Completed [Open] A new home

[Bethsyliss]

Day 77 of Winter, 512 AV. Despite the exhaustion from so long a voyage, Bethsyliss could not help her jaw from dropping down onto the evening desert sand, amazed at the exquisite jewel of iron and stone which had begun to reveal itself beyond the dune she and Ronin had just finished cresting. "Ahnatep, at lassst," she hissed in the manner of serpents, letting out an explosive breath. Her journey across the sands of Eyktol was coming to an end after nearly fifty days out in the desert, and her relief was great for, though her reptilian nature made her especially prone to basking in the sun's heat, the blistering dryness of the desert was dehydrating her to dangerous levels, and the cold nights were hard to bear -- most of them she had spent cuddled up against Ronin's warm fur. She looked once into Ronin's eyes and slithered down the sandy slope toward the ancient city of Ahnatep. Clothes and money had been arranged in advance for her to pick up outside of the city by her mother, back at the nest where she had spent ninety-six years of her life. Her mother, Vvesebeth, had many contacts in the region of Eyktol, since she had quite a reputation among the Viper males, all things considered. She was unquestionably the prettiest of all Dhani females in the region, and that had granted her a reasonable amount of success during her younger years. Vvesebeth's renown had persisted throughout the decades, and her beauty was legendary among the Dhani. Suddenly Bethsyliss raised her head. Her forked tongue flickered out of her mouth as she picked up a scent. It was coming from the city. She threw a glance to her companion that said louder than words: Food. She bolted then, not even waiting for Ronin, and followed the trail her sense of smell detected. Very soon she found herself facing a pungent morsel of raw meat mounted atop a backpack. So that'sss how they were so certain I'd find my way to the suppliesss she said to herself, acknowledging her mother's smart thinking. Time to change. But a little bite of meat firssst. Maybe I'll leave half for Ronin... After ravenously devouring the piece of meat whole, she slowly drew in her energy to shift into the human form that had so precociously come to her. It was an exhilarating feeling. As her bones came into place, there was that pleasant tightening of the muscles, and her elastic skin adjusted to the new shape she was assuming. Her head took on the form of a woman's and she felt her hair and limbs push out of her body. She was transformed in less than a minute. The cool midnight breeze caught her naked and she let out a delightful peal of laughter. She quickly rummaged through to check for other supplies and her hand brushed something unusual. Frowning with curiosity, she took it out of the bag. It was her mother's hand mirror. A word was engraved on the handle. "Beth," she read out loud; and quite suddenly she felt a tear running down her left cheek. She garbed herself with the clothes she found in the bag. They consisted of white undergarments, bright yellow robes and matching cloak, and a pair of simple leather sandals. She turned around then, waiting for Ronin to join her. She remembered at that moment she had saved no leftovers from the meat.

[Ronin Invictus]

Ronin was beat by the time they got to Ahnatep. They had gone on for fifty days through the desert. Ronin's main source of hydration had also been his food source, various animals they had come across while in the desert, although still far and few between. As Ronin had found out during their travels, the sandy dunes were not very good for running on, and he often would lose his footing on the tighter turns even with his claws to give him more traction, they simply could not grip anything, he would have to adapt if he wanted to hunt in the desert. As they caught a glimpse on Anatep for the first time he was pretty impressed with the sight, and Bethsyliss a bit more so, but Ronin was mostly worried about one thing, "I hope they have some water..." he said a bit dreamily.

He stood there a few moments trying to remember the taste of the precious liquid, but when his attention came back to the real world Bethsyliss had already taken off, Ronin could see her darting down the hill, "Hey!" he called after her, starting to run down the dune after her, although he was much slower than her in his human form. During there travels through the desert, Ronin had become slightly more accustomed to being around Bethsyliss, at least now he didn't think she would rip his throat out any second, maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

Ronin was panting by the time he caught up to Bethsyliss where she had found a backpack, she was already in her human form. After a few moments, when Ronin had caught his breath again he glanced over at the backpack, now empty. Bethsyliss had already garbed herself in the clothes it contained, bright yellow robes and a cloak with a simple pair of leather sandals. Ronin's clothes were a little more tattered from the long travel through the desert, a strip of cloth still missing from his shirt where Bethsyliss had cut a piece from for a fire starter. Ronin smirked slightly then, "Looks like we are ready to go to Ahnatep." Ronin didn't know about the meat that was there.

