The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed]

[Naunet]

The mask covering his face faced the onslaught stoically, though Thal's posture buckled down, vibrating with tension. He ignored the heat, instead waiting for K'ile to come close. Then he jerked his own weapon up, and both spears clashed against one another, throwing sparks between them as he sought to deflect the blow. He followed through with the motion, twisting the dark barb hard to knock it solidly into K'ile's chest.

[Twinflame]

Just barely managing to twist so that he did not take the brunt of the hit from the spike, K'ile watched the point of his spear stab the air beside Thal. The point of the dark spike on his chest caught the crevices of his armor, snapping a buckle and yanking him hard to one side. He ignored it for the moment, switching his grip on his own red-glowing weapon and swinging it around, trying to slice into Thal's body with its sharp-edged tip.

[Naunet]

Thal barely felt the blade of K'ile's weapon cut into his side, no pain from it just a pressure that sunk inward. Brushing the sensation aside with an animalistic growl, he pushed and twisted, catching his own weapon further on the Tia's armor and then jerking to one side and slamming down hard. The action, if successful, would pull the Tia off his feet and bring him down to the ground as though he'd been hooked.

[Twinflame]

K'ile had prepared to be bludgeoned or stabbed, but he wasn't ready to be hooked and thrown. The much larger man was able to move K'ile easily, hauling him sideways and throwing him down. The added weight of his armor didn't help him any. All it did was make K'ile fall harder, and this time there was no half-molten stone to cushion his fall. As his already-wounded head smacked down and flared in numb thunder, K'ile twisted the spear that had successfully wounded the undead man, trying to nick a rib and immolate it like a dried Sagolii stick.

[Naunet]

Thal released his weapon with one hand. He felt K'ile's own spear jamming into his side and a numbness spreading from it, but without pain it was easy to ignore; what was one more hole after all of this anyway? Instead of shoving at the blade slicing into him, he dropped his weight down upon K'ile, pinning him with both his body and the black metal barb, and then swung his free arm around to knock the Tia upside the head.

[Twinflame]

Feeling his spear dig into the undead man's body, K'ile Tia, Shan'Gai Chah, roared up at the man, "You should be dead!" just before a large fist hit his already battered head. His ears shook and his body tensed for one more long moment before easing under the weight of his concussion, the darkening, overloaded senses and the pain shivering into numbness. His grip on his spear faltered and the heat pouring out from his chest began to ease. Things did not immediately cool, but the fire lit inside of them dimmed down to coals. He turned his gaze to the backs of his eyelids, feeling his very face twitch against his skull. He let go of his spear and brought his hands to his head, groaning inaudibly.

[Naunet]

"I know," Thal bit out, mostly to himself, as he shrugged his body and finally tore the spear from his side when K'ile's grip fell away. It pulled free from his flesh with a wet squelch and an unsettling sensation, but he forced himself to ignore it as he tossed the weapon to one side. Locking his knees on either side of K'ile's hips, he pulled his own weapon free of the Tia's armor and discarded it just as he'd done the first before gripping the other man by the collar of his armor.

 

"I'm not gonna kill you," he muttered at the groaning miqo'te. His ears lay flat in his hair, tail lashing violently above him. "But I'm definitely gonna stop you from making such a stupid decision." As he said this, he slammed K'ile down against the ground once, in part for emphasis, and in part to ensure he was good and dazed, if not completely unconscious.

[Twinflame]

K'ile squirmed pitifully, but only for a moment, before going still. His hands moved and grasped blindly at the ground around him but were too weak to take hold of so much as a pebble.

 

"Kill him." A voice spoke from the front of the cavern, low and rumbling, nearly a growl. In the darkness, Baoht Suqqa Roh was nearly invisible, his massive form crouched low like a polished boulder reflecting the red light. The fumes that filled the cave curled about his muscles and his toothy maw. "I know he is kindred to you. I do not care. You could not kill me, and so you must kill him."

[Naunet]

Blue eyes flicked to one side behind the mask, glaring into the smoke and shadows around the cave. He couldn't see clear enough to make out any form, but he didn't have to see to know who spoke. He growled wordlessly, pulled one arm back, and then brought down his fist into K'ile's face. He felt the Tia's nose crunch beneath his knuckles and hoped it had been enough to knock him out completely. Not waiting, he stood and pulled the other man up with him. "You won't have to worry about him anymore. His family deserves to take out whatever punishment they would want on him."

[Twinflame]

"I deserve my own punishment. His family can have his corpse to torment if they wish." Baoht Zuqqa Roh stood, and his bow rose in his hand, metal shaft aiming. "I buried the dead female you walked with. I suspect she will have difficulty unearthing herself if you cannot find her."

