Learning The Hard Way((Canali))

by **Darik** on August 5th, 2011, 3:07 am

Date: 27 Summer 511 Av
Pc’s Involved: Canali+ Darik
Location: The outskirts of Sunberth

A man, maybe in his thirties left the town of Sunberth on the 10th. Well not really left, Sunberth has no defined boundaries. It’s kind of like liquid, no clear starting point and no real finish point but you know when you’ve left. Just like no liquid, is the sign of no water, no structures means you left Sunberth. The man seemed stupid, he had headed from a bar to out of town. Even though Sunberth wasn’t a great civilization it was still better than nothing. The trail the man was headed on seemed to go straight so it could either be going to Sylrias or Zeltivia. It didn’t matter which way, the man would have to head back after Darik ambushed him. Darik had seen him at the tavern telling how this was his last day here. He also mentioned which direction he was leaving so Darik went and searched for a good ambush spot on it. He almost seemed like he was challenging people but his actions suggested he was just stupid.

Darik ended up sitting awkwardly in a tree overlooking the trail. He ended up choosing a tree as his ambush spot. So he tried to get into position by climbing into its braches. It took him almost the whole day to climb up that blasted tree. So he didn’t have to wait for long for the man and his horse to pass under him. It better be worth it, the climb wasn’t a picnic. Nope, it was also extremely dangerous. The wildlands hosted its fair share of monsters that could have devoured Darik when he fell to the ground after all the unsuccessful climbs. Luckily, his luck must be at its all time high because a monster didn’t have a Darik sized meal that day. Still his hands were sore and he was dead dog tired from the trials. But he ended up in the tree in the end so all of his previous trials didn’t were worth it. He would do anything to make a little bit of extra cash.

The moneybag came into Darik’s view. He didn’t look rich but he was better off than a peasant. A velvet vest gently flapped in the breeze, while tight wool breeches rubbed against the horses’ leathery skin. Sadly he had no super high quality items on display but he may have some hidden. Smart men don’t show their most precious objects. However, he was in the wildlands, alone, meaning he couldn’t be that smart.

When the man was directly under him, Darik leapt from the tree. More like fell but it’s technically the same thing. He let go of his hold on the tree at the wrong time, so he missed his mark. He didn’t fail completely but he was supposed to land on the man. Instead he landed a bit to his left. He regained enough of his senses in the air to grab the man’s jacket. He was in a saddle so Darik unseated the man’s supplies and him.

They both hit the ground hard. Because the man had fallen a shorter distance than Darik, he was up on his feet first. It looked like the fall had barely hurt him. He waited till Darik got unsteadily to his feet before he shouted. “What’s wrong with you kid?” He then started his onslaught. He swung a punch towards Darik’s stomach. Because of his disorientation Darik couldn’t gather his wits to dodge. It slammed him with a force that shouldn’t be capable by a man who just fell of a horse. He wasn’t what he appeared. Neither was Darik. The man went in for another swing. It had the same deadly result. The third time, he lessened his attack and only pushed him down. When Darik was on the ground, he pinned both of Darik’s arms on the ground while he put his knees on his legs. Darik’s was pretty much immobilized. “If I wasn’t in such a good mood I would kill ya. Because I am, I will let you off with a severe beating. What do you say to that?”

Darik’s only response was to spit in his face. The man used his hand to wipe away the saliva. Darik used this to his advantage. He slowly pulled out his dagger. He wasn’t skilled with it but it didn’t matter. They were so close, skill didn’t matter. Only force. Darik plunged the dagger straight into the man’s chest. He bellowed with pain giving Darik time to get up and start running towards the horse. He wanted all of the man’s fallen possessions. Meanwhile, the man’s wound wasn’t bleeding till he pulled the dagger out. Then the blood started to pour down the man’s chest, but he didn’t care. He had a thief to take care of. Darik took a quick around and saw the wound didn't look fatal. The wound actually seemed to enrage the man more. Meep.

