Left to wander [OPEN]

[Karasu]

Day 50 of Winter 511 AV

The white hot landscape boiled with nauseous hot air, billowing fine sand in swirls and eddies over its hostile floor. Very few things could survive this kind of environment, all save for the damned who wander around its unforgiving clutches.

A young woman, eyes as black as the moonless night during a sandstorm, traveled alone with only her travel gear on her back and the world at her front. Karasu tread the sand beneath like any normal person would tread polished marble floors with the latest footwear. Her bare, webbed feet left hardly a footprint in the sands behind her. She was in her element, swirling sands billing around her sharp, angular face, her lips set in a nameless expression. Her eyes told a different story all together.

Heart broken and hurt could not define the agony she felt inside. Banished from her own tribe and family as if she were a murderer or a child thief. For something so illogical she still could not comprehend that her people could find soundness to their ways.

Numb. Wind sliced through her wild, black hair and bronze skin that glistened like honey under the blistering sun. Her toned arms rippled with anger and sadness, holding a traditional hunting bow tightly under her iron grip.

She stood a lone figure, a speck of black in a white, featureless landscape. She stopped moving. Not that she couldn't continue. Surely, she could probably cover many, many more miles in any given direction and go several more days without drinking any water.

"I have...no purpose," said Karasu, a whisper to her own damned self. "I don't know where to go and ... why to keep going."

Karasu was stunned. All she knew her entire life was to hunt, feed her tribe: to keep going. But it was for a bigger purpose. Now she was surviving for herself; purpose unknown.

Left in this thought within a thought, Karasu hardly noticed a very large desert lizard, many feet longer than she was tall in length from head to tail. It didn't even seem to notice Karasu until it was directly in front of her. There it stopped and stared at her.

Karasu noticed the large lizard, though she was not afraid of it. These large monsters were known to swallow whole goats, horns and all and had very saliva filled with deadly bacteria which could probably kill her slowly within hours. Yet, there she stood, watching the beast watch her. She could very easily land an arrow between the creatures dense forehead, skin it and cook its meat but instead she stared back.

"Hey there," she called out to the creature. The giant lizard flicked its hideous tongue at her and simply continued to stare. "I cannot go back there, to my...to those people" she said to it.

The creature stood still for many moments, until suddenly, it turned around and pointed its scaly head towards the north and the falling sunset. It stayed liked that till Karasu memorized the direction. When she looked back at the lizard, it had somehow walked passed her and away, as if she had never even been there and the creature was simply following its own path all along.

"Thank you, desert spirit!" Karasu yelled, hoping that she could show some gratitude to the lizard, which was now almost invisible in the sand and wind. She looked back toward the unwalked path the monster had unveiled to her.

She set off, with some small sense of purpose. The lizard had shown her to keep moving, regardless of what she was.

[Karasu]

Day 57 of Winter 511 AV


So...So very thirsty.

Karasu's full lips were starting to feel very, very dry. She was running out of water. She couldn't remember the last time she had anything to drink or eat. Then again, she had never wandered this far into the sands of Eyktol.

She couldn't even afford to speak to herself anymore, for fear that she would loose any more moisture from her mouth. She had been traveling for seven days now since her encounter with the Lizard Spirit but had not encountered anything of interest. She did, however, find some slight comfort from out of the suns burning eye from behind a very large rock that was jutting out of the desert sands.

*cough* Karasu spit out sand from her dry mouth, feeling as if spewing the last of her water.
I will die here. I will die here for what I have done to my people.Karasu said to herself

"Eywaat!!!" yelled out Karasu with all her might!

"Eywaat, please take me and wrap me in your soft talons!" whispered Karasu, no longer able to force a yell. "You have always been there in my minds eye," she continued, "now your selfish servant asks you to have an ounce of mercy" she croaked.

Karasu fell to her knees, and then her still soft, black curls of her head fell to the soft sand beneath, her head sinking in. There she lay, unable to continue. Unable to will herself. She lay there for a few moments, or perhaps for an eternity.

Suddenly, Karasu's fingertips twitched. The black pores from each finger felt the air, feeling the unusual balance of air pressure around her. Even though her eyes were now closed, her breathing was steady and preservative. Something approached. But why here? She waited, patiently for what ever came towards her presence.

[Puapasho]

OOCWould you mind timestamping this for me? I just came back and want to try to decide when I am. Thanks.


Inside the howling winds of a dust storm, a shadow could be seen. Upon closer inspection, it would appear to be a black mound, covered in raven feathers. Inside was a young tracker, huddled beneath the mantle that his people wore. He had it lifted above his head and while sand constantly rained down over his long dark locks, he was saved from the skin destroying sand as it blasted through the air carried by strong straight-line winds. His arms were getting tired and he could feel the pressure of piling sand creeping up on the downwind side.