[Naunet]

"You make me do the dirty work; I get to decide when the punishment's done," Thal snapped and darted his eyes about in the fumes. He didn't bother responding to the hunter's comment on the kid, and a part of him figured she was safer underground anyway. Instead he breathed in the air, catching the stench of the hunter in the sulfuric reek of smoke, and started sidestepping in an arc around him. How to get out of this place was his present problem.

[Twinflame]

Baoht Zuqqa Roh growled, and snapped his teeth, the bolt laying across his bow wavering. He aimed for Shan'Gai Chah and tried to release the arrow, but his fingers wouldn't unfurl. They would not allow him to defy the will of Ifrit. He could not be the one to kill Shan'Gai Chah, no matter how great his desire. Instead, he pointed the arrow at the larger child of Man, the abomination. "Kill him. Now. Or I will burn your flesh and return to the desert to burn your girl. Will you survive that and live on as ash?"

[Naunet]

"Maybe." Thal bared his teeth in a rebellious grin that went unseen behind the Woodwailer mask, though he was far from happy. He kept taking slow steps around to one side, anxious to figure out an escape plan. He could make out the shadow of another tunnel to his right, unblocked by the Amal'jaa hunter. Of course, it could very well just lead him deeper into more Amal'jaa - or it could take him somewhere he could sneak his way out of. What was another miqo'te thrall of Ifrit, after all, so long as K'ile went unrecognized.

 

"If you kill me, you can't get your revenge anyway. So I think I'll kill this guy on my own terms - and that would be, not here." Before he'd even finished speaking, he was running, lunging to the side and ducking down in anticipation of the hunter releasing his bolt.

[Twinflame]

The Roh did release his bolt, and it pierced the air as the abomination dove away. Baoht Zuqqa Roh cursed his luck; why couldn't he have hit Shan'Gai Chah by accident? Still, he took another bolt from the brace across his back and followed. His large steps, more bounds, carried him quickly. "Do not think you can outrun an Amal'jaa, child of Man. I will decorate your flesh with arrows until you can no longer lift yourself for the weight of metal upon your bones."

 

As Baoht Zuqqa Roh lifted his bow to fire again, the earth itself closed between him and the child of Man, just like a throat closing at the mouth. The rumbling slam of a narrow strip of floor slamming up into the ceiling shook the cavern like a tremor and sent Baoht Zuqqa Roh stumbling backward in confusion, cut of from the abomination and from Shan'Gai Chah.

 

Just as Thal was running past her in the tunnel, K'aijeen had lifted the staff in her hands to pull the earth upward, effectively closing the tunnel. This shook the cave so much that for a moment she was afraid it would cave in, and through her hands over her head, dropping to her knees and hissing in fear. The linen robe over her shoulders hung open, torn and pitted and bloodied from violence. It billowed out from her as the cavern's fumes roiled in response to the change in the cavern's composition. Her naked body was no less disfigured than it had been earlier in the day, great pits carved into her chest and back so that one could almost see all the way through her body. The gouge in her neck and open throat were on display, no longer concealed. Instead, the thin red cloth was now tied about her head, hiding her eyes and wounded skull from view.

 

She remained cowering for only a moment. When the cave did not immediately cave in, she stood and swung herself away from the wall she'd created. Holding the cheap, likely makeshift staff in one hand and closing the tattered linen rags she wore with the other, she loped after Thal.

[Naunet]

Thal hadn't noticed anyone in the tunnel with him, until a thundering crack that shook the walls and ceiling around him stopped him in his tracks. He spun just in time to catch the movements of a thin form in the shadows, and tensed, prepared to fight, until her scent reached him. He grimaced through his relief. "Sorry for all that trouble, kid," he muttered and turned to continue running. He adjusted K'ile to a more comfortable position over his shoulder. "You don't happen to know a way out of here, huh?"

[Twinflame]

K'aijeen cut up to Thal and ran past him, pausing for just a moment to conjure with her staff. Either this item was more powerful than the stick she'd been using earlier, or her abilities had increased, for with near-effortless swiftness green lines of power lit upon her hands. When she thrust them outward, the manifested as a gust of wind, blasting the fumes down the hallway and out the cave's exit, where for a moment the night sky could be clearly seen. Then the fumed began to coalesce once more.

 

She gave a glare to Thal and croaked. "I'm mad at you. Very." Before she began to run once more.

