Naunet

"We're not gonna take that risk just yet," Thal spoke between soft thuds of his feet on the sand and tried to keep his grip on K'ile as secure as he could without jostling the Tia too much. "Keep going. All the way to the rocks."

Thal didn't question the bodies, suspected strongly the work of his Duskwight friend and accepted it. Welcomed it, even, as it was aiding them in escape. Cliffs jutted up on the horizon; he just hoped that they could keep ahead of the sundrakes long enough to make it to the rocks. It would be much easier to take shelter and climb out of reach of the beasts there.

"Maybe I'm just being stupid," Thal grumbled. "No time for arguing right now, kiddo. Just run." Hefting K'ile Tia up off the ground, Thal moved as quickly as he could without outrunning D'aijeen. He directed them south and tried not to think too much on the sundrakes and Amal'jaa likely on their tail.

Thal rolled to his feet and dragged the Tia up with him. "Better off if ya don't struggle," he bit out and then shouted, "C'mon, kid!" before turning south, tail lashing and fur standing on end.

"Oh they do now, huh?" Thal had to jerk to one side to avoid having his foot skewered by one of the bolts. He growled, red ears laying flat against his skull. "I got plans that keep you from making a huge mistake with those beastmen that ends with a lotta people I don't remember but still bloody care about getting killed, so--" Thal had crouched slightly as he spoke, and before he finished his sentence launched himself at K'ile, intending to bowl the man over and knock him unconscious again if he had to.

"I'll knock ya cold again and drag you. That what you want, stupid?" Thal stepped right up into K'ile's personal space, blue eyes flashing behind the mask he still wore. "Got no desire to see you eaten, so get going!"

"Don't be an idiot," Thal snapped and set D'aijeen down. "Some cover, kiddo," he muttered to her and then to the Tia, with a shove against the man's shoulders, "Go!"

Curling close to Thal, K'aijeen watched with wide eyes as the dead man chased down the fleeing Tia. K'ile pulled away from Thal, growling at him. "Why? The Amal'jaa won't hurt me! They're here to-" A bolt thudded to one side of them, followed by a number of others in the dirt around them. K'ile only paused for a moment before insisting, "They're not going to hurt me."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Blue eyes sought out the vague, red-topped silhouette of K'ile Tia. Injuries had slowed his retreat considerably. Thal grimaced and scooped up D'aijeen again. "We're goin' now." Then he ran, to the opposite side of the outcrop that the sundrakes clambered at, and leapt to the ground. The landing jarred up his spine, but it barely paused him before he darted after K'ile, stirring up a small cloud of dust in his wake. The Tia was easy to catch up to, given his pace, and he swerved into the slightly smaller man, grabbing at K'ile's arm. "You wanna live, you go south with me. Unless you like being drake food."

Thal spun and very nearly attacked the duskwight standing with them. His tail lashed, fur standing on end, and though he wasn't tired, his body went through the motions of breathing hard from the adrenaline of the chase. "You really got the best timing," his words came out a little sharper than intended while his senses continued on high alert, nostrils flared and ears swiveling behind him. "Don't s'pose you could just 'wander' us outta here, huh?"

He immediately wished he'd taken one of the fallen bolts for a weapon as he ran, holding D'aijeen as close as possible to shield her from bolt or teeth. The sundrakes were so close that their scent overpowered almost everything else, and he frantically scoured the desert ahead of them for a rock. They needed higher ground. Sundrakes didn't like to climb. He couldn't remember knowing this information before, but it didn't matter now. A steep outcrop jutted up from the ground ahead and he lunged for it. He felt teeth graze his tail and jumped forward, stumbling before sprinting with every ounce of speed he could muster towards that rock. When he was close, he all but threw Daijeen up and towards it, barking a sharp, "Climb!" before following.

Thal stumbled forward once the bolt was free and turned around in time to watch a number of other metal shafts bury themselves in the dirt around them. He grimaced and grabbed at D'aijeen's arm. "And bring angry Amal'jaa down on them? No, not gonna happen." Then he scooped her up and ran, angling vaguely in the direction K'ile had fled, towards where his senses told him the encroaching beasts were thinnest.

