The Scorpion of Shan'Gai Chah [closed]

[Twinflame]

K'aijeen did as she'd proposed. she used the staff as a walking stick for a moment, keeping her pace up while working one hand in slow circles to conjure up subtle green lines in the air. The power grew and the dirt around her moved. She stopped walking and brought this power to the head of the staff, where it was magnified greatly. She couldn't help the rags from blowing out from her, revealing her for a moment as a dead body wrapped in a shredded shroud, but this vision passed quickly. As she moved the wind, she worked her conjury into the dirt as well, upsetting the foundation and pitching a fine dust into the firmament. She made sure the cloud did not focus on them, but spread crookedly towards the cliffs behind them, slicing with a subtle bite of skin and scale before wrapping back outwards over the outlying fires and ironworks they were walking past. When she was done, she trotted forward to catch up with Thal, letting the winds she'd stirred up move on their own, the heat of the ground dancing with the cooler winds. It would settle quickly, but not immediately.

[Naunet]

Thal let his own steps quicken as the wind picked up, trusting that the girl would keep up on her own. The shroud of dust made it difficult to see, but he kept himself going in the same general direction towards which they'd already been moving. He could make out the dark silhouettes of short ramparts, or the occasional large shape that must have been Amal'jaa. But dust storms were common here, and he heard no sounds of alarm that would suggest the beastmen considered the winds to be anything other than natural.

 

After a short time, his feet his wood that creaked beneath his weight and swayed, and he froze for a moment. A bridge? He recalled passing over canyons with the hunter and grimaced. Ducking his head at the dust, which had begun to thin, he continued across the bridge at a somewhat more hurried pace. It was a good thing his body did not tire.

[Twinflame]

K'aijeen paused once they were beyond the bridge, lifting herself to her full, modest height, to look back at the Amal'jaa "city" of Zunr'ak. The cloud she'd made was beginning to fade, and the firelight she made out seemed distant. She turned to look towards Thal, "We are almost away. Should be safe soon."

[Naunet]

As long as that hunter didn't send anyone after them. Or come after them himself. But Thal didn't voice these concerns; they were just unnecessary worry for the kid. He could handle keeping them moving easily enough.

 

He didn't speak again until the fires of the Amal'jaa stronghold were only vague, nearly invisible glows on the horizon, leaving the two of them in shadow and moonlight. "On the bright side," he began, forcing a chipper note into his voice, "I've got you some new clothing." A pause. "Well, not new. But it's better than... that."

[Twinflame]

Following after Thal in silence, when he said this, her ears stood up in confusion, and then lay down flat. She tugged at the rags around her. "A dead slave's tattered death shroud."

 

Around this time, K'ile's tail shifted, and his ears twitched, the first sign that there might be come life left in the man.

 

K'aijeen gestured towards the derelict Tia's firey head. "I want his shirt."

[Naunet]

"I'm not gonna undress some guy just because he might have a better shirt." Thal shook his head. Blue eyes followed the slight twitching of a red tail in silence for a moment, and then he let out a sigh that rattled his chest. "Besides, it would just make him angrier, and I kind of want him not trying to kill us." The cloth shroud was also uncomfortable, blocking the clear desert air from his skin. He spent so long shrouded by the forest, it seemed ridiculous to wander around in a blanket when he didn't have to. "When we get past the canyon ahead, we'll stop and you can change."

[Twinflame]

K'aijeen growled at that, or as close to such a sound as she could make with her neck wound exposed and filling with sand. She emitted a scratchy gargling.

 

The Tia over Thal's shoulders remained stationary for a long time. Too long to be a good sign. His ears and tail continued to move for awhile before finally his fingers started to flex, his limbs stirring in confused numbness.

[Naunet]

There wasn't much Thal could do about the girl's anger. Some of it he probably deserved, for leaving her with the Amal'jaa perhaps - or at least, for agreeing to help the hunter in the first place. But then he had every right to be angry at her, so a part of him wasn't too impressed with how quick she got pissy at him. He didn't point this out, however, choosing to walk in silence, and when silence became too boring he hummed a few, quiet tunes he must have picked up from somewhere but could never place.

 

They reached the pass north in an unnatural time, having no need to stop for rest, and Thal's steps even gained a bit more energy as they made their way through it, happy to have some distance between them and Ifrit's children. The end of the pass was in sight when the Tia hung over his shoulder began to move in ways more noticeable than the occasional twitch of tail or ear, and it brought a frown to Thal's face. He said nothing to the man immediately, though, instead commenting apropos of nothing, "You and I are going to need to have a long talk at the end of this, kid." The "talk" didn't sound particularly friendly.

[Twinflame]

As K'ile's strength began to come back, he began to struggle. His weak arms moved against Thal's back and his knees pushed against Thal's wounds. The Tia's tail shivered and his voice couldn't manage much more than an angry groan.