[Bethsyliss]

Ronin had clearly not noticed that Syliss had gobbled up the piece of meat without leaving any for him, so she let it slip. "Looksss like we are indeed," she said. "It'sss about time, too." She took a jovial step forward, almost shaking with excitement from the anticipation of starting out a new life with her companion. Over the month they had traveled together, they hadn't talked a lot, because water was scarce, and, in order to reduce the risk of fatal dehydration, they held on to their saliva by keeping their mouths shut. They did have a few conversations, though. Syliss had learned Ronin's animal form was called a cheetah, for instance, and that he was a Kelvic. But most of their communication happened through meaningful glances and significant gestures, and she had grown accustomed enough to his presence to say she felt comfortable around him. I think we can get along rather well together, she said in the vaults of her mind, picturing the style of life she would have to go through for a while. It might take usss some time to get used to living with another perssson who's not even the same race, let alone a relative, but I can certainly manage. We won't be ssspending every waking moment ssstuck to each other anyway. Besidesss, it's not like he has a choice. We ssstruck a bargain, and -- Syliss's train of thought suddenly cut off and she froze in mid-motion. She suddenly remembered the deal she and Ronin had agreed upon when she had accepted to travel alongside him across the sea of sand of the Burning Lands of Eyktol. In exchange for the company and for shelter once in Ahnatep, he was to give her five hundred golden mizas. She turned slowly and looked him full in the face. A shadow crossed her eyes. "Ronin," she hissed quietly. "I ssseem to recall a little agreement we came up with about the time we met. The price for your life, as you might remember it. Five hundred golden mizas it was, unlesss my memory has decided to play tricksss on my mind. I'd like to have them now, if that'sss alright. Just so everything'sss cleared up properly before we crosss the city gates." She stared fairly ominously at the backpack they had dragged hundreds of miles across the winter desert, her eyes blazing with expectation and perhaps a little of something else.

[Ronin Invictus]

Ronin smiled slightly then at her excitement, not enough to flash his fangs though. Ronin himself was excited, but for much more simpler reasons, such as water, and finally some rest. Syliss had seemed to freeze then as if she had remembered something, Ronin's smile disappeared then as a shadow crossed her eyes. He raised a brow slightly at her, just when he though he could somewhat predict what she would do next she would surprise him again?

As she began to speak though he had remembered the deal he struck with her, the five hundred gold mizas in return for helping him out of the desert. He then nodded slightly, a deal was a deal after all, not that he had needed so many mizas anyway, Ronin was a simple fellow, and she had given him a place to stay for a while. Took off the backpack carefully, setting it next to the other one, the coins that it was filled with tinkling as he did so. Ronin wasn't very good with math, so he would let Syliss do the counting, he trusted her enough to not rip him off. "That should be all of it."

ooc: Sorry about shortish posts, muse is kinda low today.

[Bethsyliss]

Fantassstic, isssn't it, she said to herself, stricken with a feeling of intense indignation. So I'm the one who savesss his life, and I have to do the counting? I think that'sss just lovely. Absssolutely gracious. Oh, but what's keeping me from taking more that five hundred from missster gratitude right here? His backpack's ssso full he'd hardly notice I stole -- no, burrowed a few more than we originally agreed upon. And if he ever realizesss I went slightly over the top -- oh, sssay, maybe fifty or so golden coins -- I'll just blame it on my poor counting skillsss. No, what am I thinking, she corrected herself, shaking her head. He's been ssso gentle and cooperative and gentle and unobtrusive and docile and gentle... Maybe I'll leave him fifty more mizas than we'd sssettled for. Just for the sssake of my peace of mind. I won't even tell him. That way I'll be lending him a hand without him knowing, and I'll feel good about myssself. After all, he's been ssso gentle. No! she thought violently then. I can't do that. If I did, he'd be able to gather the money he needsss to leave and go live on his own. No, no, no... I'm not giving him away. I'd lose the company of ssso gentle a person. I don't want that. If he wantsss any help with money he'll have to ask me, and I sssure as hell won't help him leave any faster if that's what he asks for. He'll just have to sssit tight and work himself off if he plans on living anyplace elssse. While Bethsyliss helplessly considered Ronin's qualities -- especially the fact that he was gentle --, she had been absently counting the golden mizas out loud, methodically transferring them one by one from his backpack into hers. "Five hundred," she said, not even realizing she had said it until after she had and startling herself in the very act. She shook her head about to clear her wits and focused. "Well," she announced regretfully, grasping the fact she no longer had any leverage on her Kelvic companion. "That'sss it, then. Now we're even. You can ssstay at my place until you've worked out what's bessst for you." She frowned, then muttered: "I don't even know where my place isss. I hope mother handled everything properly." She composed herself and looked straight at Ronin. "Well, then. Shall we?" she said, strapped on her backpack which was now nearly twice as heavy as it had been when she found it, and marched regally towards the fabled iron and cedar gate of Ahnatep, under the watchful eye of the Pressorah atop.