He had gotten turned around while out looking for Tsana leavings. It was still a point for him to return with one someday and honor his father's name. Of course, their mere size demanded a partner. No partner today except for the wind and the sand, but at least Puapa knew where he stood with them. No creatures would be hunting him in this; they knew to hide in their burrows. Feeling a momentary lapse in the storm, he quickly stood, letting the mantle fall to his shoulders, his spear helping him push himself out of what was now, calf deep sand.

The storm was moving to the east now, light filtering in through the hazy darkness the sand had brought. Shaking his mantle and hair like a bird would flap its wings, Puapa tried to regain his bearings. He had been tracking the Tsana for at least four days now. The shifted terrain made that near impossible. He would follow the storm, hopefully finding the cliffs and his way home.

--- EYWAAAAAAAAAAT! ------

His head turned toward the sound, the name of Brother Crow silent as quickly as it had been loud. The storm would be out of sight in no time, he made the decision to seek out the caller of his people's patron deity quickly, else he found himself also yelling. He would never yell at night. His padded feet pushed him across the sand dunes. Climbing to the top of one, he looked, only seeing a rock jutting from the sand. Crouching down and covering his eyes with his hands, he could see..legs?..jutting out from the shadow of the rock.

Moving with the speed of the raven, he floated down the dune toward whoever it was. It was a Kalanue, her black band apparent once he was crouching over her. From her cracked lips and thinning frame, he could tell that she had gone without water for some time. He pulled his waterskin, his spear at his side. Reaching under her head, he cradled the woman's neck up at a slight angle. The precious water trickled slow across her lips and between them. He gave her only the smallest of sips, knowing that once Chaktawe began to drink, the could drink the rivers dry. Until they knew where they were, survival was still a factor.

[Karasu]

Strong yet gentle hands cradled under Karasu’s dark wavy hair as she drank in small sips from a water skin that seemed to have come from the gods themselves. She would have drank more deeply, but she had not the strength at her command to do such a thing.

All her senses were now so dull, she could no longer focus on anything. Her eyes only saw blurs now, a stranger poised over her slight form. She only knew to drink and asserted all her focus on this one task.

The waterskin was gently pulled away from her parched lips; water trickled down her lips and she licked them as to attain as much of the life giving liquid as possible. She could literally feel her own insides distribute the newfound water into various parts of her internal organs, replenishing her blood, her limbs, and her mind.

With her newfound will, she spoke. “Eywaat, is that you?” Karasu croaked. Her eyes were still closed, but when she opened them, the black band of the Kalanue stood over her, watching with concern.

She was well enough to sit up on her own now, amazing what a few spare sips of water could do for a Chaktawe bent on death.
As Karasu's focus was coming back to her, she studied the fellow Kalanue as he put the water skin back away. He seemed to have a determination embedded into his face, as if he had a monumentous quest that had yet to be taken care of. She stared at him for a few moments longer, while the wind around them settled down and a serene silence dominated their space behind the shade of the large rock.

“I thought you were Brother Crow,” spoke Karasu, looking out into the distance. “I’ve never met him before, but I think he would look something like you if he were with us now.” Now she turned to look at him, “Why are you here? I have been forsaken, and am on my way towards the Sun and the North.

Why then, have the Kalanue come for me?”

[Puapasho]

Puapa watched as the life giving water brought the desert flower slowly into view. Color returned to her face and the inky blackness of her eyes seemed to regain some focus. A good sign. His head turned this way and that as she slowly came around. The sun was on its way down and shelter would have to come quickly for the two of them to survive.

"Is that you, Eywaat?"

A grin slipped across the young native's features, his arms slipping beneath her shoulders to help her sit up. "People always get me and my brother confused. He's the smart one, so it works out once I start talking." A deep laugh echoed from his belly. Once he could look at her closer, his eyes scanned not only her still vibrant form, but also her tools. He hung the bow over his head and across his shoulder, the arrows bundled and wrapped, placed inside the pack the woman carried. The tribe was large, but not so large as to overlook someone at the center of her own storm.

He couldn't remember her name. Krasa, Krasu...she was the only female of the tribe who spent all of their time hunting with the men. He had found it impressive that she had such a spirit. Unfortunately, she also had been caught telling the sacred tales to outsiders. She had been left on her own.

"Why are you here? I have been forsaken, and am on my way towards the Sun and the North." Puapa nodded, keeping his eyes on hers. "You are the hunter. I have seen you before. I am Puapasho, son of Jelawe the Tracker. I know why you are out here, too." There was little time for idle conversation, though. He helped her to her feet, arranging her pack and bow on his own back, removing his mantle of raven feathers. He slid it over her own shoulders, knowing it would keep her warmer longer as the heat of the day gave way to the bitter cold of night.