 

Watching this, K'aijeen gripped her staff tightly. She glared at the shifting Tia, appearing prepared to do something about him.

[Naunet]

When Thal could no longer ignore the Tia's stirrings he tightened his grip around the man and muttered a warning, "I'll knock you out again if you keep squirming." They were nearly free of the pass, which would lift a good chunk of the weight on Thal's chest, so he picked up his pace a bit despite the shifting body over his shoulder. "I'm gonna get you back to where you belong. But I wouldn't mind your help."

[Twinflame]

Tensing, K'ile growled as best her could manage. "Put. Me. Down." He had no intention of making this easy on the undead who were haunting him. Whatever it was they were trying to do to him, or with him, they were going to fail in every way he could manage. So he didn't cease his struggling. It became stronger. He couldn't quite resolve the dexterity of his fingers, but as soon as he could, there was a wound in Thal's side that looked vulnerable.

[Naunet]

"Alright." And Thal did just that. Stopping without further comment, he swung K'ile's weight over his shoulder, gripping around the Tia's waist to bring him down hard against the ground. He followed after, pinning with legs and arms. Behind the mask, his features were drawn into a disappointed expression. "How do you think fighting's going to end for you again?"

[Twinflame]

K'ile cringed as he fell. He was growing tired of blows to the head, and his brain was in full agreement with him. It felt like his skull was made of brittle wood, or else absent entirely by this point. He didn't have the strength to fight the man's undeath. K'ile was sure he'd killed Thal a dozen times over this night alone, and yet the dark magic continued, unrelenting. "You can't expect me to just fold and go along with you."

[Naunet]

"Even when I'm just trying to help, huh," Thal muttered, sighed a dry, rattling sound. He leaned down on K'ile a bit, putting some pressure on the Tia's chest in warning. His tail writhed behind him, shifting the dirty cloth of his borrowed robe. "You were being very, very stupid. And if I was as evil as you'd like to make me out to be, I would've let you go ahead with your grand plan."

[Twinflame]

"You don't have any idea what I was doing," K'ile spat at him, honestly having trouble opening his eyes against the swell of pain assaulting his senses. "You don't remember the tribe. You don't remember your kids, or your women, or your family. You don't know how many of them have died or how many of them have left! You don't remember. No, I don't think you're evil. I think you're just still dead. You don't get to pretend you're not."

[Naunet]

"I'm not pretending," He squeezed his eyes shut a moment before letting out a low sigh. His fingers tightened their grip in K'ile's armor and he lurched backwards, lifting the Tia as he stood. "I was gonna just disappear again. But then I see you trying to doom your whole family to Ifrit's tempering? That's..." He grimaced heavily behind the mask, blue eyes catching a glint of light. "I don't have to remember them to know how wrong that is. Maybe I should have killed you."

[Twinflame]

"And take more of the family away?" K'ile huffed, trying to talk through the whirl of disorientation and thunder roiling inside his skull. "Hey, sounds right to me. That's what the undead do, is wander mindless and skill without knowing why."

[Naunet]

He shook K'ile at that and growled low before tightening his jaw and looking away a moment. When he spoke finally, there was only disappointment in his voice, "I'll give you wandering, until recently, but do I look mindless to you? At least I know what tempering means."

[Twinflame]

"Good." K'ile winced one eye open. "Because you've been tempered. By her." He pointed at K'aijeen.

 

Even with the cloth tied over her features, K'aijeen's scowl was visible, her shoulders shaking. The scowl was as hurt as it was angry, her shivering bending her to one side. Her thin fingers pulled tight over her grip on her staff, and her other hand strained across the rags that she wore. They tore. She coughed, "Liar."

[Naunet]

Thal couldn't hold back the scoff at that, his frustration getting the better of his usually easy-going attitude. "Nope, wrong again. That kid doesn't control me."

[Twinflame]

"How would you even know?" The Tia hung from Thal's fists with his hands limp on either side, tail shifting behind him. Perhaps he really had given up on the idea of fighting about. At least with his hands. "Now that I've seen her like this, with you, it brings into doubt a whole lot of things. How many other people are walking around who shouldn't be? Not remembering anything?"

[Naunet]

"How would I know... how would I... well, I can say no to her for one." Blue eyes narrowed. "And trust me, I'm not too happy with her side of things either."

[Twinflame]

"Doesn't matter if at the end of the day you're still doing what she wants you to do." He smirked. "Like how Baoht couldn't kill me, right?"

[Naunet]

"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?"

[Twinflame]

"What's it matter? I don't intend to try and talk my way out of this." K'ile scowled at the man, his eyes still mostly closed behind his red hair. "You saw what I was doing. All that matters is what you're going to do about it."