The only good thing about the situation was the man was slowed and didn’t have any weapon on him. Except for the dagger. The man flipped it in his hand and threw it towards Darik’s head. Due to his quick reflexes, he performed a tornado defense while running. He ducked his head with both of his hands covering it. The knife cut flesh but not in the intended target. It ended up grazing Darik’s right arm. He took another quick look this time at his arm. It had hit the front of his arm close to his elbow. He needed to escape. NOW! With adrenaline pumping he quickly picked up his knife.

Now he needed to escape. All the man’s supplies had fell making a makeshift hill. Even the saddle, so he had no stirrups to help him mount the horse. The hill of junk would make a nice leg up though. His feet must have been destroying rations or some other weak metal because it started to sink when he was on top of it. Not wasting more time, he used both hands, no matter how much it pained him, to lift his whole body up. He slid his right leg over the horses’ back. Now, he was ready to ride. He slammed both of his heels into the horse. Within a split second, it started in a jog that progressed to a run that went in a seemingly random direction. All Darik cared is if it got far away from the invincible man. Darik then realized he had left the main part of his theft, the man’s supplies. Dammit, it was stupid, even for Darik, to go back now.

by **Canali** on August 11th, 2011, 11:44 pm

Berries were delicious. Reaching more into the short, scruffy bush, Canali plucked several purple round fruits off of their lifeline. Blueberries. A wonderful mixture between blue and purple and just small enough to burst open with flavor when popped into an awaiting mouth. Little more than a fingernail big, pinky tip sized. These berries grew on somewhat dense bushes, where the sun's golden rays could ripen them. Holding a scrap piece of clothing in her hands, Canali had made a bucket pouch for the berries; which were plentiful this time of year. Careful of choosing the fruits which were ripe, instead of a sickening green, Canali plopped them into the almost full pouch. Knowing only a few more handfuls could fit into the make-shift bucket, Canali carefully chose her next batch before tying it off, using all four corners. Squatting down, Canali slid her backpack off, opened it, and set the blueberries inside. On top. So they wouldn't get crushed with everything else in there.

Carefully flicking the backpack over her shoulders, Canali set off down the road. Dusty, the well traveled road coated Canali's clad feet. Only a little while later, shouting echoed ahead. Ducking off into the foliage, she quietly crept ahead; cautious of stepping on any twigs. Using her hands as guiders, Canali overstepped a fallen log. Leaves crunched under her feet seeming very loud to Canali's overly sensitive ears for the moment. Following the sounds of a struggle ahead, she wormed her way down towards it. To her right lay the road she had traveled on; to the left thousands of miles of dense wilderness. Spotting the wrestling men ahead, Canali squatted down into the tall grass. Warily, cautiously, she peeked through the reeds, watching to see how the action played out. It seemed the younger man was at a disadvantage and had obviously picked the fight. Most likely a wanna-be thug! Silently rooting on the older man, the ambushed one, Canali nearly groaned aloud when the attacker galloped away on the horse. Almost cheered, though, when the knife hit the younger man.

Watching as the rider stole the horse and galloped in the opposite direction, Canali waited a few more moments before she jogged quickly to the hurt man's side. Blood was gushing from his chest, soaking his clothing, but Canali stopped several feet away. "Who the petch are you, another little cunt to try and steal from me?" Forcing herself not to flinch from his harsh tone, much less his words, Canali held up her hands to show there was no weapon.

Speaking softly, as if talking to a wounded animal, which he was practically was, Canali sought to sooth the man. "I'm here to help you. Please, let me try. You have to be in pain and you're bleeding pretty bad. Let me at least try." Her words were spaced out, emphasized with moving hands as Canali inched towards him. Unexpectedly drawing a well taken care of dagger, the man waved it in the air between Canali and himself. Not willing to risk her own life to care for the victim, Canali took a step back. "Please. How are you going to get your horse back if you won't even let me patch you up enough so you can?" Reverse psychology. Flickering her eyes down to the gushing wound, Canali watched as the man slowly brought the dagger to a standstill and lowered it to his side; near the waist. Taking the chance, Canali slowly walked towards the man. He put up no fight, most likely wasn't able to, as Canali gently took the dagger from his hand. Or tried. The ambushee held on tight and Canali nodded her consent. "Alright, alright. At least sit down." A soft shove on his shoulder sent the man to the ground without his consent. Easily, she held him down on the ground when he tried to get back up weakly.