[Ronin Invictus]

Ronin looked on as Bethsyliss counted the coins one by one, the numbers she whispered under her breath as she counted seemed foreign to Ronin after she surpassed twenty gold coins. During his time as a slave, he wasn't taught very much, and the other slaves didn't know much either. He wasn't very much motivated to learn either, still being unbonded he still felt that underlying need to find a bondmate all the time, and it kept him restless, but he would not bond with just anyone at this point which made it slightly more difficult, Bethsyliss had helped and he owed her his life, but he always wondered what would have happened if he didn't have all those mizas in his pack that day. Either way, the counting seemed to go on for an eternity, Ronin was just eager to actually get into the city, he had never seen another city other than Endrykas, and that was more of a mass of tents then a city.

Ronin who had sat in the sand while he waited for Bethsyliss to finish counting stood up then as she finished counting. Ronin nodded slightly, shouldering his pack now which was much lighter now, "Let's go then." he said before following Syliss towards Ahnatep's gates. The gates, which had seemed much smaller from far away slowly began to loom over them as they approached. Ronin was awed more and more the closer they got, how could anyone build something like this in the middle of a desert? he thought as they reached the gates. Ronin looked around then, Bethsyliss was standing next to him in front of the gate, "So, how do we get in?" he said craning his head to get a good look at just how tall the gate was.

[Bethsyliss]

"Well, I sssuppose we just waltz in and see how things go from there," Bethsyliss replied, frowning at the statue of the lady holding a writhing snake. "For sssome reason I feel unwelcome. But after all, the gates are wide open, ssso I don't see why we should encounter any trouble." She had only taken a few steps toward the gates when she heard a voice coming from her left. "Pssssst," it whispered with a lingering hissing sound. Syliss turned. There was only the black statue of an armed guard mid-stride. She shrugged. "Over here," the voice urged from behind the statue, startling Syliss. She nervously approached the statue. "You Beth'sss daughter?" the outline of a slender figure inquired. "Yesss -- yes, I am," Syliss replied, slightly puzzled. Had this man been expecting her arrival? Had her mother sent him the same as she had prepared for her to pick up the backpack outside the city? "You're a month late," he accused. "Well, I --" she said hesitantly, making a vague gesture to indicate Ronin's presence. "I don't care. You're lucky Beth'sss your mother. I might not have waited that long for anyone elssse. Let's get into the city." He left his hiding place, revealing in the pale evening twilight that he was in Dhani form. "I'm sssorry, who are you?" Syliss asked, still confused. "That'sss not important. I am to lead you to the quartersss your mother has arranged for you in the Pillarsss of Dussst before I can get on with my own businesss." He swore. "Dammit, lady, one month? I have thingsss to do I'll never get done by the end of the ssseason now." He shook his head in obvious exasperation. "I'm sssorry, there was --" "I don't want to hear it. Jussst follow me." Bethsyliss shrugged. She signaled toward Ronin for him to come with her. "What'sss thisss?" the man hissed aggressively between clenched teeth. "Beth didn't mention anything about a man tagging along with her daughter." His face grew somber. "An explanation isss in order, I think. And I want to hear it from you, young man." He smiled a vicious, thin-lipped smile then. "You know, I haven't had the chance to torment anyone these last sssseveral weeks, and I'm jussst dying for some good old-fassshioned Dhani torture." He grinned, showing pointy fangs, and his eyes blazed with a cruel hunger. Syliss realized it was going to come down to a physical affront. She gave Ronin a warning glance that clearly said: Fight. She would not raise a hand against a fellow viper herself, but, secretly, she wanted her cheetah champion to dispose of him. She fervently hoped he was a good fighter.

[Ronin Invictus]

Ronin shrugged, before following Bethsyliss through the gates. If they were open they were most likely welcome to enter. Ronin had noticed the statue of a woman holding a writhing snake at well, which he raised a brow at, such weird statues in this city he thought. Then suddenly there was a sort of hissing noise from behind one of the statues nearby by, Ronin almost jumping from the sudden noise. Ronin stayed put as Bethsyliss approached the statue, looking around to see if he saw anyone else, but it was oddly quiet.