"Why then, have the Kalanue come for me?” Puapa looked at the position of the sun and the origin of his arrival, his own tracks slipping away in a skittering wind. "They didn't. And they won't. It is just the two of us now, so let's save talking for when we find some shelter. We should travel east toward the ocean and the red stones. It will give us the best hope of finding somewhere to stay warm and fend off the night."

Once she was ready, they would depart immediately.

[Karasu]

In only fifteen minutes or so, Karasu was ready. Feeling refreshed, her senses had already started working again. Her toned muscles and legs felt strong again, perhaps because of the unaccounted for nap she had taken while unconscious earlier. She insisted upon carrying her pack and bow, even as gentleman as Puapa was.

Now they walked towards ocean and the red stones, where Puapa hoped to find some sort of shelter from the night and its minions. She had been wondering about her current situation; about how in her desperate hour, she had been guided by a desert spirit, about how that event led her to cross paths with Papua and now here.

Karasu’s expression had kept its stony appearance ever since they had departed, but every once in a while, she glanced over at Puapa, which led them further in a direction Karasu didn’t even care about any more.
Trackers she thought to herself. Leave it to them to guide the way.
She often wondered why she never learned to track better. She knew the basics of what it entailed: to read the air, not for prey, but for other things like moisture and smells, how the earth feels here and how it had changed from where they started things of this nature. But to take that skill and hone it, that was something that Karasu could not see herself doing. It was an art, just like handling a bow, she guessed.
Karasu had seen Puapasho around the tribe, but had never been formally introduced to him. She had always been so shallow and proud to be amongst anyone else but hunters; other trades didn’t seem to matter to her too much, thus her pride isolated her from the rest.

“Paupasho,” Karasu finally spoke, as she nearly avoided a pointy stone in her path, “what was it that brought you out here to the forsaken parts of the desert?” He had seemed determined when she had met him at first, and it seemed as his motivation had not faltered, as if finding Karasu were part of his quest. “Is there anything I can do for you, or aid you, seeing as you have spared my life as a forsaken one.”

The sun was tired now, with only the horizon to catch its unwavering decent. The sounds of the night were upon them, ever hungry, never stopping.

[Puapasho]

Puapa was a little surprised and impressed at the hunter's recovery. Perhaps she was getting on a little bit with her weakness. It wasn't outside of his knowledge to know of women who put on a show when things weren't really that bad. Even in a tribe where everyone was important and no one could get out of work, sometimes women knew how to get the upper hand on men. Even strong ones like this one. her insistence on carrying her own weapon suited the tracker. He kept his own mantle as well. As they pushed off into the desert toward what he suspected to be the East, he could only grin widely.

Any track of his was already gone in the shifting sands, but his hands, his nose and his eyes told him which way to go. The Redstone Cliffs ran a long circuit up toward the ocean. He had not run its entire length before, but he suspected he would be doing just that before long. He knew that the hunter would not be allowed to return after telling the sacred stories, but he also knew that her exile did not have to be a death sentence. He would get her up into Suli territory and the Oases of the evil Eypharians. After that, she could forge any fate she liked.

They moved in utter silence for an hour, Puapa's focus on leading them to shelter and also keeping his eyes open for any plant life they could subsist on should they not find any meat. The sands were slowly giving way to rocky, packed earth. It was a good sign. Another hour and he could see the vague outlines of redstone formations on the horizon. Too far before night fell on them. He did see a small rise off to the northeast, perhaps two or three men high. That would be their resting place until morning.

As the soon-to-be shelter neared him, he stopped. She had finally spoken to him. His inky eyes scanned the shadows as they lengthened around them. They didn't have much time left before the sun was gone. He crouched down on his haunches, looking up at her. " I was tracking Tsanas. I had found pack signs a few days ago, but lost them in a dust storm. Your call to Eywaat signaled to me that I was there for a reason. Perhaps it was you." Perhaps not. Either way, that was the way. Standing again, he looked at her closely as she offered herself for being saved.

"That's where we will sleep tonight." His head and spear pointed toward the small cluster of earth and rock. He turned back to her, his eyes drinking in her form, which was as much a prize as any jewel of the desert. "Two things you can do, for starters." His spear pointed to their feet, the spearhead tracing in the air over small dots in the dirt. "Hunt down some food while I start a fire." His eyes caressed her curves once more. "And....your name." He tried to hold his grin in. She certainly did what women do to men, even when men were used to so much skin. Brother Crow would be laughing, so it was hard for Brother Puapa not to join in.

[Karasu]

Karasu watched with certain amusement as Puapa’s eyes diverted their attention to her own eyes and delved elsewhere amongst her body. Karasu knew that she was attractive and that other women in her clan used that quality to their own advantages. They would move their assets in certain ways; seduce their victims to get what they wanted. They would flaunt their skin like some colorful birds do to attract mates.

Karasu, on the other hand, loved to prove those women wrong. As she grew and developed, she learned to earn the respect of the hunter men by her skill and lethal nature. The hunters were so used to her ferocity that they had forgotten that Karasu was stunning.