Kneeling down in front of him, trusting him not to stab her in the chest like his own wound, Canali talked in soothing tones. "I'm going to have to remove your shirt, okay?" An abrupt nod signaled his consent. Without waiting, Canali slid his vest off. Only a little bit of blood had soaked into it, but enough so Canali had to slowly peel it away from his clinging skin. Clotting skin. Tossing it off to the side, she nearly grimaced at the sight. A gaping hole lay in the man's hairy chest. "Do you have a waterskin?" Wincing, the man pointed near his grounded supplies. Traveling to them, Canali dug through before finding an extra pair of clothes and the mentioned waterskin. Soaking a shirt with the liquid, Canali smoothed it over the man's chest. To remove the excess blood and see the wound. Unfortunately, there had been no medical supplies in the man's possessions. A very stupid move, if he was going to be headed off into the wilderness alone. The stab wound was an inch in length and half an inch the other way.

Finger covered in blood, Canali tried to think fast. Pressure! Pressure stopped blood, helped it clot. Sidling so she could set a hand on his spine, Canali pushed the wet rag against the pale man's chest. She nearly jumped when the dying man grasped her wrist in a surprisingly tight hold. "Why? Why are you helping me?" Canali was saddened to see a dribble of blood slide out of his mouth on the side.

"Because, sir, you did nothing wrong to me." Not the motto of most of Sunberth, for sure. Only moments later, the man's body slumped and his eyes closed for the last time. Releasing a sigh of sadness, Canali lowered the man to the ground, careful of letting his head hit. The dagger of which had been grasped tightly in his right hand was released, laying harmlessly in his opened palm. Checking for a pulse by sticking her bloodied thumb against the man's neck, Canali found none. The victim was dead, though Canali had tried to save him. Reaching over and taking the knife from his palm, Canali twirled it in her fingers. The knife was well taken care of and oiled regularly, from what she could see. Shiny, bright, and the handle in good condition. She would save it. Glancing up to where the boy had rode off, Canali scuttled over to the dead man's supplies after checking to see the rider wasn't coming back. Earlier she had seen a coin pouch. Quickly, she took her backpack off. Not checking to see how many coins was in the pouch, Canali shoved it into the backpack underneath of the blueberries. To keep it from jingling. Slipping the backpack back on, Canali began to search through the man's possessions.

by **Darik** on August 12th, 2011, 1:23 am

Ever rode bareback before? It wasn’t fun, there’s a reason they invented saddles. At least the horse had a bridle, something that had reins connected to it. Darik held onto those leather straps for dear life. The pace of the horse was so fast and the wind so hard Darik could barely breath. That’s when he started to slide. It was terrifying falling slowly and knowing there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Well the falling did cause him to panic and breath in and out very fast. Then incredibly he stopped slipping. Using this momentarily bliss, he used his legs to righten himself.

He released most of the pressure from his feet when the horse had run for a few minutes. It started to progress to a walk. He figured the danger was over. Had he done the right thing running? Yes, there was no way the man wouldn’t have apprehended him. I mean he looked perfectly fine. Wait, were did he stab him again? Close to the heart…That wound should kill a man no matter what. Dammit, he had to head back. No worries, there was no chance at all someone had looted his body.

Darik figured turning the horse would be easy. They should be trained so he yelled “LEFT!” The horse surprisingly didn’t listen. Maybe he was missing something obvious. There were two reins, one for the left hand one for the right. Maybe they corresponded with the directions of the horse. He gave it a try, he tugged with the left rein. The horse went slightly left. This time he gave a great yank on the left rein. It went about at the same turning speed. Soon he was heading back the direction he had come. Time for a speed boost. Darik snapped both of the leashes backwards “Yehah, go horsey go.” It didn’t respond to that either. He had to do heel movements. Darn. Darik slightly dug in his heels so the horse would go in a reasonable pace.