"You Beth'sss daughter?" Ronin heard the mysterious figure demand, which made Ronin slightly confused. How did she have so many contacts around here? He figured her mother had been quite an influential figure around these parts. Anyway, the man who had just revealed himself, another Dhani seemed pretty ticked off about them being late apparently, which Ronin knew was his fault, but he didn't want to hear it apparently. Ronin frowned slightly, was everyone else like Bethsyliss like this? He certainly hoped not.

"I don't want to hear it. Jussst follow me."

The man said again, before starting to walk off. Bethsyliss motioned for him to follow but was stopped in his tracks by the Dhani man now. "What'sss thisss?" the man had said aggressively, regarding Ronin as if he was a slave again, this rubbed Ronin in the wrong way. "Beth didn't mention anything about a man tagging along with her daughter." Ronin already had some smart remarks for the man but held his tongue to avoid the trouble.

An explanation isss in order, I think. And I want to hear it from you, young man." He smiled a vicious, thin-lipped smile then, Ronin narrowed his eyes at the man then. "I paid her five hundred mizas to travel with me through the desert." But the man apparently did not want to hear it.

"You know, I haven't had the chance to torment anyone these last sssseveral weeks, and I'm jussst dying for some good old-fassshioned Dhani torture." He smiled then revealing two pointed fangs, and a cruel light shone in his eyes. Ronin took a slight step back then, quite startled at how fast the situation had escalated, what had he done wrong now? He glanced at Bethsyliss then, as if asking what to do, but she seemed to be encouraging him to actually fight the guy. Great, just great he thought his eyes falling on the Dhani man again. "Jusst ssstay still, it won't hurt one bit, I promisse." The Dhani man said in a cruel, and now eager voice.

"You know, I am having a hard time believing you," Ronin said then, and just a few moments later the Dhani had lunged at him with surprising speed. Ronin was only just able to side step the man's headlong assault, but the man had caught him with his long claws, ripping through the front of his shirt and forming a shallow wound on his abdomen, thankfully his claws weren't venomous. Ronin looked at his torn shirt alarmed, the wounds stinging now, he could feel the hot liquid slowly trickling out of them. Ronin turned towards the man then, a fire alight in his eyes now as adrenaline coursing through his veins. "Big mistake." he growled. The Dhani man was preparing for another strike now, if it was a fight, Ronin would give him one.

Ronin then started to shift into his cheetah form, bathing the area in the bright light as the lights formed the shape of a cheetah. As Ronin shifted into his larger Cheetah form, his clothes were ripped to shreds as he shifted. In just a few moments Ronin had gone from a human to a very pissed off Cheetah. Ronin growled then flicking his tail and pinning his ears to his head. At first the Dhani seemed slightly surprised causing him to pause for a moment, this was all Ronin had needed. Ronin let his feral side show itself then, as he leaped across the clearing they were in at the Dhani, his front claws tearing into the man's flesh while his hind leg's claws hooked firmly into the man as they both fell to the ground in a heap. The viper hissed lashing out at Ronin, but just grazing Ronin slightly on his right shoulder with one of his fangs, the man seemed to smile widely at this, landing a hit, although slight with his venomous fangs. At the moment although, this only seemed to anger Ronin even more. Growling Ronin started tearing into the man with the fury of any wild animal, the Dhani had died before he could get another bite on Ronin.

Ronin continued to mawl the now dead Dhani for a few more seconds before figureing out he was actually dead. Ronin growled one last time before getting off the mangled Dhani, dark blood covering his chest, snout and claws. He took a few steps towards Bethsyliss, a look of confusion on his face before everything went black and Ronin collapsed to the ground fallen unconscious as the venom, although a slight dose from the bite that began to circulate around his system, was still quite dangerous, and maybe even life threatening.

[Bethsyliss]