Thal swore after the Tia's retreating back, taking a few awkward steps after him before growling and grasping the bolt lodged between his ribs. "Come here and help me get this out. And quick." Blue eyes darted left, right, ahead. Dead lungs drew in air they didn't need, filling nasal cavities that returned to him far more information than sight alone could manage, while his ears did the rest. Fast. They were coming up fast. "Really fast, kid." He pushed on the bolt and tried to ignore the disturbing sensations of it sliding past organs and bone.

Though he felt no pain from the bolt, Thal more than felt the force of its impact. The miqo'te staggered forward, grunting, and dropped his unconscious charge. His ears pressed back at the blaring of a horn as he struggled to maintain his footing, dropping to one knee. "Get down, now," he snapped at Aijeen and felt around the bolt that protruded from his chest. The weight of it made it awkward to stand, and he could feel it pulling on muscle and bone. He tried not to think about the details as his mind kicked into survival mode. They were surrounded, hunters behind them, drakes in front. He recalled his earlier fight with the beasts and had no wish to repeat it. "We need to run." He needed to get this thing out of him.

Thal frowned at the predators, though he relaxed a hair. "Like I said, I'd rather just play it safe. I think we're getting close, so I'm gonna start looking out for the best rock to stash you behind." He injected a grin into his tone as he spoke and lightly nudged D'aijeen's arm.

"I don't know that and you don't know that. They may not even recognize us." Which would be a good thing. "You already saw how one family member reacted. I don't really want to..." Thal's words trailed off as the animals appeared to bolt. He slowed his pace so that he was walking a bit closer to D'aijeen.

"You're still staying out of sight, kiddo." During their trek, Thal had found more and more of his attention diverted to particular parts of his body, though he was trying very hard to ignore it all. There was little greenery in this desert, and he was hungry. Starving. K'ile over his shoulder did not tire him, but Thal thought that the way his joints felt when he lifted each leg seemed too stiff. He was aware of his skin as a separate entity from his muscles. It was unsettling. Rolling his eyes behind his mask, the miqo'te flicked his tail back towards D'aijeen. He felt the movement all the way up to the base of his skull. He looked towards the large, white creatures ahead and chuckled at their awkward forms. Red ears lifted in interest as the creatures as one suddenly stilled. Thal kept his pace and demeanor light, though his eyes flicked around behind his mask, alert. "And I'm gonna do that as much as possible, too, so don't go trying to claim I'm being unfair."

"Who?" Of course, it would be more family he couldn't remember. The bitterness in that thought caught him off guard, so he chuckled to counter it - though the laugh wasn't directed at anything in particular. "East of... oh, that place. Y'know you really threw me under the cart with those people." He looked skyward a bit, trying to remember their path, and then adjusted his walking in what he thought might be roughly the right direction.

"Nope," Thal freely admitted. He didn't feel like he could at this point, even if he wanted to. He knew so little about what was going on that there was no possible way to understand what might come next. Then there was of course the question of whether or not he really wanted to. "So where're your people at?"

"What's it matter?" He was starting to get a bit annoyed, and it bled a little into his tone. He jostled the Tia a bit in warning at the jab from the man's knee, though he hardly felt it. "Never been an issue, anyway."

A groan rumbled through his tattered chest; the sound shifted air strangely between gaps in his side, though he tried not to think about it. "Look, both of you just work with me for once, okay? I'm doing the best I can for everyone involved. So, kid, quiet and out of sight. And... you, whatever your name is - point me in the direction of your family."

"This guy's family. I haven't seen him wanting to help you at all," he gestured with his free hand towards the prone Tia over his shoulder, grunting as he adjusted the man's weight. "Kind of the opposite. Just... hang back whenever we find them, okay? If things look good, maybe... but don't get your hopes up. I'm probably just gonna drop him off and run."

"Yeah, no, kid." Thal grunted as he settled back into some sort of an even pace. "You're gonna stay out of sight. I got no want to have to deal with whatever kind of reaction they'd have to you - and I'm betting it wouldn't be friendly, judging by what I've pieced together."

"Okay then." Hefting K'ile again, Thal began to walk. "We're gonna find that tribe of yours."

"She wants me to kill you. Seems to think that you killed me. And her," Thal spoke flatly and shook K'ile by his collar again in emphasis. "She's begged for it more than once now. Considering the position you're in now, you should be feeling pretty glad that you're wrong about me. Is she wrong about you?"