When he got to the place of the murder he was surprised. A young scavenger, a girl perhaps, was by the supplies. The man was dead though, just like he predicated. The girl would likely follow unless she didn’t leave. Being a chivalrous soul, Darik gave her a chance to get away with her life. If she didn’t accept this, he would be forced to kill her. “Young girl,” He said with his voice carrying to the girls ears. “I must warn you, you’re looting one of the corpses I killed. If you don’t drop everything you have found I will sadly have to kill you. And ohh, it will be a glorious death. I will rip out all of your innards and give them to my myrians friends.” Ya the last comment was overdoing it, but why not? You might as well go all out when you scare little girls.

by **Canali** on August 20th, 2011, 9:11 pm

Inside the man's traveling pack there was nothing really besides the obvious wares needed to survive out in the wilderness. However, there was one simple little rucksack which had several ties on it, all tied together in one giant knot. A tight one. The pack was barely bigger than Canali's hand, if she were to touch each corner at an angle from the middle. Mayhap five inches by six inches? Dark, rich soil brown leather. If she had to guess, Canali would say the man had just recently bought the rucksack. There was barely any wear or tear on it and the top part folded over seemed strained, as if the leather had not been forced in a new direction before. Weighing little more than five pounds, Canali estimated, the rucksack package was a mystery. A single line of leather created a makeshift belt, which would wrap around the waist and hook back to the opposite side. For several minutes Canali tried to untie the tightly bound knot, which had strings from every direction circling. Unfortunately, the knot was too tight to really undo and Canali was left with her curiosity piqued. What was in the rucksack?

Attention transfixed and mind working out a way to peek inside, Canali jumped in fright when the man on bare horseback spoke. Her attention had been so focused on the goods in front of her, she had failed to keep an eye out for dangers around her. What a foolish mistake! A simpleton mistake! Something which would easily get her killed! For all she knew the man could have been on foot, snuck up on her, and sliced her throat all in the next second. Canali never would have known until the cold jagged edge of a blade was pressed against her skin. Or someone could have been hiding in the undergrowth, fingers holding a drawn tight bow string, waiting to let the arrow fly into Canali's back, pinning her against the ground. A slight shudder ran through her frame, barely suppressed.

Eyes flying to the boy upon horseback, Canali acted only on the thoughts racing through her mind. She chucked a large handful of the man's food supply at the stranger, which included multiple apples, grabbed the rucksack, her backpack, and the dagger before scuttling away quickly. While doing do, Canali slipped her backpack on and latched the rucksack around her waist. Although loose, it stayed. In her left hand the dagger was clutched, fingers tight enough to turn the knuckles white. Without looking behind her to see if the man was following as the movement would slow her down, Canali ducked into the underbrush, pushing past a bush which threatened to stop her. Roots tried to grab for her feet, calling to her, wanting to her stop and stay awhile. No! The man on the horse was following her! She needed to get away! To hide. Never did the thought occur to her that the man, Darik, might have stayed behind.

Running for only a few moments before ducking to the left, Canali crouched behind a thick bush and tried to control her breathing to being barely there. This needed her to inhale and exhale through her nose, keeping the lips below tightly clamped. Squatted down under the bushes, Canali tucked her head down, trying to camouflage herself. Sure, the dark hair might not fit in just right, but it would do if the boy/man wasn't looking too hard. Hopefully not. Canali's heart was beating loudly in her ears. She wouldn't be able to hear whatever he said. Now anyways. Had he mentioned something about Myrians earlier? What race were they? Sure, Canali may not have been very… Educated on the races, but she learned not to judge them by one person. Myrians didn't ring a bell in her mind. Thus, didn't strike fear into her heart. Thinking about the man/boy/person, Canali tried to recall whether he was that muscular or not. It didn't matter! She wasn't and she had killed someone before.