As soon as the Dhani's fang grazed across Ronin's right shoulder, Syliss knew he was infected with lethal viper venom. She knew she had to do something, but her mind went blank. She was in shock. She watched the remainder of the fight with dreadful apathy, her eyes following Ronin's swift, aggressive movements without any outward show of feeling. Emotionless, she watched Ronin mangle the dead Dhani's inanimate body. She watched with unwholesome curiosity while he took a few steps toward her, she watched with unhealthy interest as his face contorted into an expression of grim incomprehension, and she watched with ghastly passivity as he slumped unconscious to the ground. Her whole body shuddered with the sound of his fall. It was like a gong had been struck inside of her and had woken her up from her torpor. She heard her own breath, and to her it sounded like a tornado storming out of her lungs. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no." With surprising speed she crouched down to Ronin's right side and examined the wound, trembling violently as she did. It had swollen monstrously, and the hide around it had lost its coloration. "Thisss won't do," she muttered desperately. "Sssiku help me." She placed her lips on the sting and vigorously sucked in. She made a rueful face then spat out a mouthload of blood to the side. She repeated the process three times to remove the excess venom that threatened to seep into the blood vessels. "This will buy me sssome time." She stood up stiffly. "I know how to do this. I've been doing it sssince I was thirty. I just need..." Then the full realization of the immensity of the task that now befell her struck her like a blow to the guts. She knew perfectly well how viper venom worked. It was the first thing she had learned about poisons. Clearly this Dhani's venom was not very powerful -- otherwise Ronin wouldn't still be breathing -- and it had been injected into his blood flow in a very small amount, but even that could kill him in a mere matter of minutes if an antidote wasn't delivered. Think fassst, Sylisss, she commanded herself within her mind. Viper venom causes the blood to clot and the clotting stopsss the heart. I need to reduce the clotting ssso the blood can circulate freely. What thins the blood?... Think, Sssyliss, think! Thinning... Fisssh oil! Yes! I have to make it to the market fassst. Hopefully in the darknesss no one will come acrosss the bodies -- they're concealed behind the statue enough, a good way astray from the marble path. Syliss sprinted to the gates, only to realize she had no idea where to head. She rushed to the first city guard she saw and asked, panting and sweating profusely, for directions. "Slow down there, dwsa," the surprised guard said wearily. "No time. Please, the marketsss. I'll pay you for directionsss." The guard's eyes suddenly lit up with the prospect of satisfying his greed. "Well, in that case... The Pavilion, -- that's the market's name around here, you see --, you'll find it not too far from the estuary, right behind the docks, so from here you just --" But Syliss had already dashed away, throwing two golden mizas at the startled guard who caught them mid-air as he tried to figure out how this happened and why. Syliss ran as fast as her legs could take her. Soon she entered an area made up of brightly-coloured tents, uncountable rows of them. To her great dismay, the merchants were packing away what they hadn't managed to sell during the day before they closed their shops for the night. "Fish oil!" she yelled at the top of her voice. She was met with a few startled glances, but none answered her desperate call. "Fisssh oil! Please!" "The minre's cooking without fish oil tonight!" a sneering merchant snickered, causing a general uproar of laughter from the other tradesmen. She was pretty sure that was offensive. Again she pleased. "I beg of you, fisssh oil!" "Sold out, you dwsa! Now return to your filthy home and let me close shop." It was the same merchant that had mocked her. She approached him with a threatening look on her face, then something caught her sight in the corner of her eye. Ginger root! A basket full of ginger root! She leaped towards the merchant who was packing up the stall with the ginger root sprawled all over. Ginger root was second as far as anticoagulants went. "Four poundsss of ginger root," she said, not stopping to breathe. "I'm going home, dwsa," he said. "The nineteenth bell had already rung and I just wanna go home. I'll be back tomorrow, though," he added, trying his best to smile. "I'll pay double," Syliss said. His eyes lit up, then narrowed shrewdly. She sensed that he knew she was desperate and that he was prepared to take advantage of the situation. "Oh, double the price isn't worth my good night's sleep, you know. You could always come back tomorrow, after all." "Triple." Bethsyliss hoped he wouldn't make her go higher. "Quadruple," he said tentatively. "Fine," she consented, wincing slightly at the thought of being ripped off. But money was not her top priority right now. "Twenty ounces, you said? Ginger is normally one copper miza an ounce, so four pounds would be... Let's see... Six silver mizas and four copper... So... Four times that... Two gold mizas, five silver and six copper. Let's round it up to two gold and six silver. Two golden coins and six silver, please," he announced proudly, in a loud voice so all the other merchants could hear his success. He measured out the ginger root carefully while Syliss took out three golden-rimmed mizas. She laid them on the table and scooped all the ginger root into her backpack as quickly as possible. "Keep the change," she said, bolting away. She heard the merchant behind her call out to say what pleasure it had been doing business with her or something, and dashed with maximum speed back to the entrance of Ahnatep where Ronin still lay unconscious and in mortal peril. She had brought him this far and was not prepared to give up on him. When she reached his side, his breathing was slow, a sign that the blood clotting was shutting off his lungs section by section. "Ronin," she said, shaking him slightly. "Ronin!" But there was no response. She knew he wouldn't be able to chew on the ginger root, so she took some from the bag and gnashed it in her mouth herself. She opened Ronin's jaw and fed him the ginger directly. She continued so for about an hour before Ronin's breathing slowly began to become steadier. The clots in his blood vessels were dissolving from the nutrients brought by the ginger. Since Syliss had no notion whatsoever of the inner workings of a cheetah's digestive system, she thought it was a question of quantity ingested, rather than delay for the time required for nutrients to seep in. Thus it was that, packing Ronin's blood with anticoagulants, she had not foreseen the complication which arose then. Ronin started to bleed from his abdomen, tainting his fur a distressing crimson color. "What?" She stared at the wounds on his belly reopening, uncomprehending. "How..." Then she suddenly understood. The anticoagulant agent from the ginger wasn't specifically directed at the clots inside of Ronin's veins and arteries; it was spreading throughout his system through the blood flow and had now reversed the clotting on his wounds from the fight. Syliss swore. She was not trained in the field of medicine. She only knew so much about poisons, and could not have foreseen this event. But she knew losing blood was bad, and was aware Ronin was losing a lot. She needed to stop the bleeding. She looked around. Nearby, Ronin's torn rags lay on the ground. She salvaged the larger pieces of clothing and fashioned an impractical bandage around Ronin's wounds. That would have to do for the time being. His breathing recovering, Ronin let out a faint noise like a muffled roar. "Ronin," she said, turning to his head. He was clearly suffering immensely. "Ronin. It'sss going to be alright. We jussst need to find my place to ressst for the night. It'll be OK. I promise. The venom is ssstill inside of you, but it'sss not harming you anymore. Your body is fighting it. Tomorrow, I'll make you an antidote to finisssh it off completely, and you'll be fine." She knew nothing could be further from certainty, but she said it more to reassure herself, not even positive about the fact Ronin was in shape enough to process any of her words. She decided to wait a bit until Ronin recovered his breathing. In the meantime, she rummaged through her bag, looking for something. Her hand stumbled across a full waterskin. She took it out, removed the stopper and gently poured some water into Ronin's mouth. "There. Jussst relax. We'll move whenever you're ready." She returned to the backpack and searched some more. It was difficult to find anything among all the coins and the ginger root, but finally she found what she was looking for. It was a dinner knife. She pulled it out of the backpack and moved over to the dead Dhani. With sloppy hands but sound knowledge of the snake's anatomy, she didn't have much trouble extracting two venom glands out of the head, though she made a mess of it that caused her to gag. Not wanting to ruin her own backpack with the dripping organs, she chucked them into Ronin's. In order to dispose as best she could of the Dhani corpse lying near the path to the gate of Ahnatep, she dragged it behind a rock and covered it up in sand. That would do for now; she would come back later to properly get rid of it. Then she sat down and patiently waited for Ronin to feel good enough to get up on all fours, with awful worry written all over her tear-stricken face.

