a protective mother talking, even if Tahmores wasn't technically her son, nor was he a little boy, yet that mattered not to her. "There's two fold-out seats in the back, if you two want to come along." Nadeem was speaking up again, now that they'd reached the little blue truck of his and he'd brought Abhay to a stop. It would be a bit of a squeeze, but all four of them would fit in the cab, with himself and Tah in the front seats.

Tahmores*Others

"They have no reason to harm Conan either, Hernes... and yet they consistently do that," he pointed out, his tones ever quiet and calm, to offset the rising defensiveness he could hear in hers. And Conan didn't look up to suggest he'd heard his own name, though Abhay would be aware of the way that the comforting patting against his hide paused abruptly for a moment before picking up again. As they reached the truck, he grit his teeth and raised one leg over the stallion's back in preparation for sliding down into the waiting grasp of Nadeem and Ravenwing, and tucked the phone between his shoulder and ear. "We'll be home soon. I only hope Timber has the sense to keep a hold of Brother until I get there. Goodbye, Hernes." So saying, he clicked the phone shut, and handed it back to Nadeem, giving one hand to each man and grunting as they helped him down. Ravenwing was chattering as they did this, and after he was done, Tah told the arab, "Ravenwing will meet us back at the ranch; he is fast on his feet, and will not have to take the road - he may yet beat us there. Conan?" The red head, still stroking his fingers gently through Abhay's mane, nodded quietly as he watched Ravenwing support him toward the truck. When prompted, he looked up at Tah, and finally nodded - he would take the truck with the other two men, and would be glad to be away from the older indian for awhile.

Nadeem & Abhay

Once the petting stopped, Abhay turned his muzzle to the side and gave the redhead a light nuzzle, being surprisingly light with his bid for attention instead of his usual rough nudges that could about knock one off balance if they weren't paying attention. "Abhay." As soon as he'd helped Tahmores off and opened the passenger door to let the young man sit down, Nadeem was gently tugging the horse away from the truck and leading him back to the barn to stay. Before he disappeared from sight, he nodded back to Tah, "I'll be only a moment." Meanwhile, Martha was controlling her worry fairly well, and by the background sounds that Tah might hear, she was already gathering up her equipment as they spoke, "We're going to put a stop to that too. It's time this town started caring for more for their everyday citizens instead of those low-lives."

Tahmores*Others

As the stallion was led away, Conan was left with very little to do but guard the truck while the arab was gone, which he took very seriously, but hauling his gun out of his waistband and holding it ready in one hand, eyes carefully on the trees. Tah paused to offer Ravenwing a nod, when the older man reached over and plopped his knife back into his lap, having fetched it after it had been tossed aside by the gang during the attack itself. Subconsciously glad to have the weapon accounted for, he patted his thigh and invited Ayxi to clamber up into the truck, which she did carefully and gracefully, with a mind for where her paws were as she stepped over him to cuddle between the driver's seat and Tah's leg. "Whenever you persuade them of that, Hernes, let me know. It is a day I long to see in this city. We'll be only a few minutes."

Nadeem & Abhay

It didn't take long before Mr. Tarak was jogging across the lawn with a sense of urgency, wanting to waste as little time as possible in getting Tahmores to Martha's home for treatment. After that was taken care of... well, they'd have quite a bit to discuss as far as the attack went, and what it could mean. "Here Conan - sorry, the seatbelt is broken." Nevermind that they had more important things to worry about, or that the trip between here and Martha's house wasn't going to take long at all - Nadeem felt the need to apologize about the lack of a safety belt anyway, as he leaned the driver's seat back to allow Conan to climb in back. "I'll be here waiting for you. Don't take too long now, or I'll come out looking for you myself."

Tahmores*Others

"Stay there, Hernes... whatever else, stay within the bounds of the ranch; the animals will look after you. If aught happens, you know that Brother will come to me." That was the young man's firm instruction, knowing that Martha's statement had been made mostly out of fear and concern for him, but wanting it made very clear that he didn't want her coming after him. "With Conan and Nadeem with me, I will be as safe as may be... we will not be long," he repeated, just to confirm it as a definite statement. AS the teen warily looked about and holstered his weapon to enter the truck, and Ravenwing offered a last nod before kicking into a fleet, smooth run and darting into the trees, he told her, "Look to the north for Ravenwing - he will be perhaps a full minute ahead of us, and bit behind Elderwild. He will look after you until we can get there. Keep your rifle close. We're leaving now."

Nadeem & Abhay

The background noise of Martha shuffling about the kitchen was replaced by the familiar creak of the screen door being opened, and the low, brief set of barks from Tahirah. The canines knew something was up by virtue of Martha being so upset, so that even before Elderwild arrived to warn them, they were starting to rally together and show more vigilance in their surroundings. "I've got my rifle with me already." It was usually wolves and feral dogs that she kept the firearm handy for, but she was not afraid to use it against humans in self defense, and knew that the CrypticSilvers wouldn't think twice about using it against her anyway. As they spoke, Nadeem was hastily turning about in the parking space and flooring it as fast as he dared over the gravel to reach Martha's.