Still feeling rather weak because of her dehydration, she gathered her energy and stood up straight. She would kill tonight; a task appointed to the hunters of the tribe. Although not as tall as the male Chaktawe, she still tried to impose herself the way males do amongst her tribe. She waited till his gaze landed back on her still eyes.

“I am strong enough now, so I will go hunt,” said Karasu assertively. She stared at Puapa’s sly grin across his face. He was not bad looking himself and had a strange sort of charm to his smile. Her eyes traced the outlines his face in the moonlight, to his strong shoulders and chest, then back to his eyes. This man was different then the rowdy men she was used to, more…

Karasu regained her composure, gripped her bow and arrow quiver tightly and dropped rest of her belongings at Puapa’s feet. With that, she turned around sharply and stalked away, her dark curls framing her angular face whipping around her head. She stopped a few paces away and without looking at him, her delicate figure outlined sharply in the rising moonlight, she said, “Karasu. My name is Karasu.”
She continued walking, in search of her next prey.

[Puapasho]

Puapa kept his eye on her as she spoke. Maybe she was putting it on, maybe not. He smiled at her and tossed his waterskin to her.

"Sip light. But sip. You're not all the way there yet."

Once she turned to hunt, the light illuminated her form. Without her eyes to judge, Puapa took every moment to admire her. Karasu..yes, that's what it had been. The same moonlight that described his desire also warned of a lack of light which would become troublesome in no time. Surveying the immediate area around the large pile of earth and rock, the young tracker found an area of scrub brush on its eastern side. Spear in hand, he took care to poke around in the foliage before putting his hands inside.

Careful not to break the living parts, he gathered both dried needles and vines from the brush as well as what branches he could find. There weren't enough to really do much more than make kindling. If they were going to have a fire for any time, he would have to pull a few bushes up. First things first though, he turned and looked at the mound. At first, he had thought of putting camp on one side, keeping their backs safe. The more he looked at it, though, it looked like they would be able to camp on top. One way to find out.

Securing his tools in his wrap, he found handholds in the rock, testing them with his weight before pulling up on them. There was some give, but it held for him to get to the top. Two large flat rocks caved inward at the top, revealing a small patch of the dirt that held the rocks together. Pulling his eating knife and using his hands, he dug a small pit, dropping what fuel he had found into it. He stuck his spear's shaft into the same earth and crouched down on the rocks, watching the beautiful hunter work.

[Karasu]

Karasu kept walking until she could only see the small glow of the fire that Puapa had begun, only a speck of light now. She was glad to be part of a group again, even though Puapa wasn’t part of the hunting party. He was still a man, and she was used to being in the company of men; women just did not understand her too well.

Karasu pulled out her bow and begun to string it, taking care not to fray the ends of the draw string on the rough earth below her padded feet. The bow itself was almost as tall as herself, but when it was strung, it was much smaller.
Next she pulled out a fletched arrow, with a sharp stone tip and black crow feathers along its end. These she carried in one hand as she scurried across the desert floor, silent as a shadow. What was she going to hunt anyways? There was nothing out here, save for a few wild birds, hidden well from view in the dark places of the desert.

Karasu trekked further away from the make-shift camp, carefully stepping, as not to make a sound; prowling like a hungry panther. She would have to be very careful not to scare away any potential meals, or not to attract any unwanted attention from anything that would consider Karasu a meal. But even with both her First and Secondary eyelids open, the dark skies had veiled its inhabitants within from preying eyes.

Just then, she smelled a pungent odor, coming off the sand next to a dried up shrub. Wild dog droppings. It was fresh, which meant that not too far from here, there were a pack of wild dogs scavenging through the wasteland. She immediately crouched down and froze. She slowed her breathing down and tried to calm her body, though her fingers were twitching with anticipation.

With one hand holding both her bow and razor-sharp arrows, she held her free hand up in the air, all her long slender fingers spread as far as they could bend. The sensitive pores at the tips of her fingers prodded with great sensitivity the air around and further down the path that she had taken. Karasu focused all her attention to this sixth sense, feeling the air currents around her as she tried her best to focus on where the dogs had gone to.

At first she sensed nothing. Ten, then twenty minutes had gone by. She may have felt a twitch of movement up ahead, but she dismissed this as a small bird flying by to roost on a cactus plant.

With her black eyes scanning the horizon, she tried to remember anything she knew about the wild dogs she hunted. They hunt in packs, usually 3-5 at a time, and they were carnivorous. Savage in nature, their howling or barking almost sounded like a man laughing. They rarely attacked live prey, choosing to dispose of carcasses left by bigger hunters. But if food was scarce, they were known to show no fear to the unfortunate creatures that would be at their mercy.

It was five minutes after this when she felt the pack of creatures approaching.