[Naunet]

"Don't blame ya," he grumbled and followed after. The exit became more apparent despite the fumes the closer they got, and he slowed as they approached it, blue eyes narrowing as he tried to smell through the gases. Shifting the Tia's weight, he pulled his hood back up over his head and had to hope that the girl knew how to just stay out of sight. He didn't particularly fancy trying to fight his way out of the Amal'jaa stronghold.

[Twinflame]

Moving at a full run right up until just before she reached the exit of the cave, K'aijeen slowed then, ducking her head forward and pulling the hood down over her face. She did her best to hunch without looking weak, but her thinness made her look weak no matter what she did. And she was weak. She was tired. The familiar feeling of exhaustion pulled at her. She'd rested underground for a time, but already, she was tired. Looking around outside the cave, she saw the dark canyons of Zunr'ak, braziers burning with red hellfire, but no Amal'jaa immediately in sight.

 

She turned towards Thal, though the cloth tied about her face concealed her expression. "Why are you carrying him? What are you doing?"

[Naunet]

"Stopping him from being the biggest idiot since... well, since a while, probably." Satisfied that the way was clear for now, he walked forward and did his best to keep his steps purposeful but unhurried. He was just another miqo'te slave, possibly dragging around some soon-to-be-tempered captive. Oh the irony. He bit back a rough chuckle at that, digging his fingers into the Tia's leather armor. "Let's just get out of here."

[Twinflame]

"He's going to draw attention." K'aijeen spoke boldly, managing to put a firm inflection to her words, even if she sounded more concerned than the anger she'd claimed a moment ago. She put herself in front of Thal, bending down to try and give her glare to his eyes. But the cloth over her face blocked her own expression, and the mask on his face blocked his eyes. "He murdered me. He murdered you. We should kill him before he gets us killed again."

[Naunet]

"You're gonna draw attention if you don't stay low, kiddo," Thal grunted and stepped around K'aijeen. "I'm not really a fan of killing people anyway. So stay quiet and preferably out of sight while we get through this."

[Twinflame]

"Not a fan of dying." K'aijeen uttered in frustration. "Or being dead." She fell in line behind Thal, however, keeping herself bundled up and concealed.

 

*

 

Baoht Zuqqa Roh lingered, glaring at the wall that had arisen in front of him. This was not luck. This was not the will of Ifrit. This was the magic of the children of Men, the lesser elementals, the dirt and the dead. Weak but cleverly employed. Undeserving of triumph. Baoht Zuqqa Roh was insulted, and he slid a metal shaft across his bow. He would hunt them down before they even left Zunr'ak.

 

However, when the Roh turned around, he found himself face-to-face with the Priests of Embers, a collection of dusty-scaled Amal'jaa Chahs with their staffs grinding between their hands and their small eyes glaring. Before the Roh could even think to respond to their sudden appearance, the foremost among them barked, "The Bowl lies open! The sacrifices smolder. Soon Ifrit's fires will turn to tempering, and I hear that you have murdered Shan'Gai Chah."

 

Fist tightening around his bowstring, Baoht Zuqqa Roh growled. "Do you see the corpse of a Chah?"

 

"I see a molten dais and no living Chah." The Priest looked at his fellows, collecting nods of ascent. "In a moment, however, I suspect I will see the corpse of a Roh."

[Naunet]

"No one is."

 

He tried not to look around too much as they walked, keeping to unpopulated paths and judging north as best he could. A few Amal'jaa looked their way, but he kept his head down and did his best to look as slave-like as possible. Hopefully it fooled them all. As the fortifications and encampments thinned out so did the cliffs and canyons, until Thal found himself faced with largely flat land, dotted with sparse shrub and the occasional low barrier or camp. "Might have to break for it soon," he muttered.

[Twinflame]

Following Thal dutifully, K'aijeen was silent and restrained. She kept her face down and the rags of the robe bundled about her. The Amal'jaa's own stink and the pervasive sulfurous fumes would kept any of them from noticing the pervasive stench of death that still clung to K'aijeen, as if it were in her very bones.

 

Once they were far enough out that Thal was willing to speak, K'aijeen let her ears pop up to hear him and lifted shrouded face to look at him, able to see decently through the thin cloth stretched over her face. The feeling of the rag on her eyes was the least uncomfortable sensation she was currently contending with. Rolling her chin to loosen the muscles in her throat, she croaked. "I can call a wind. Dust."

[Naunet]

"Great, cover. Be my guest," he shrugged his shoulders against the weight of the Tia he carried, and wondered just how long the guy would remain unconscious. "Because if they do notice us, it'll be when they see supposed slaves to Ifrit just walking right off camp." He kept moving as he spoke, his voice as low as he could manage. The hood over his head cast a shadow over half the mask and completely hid his eyes in inky darkness.