Oh Kihala, what had she done?

by **Darik** on August 30th, 2011, 10:11 pm

Darik tried to be nice and look what that got him. Apples in the air heading straight towards him. So what did Darik do? The only logical thing, getting off that horse before apples collided with his noggin. He only had a small timeframe to depart so his landing wasn’t as graceful as it could be. He intended to swing his leg over the horse and then dismount in a timely fashion. Darik’s intentions never bear the fruit of day.

He must have led with his other leg too fast because he fell from the saddle. Things like that could be avoided by having stirrups, but Darik had left without a saddle. Saddles have stirrups. Stirrups stop you from falling from the side. Because Darik didn’t have a saddle he toppled over the horse. None of the apples hit him, they all landed a few feet past him. Debatably he was more injured from the fall than he would have been by a few apples. He caught himself when he hit the ground with his two arms. Would have been perfectly fine, if one of his arms wasn’t injured. The pain chilled Darik to the very bone as his arm bare the weight of his body. He rolled off it and laid on the ground breathing slowly to siphon off the pain. When it was just a dull throb he lifted himself off the ground.

First order of business, put the saddle back on the horse. Darik had learned a valuable lesson, saddles had a very important function. To keep your bum happy. Also its tack attached to it also made it quite safer to take your horse for a jog. Darik lifted up the strong, handmade leather over his head. It was quite taxing, especially because most of his weight was on his uninjured arm. You never know how much you use your arm till you cant use it. At least he was only a few steps away from the horse. One step towards the horse, take three breaths, another step towards the horse, Darik slowly progressed closer to it. Wait, this was ridiculous. Darik was about to collapse from exhaustion. Was there any way to make it easier? There was.

Darik let go of the tack directly over his foot. His natural instinct caused him to move away his precious walker before the thing slammed into the ground. With his unusually clumsy hands, Darik detached the packs hanging to each side. When they were laying on the ground separate from the whole, Darik picked up the saddle again. This time it was light in comparison. He deserved a medal for actually using his brain once!

Soon the horse had its tack back on. The stirrups hanged loosely from each side of the horse’s stomach, while the saddle was firmly fitted on the horse’s back. Oddly the horse didn’t have the reins attached to the saddle, but beggars can’t be choosers. Well, successful beggars can’t. With the horse all primed for riding, Darik started to collect his loot. He picked up each bag filled with the man’s wilderness survival tools and attached them to the horse’s back. He took his time, there was no need to rush. The girl hadn’t stolen anything valuable, just a bag that was tied with a arsenal of knots. It wasn’t like she had anything valuable, like the man’s money.

When Darik thought about money, he went over and checked the man’s body. He didn’t smell unpleasant but soon the rotting smell of decomposing flesh would sink in. Darik wouldn’t be around for that to happen. After searching through all the man’s clothes, he didn’t find any sort of valuables on him. Meaning no money. Ohh well, it was probably in his wilderness survival gear. Or in that rucksack. He walked absently mindedly dwelling on that issue. When he arrived at the horse he used his left arm for support. Because he had stirrups he didn’t even have to think about using his right. With a quick push he was back to being mounted. Now he was going onwards back to a form of civilization Sunberth.

Still his mind was caught on that rucksack the girl had. Maybe it had the man’s money. Darik faintly remembered the bag jingling, or was that just his head ringing from a punch? Caught on this thought Darik thought he saw a flash of black. Darik slowed down the horse to give himself more time to look. It was probably a feather that had been shed by a raven. Wait though, there were these slight indents on the ground. Broken twigs, and leaves were crumpled in the footprints. They also seemed to lead were Darik though he had saw the feather. Meaning, either it was a black deer with a human like shoe, or a human. Knowing Sunberth, it was probably option one.

by **Ink** on December 5th, 2011, 1:40 am

And in the Aftermath . . .

The Rewards are Revealed.

Darik :

Canali :

Written in the ink :