[Ronin Invictus]

Ronin didn't seem to feel anything, or see anything while he was unconscious. It was a complete darkness, which only seemed to go on for a few moments before he woke up. Ronin was in much pain when he woke up, the whole right side of his body seemed to screech in pain, originating from his right shoulder were it felt like a red hot iron was pressed on it constantly. The cheetah groaned then, sounding much like a mournful roar. The pain effected him in every way, thoughts destroyed with every pulse of the throbbing pain, each wave dizzying him into submission. He could faintly hear Syliss, a faint voice that sounded hundreds of leagues away, but her words were indiscernible. His vision was blurry as if he was underwater, and it seemed to dim as the swollen wound on his shoulder throbbed. When Ronin felt the water, he was able to swallow it, the precious liquid running down his bone dry throat, it had seemed like forever since the last time he had water, the long journey through the desert only sustained by his animal form's ability to hydrate from his prey.

After about twenty minutes, he was able to remember a few things about what had happened in between the waves of pain. There was a fight, he had killed the Dhani but he had suddenly lost conciousness after the fight, he remembered a wave of dizziness over taking him and then everything turning to black. He knew then he would have to move soon, he was quite sure killing a Dhani was against the rules in Ahnatep, but the fathom of even moving anytime soon seemed so impossible to Ronin at that moment, so Ronin started small. At first he tried to move his legs a bit, at least to loosen up a bit as his whole body felt stiff, but the moment he move the pain came back even more intense now, causing Ronin to exhale sharply before he remained still for another few minutes. Eventually after about thirty minutes Ronin felt he could try and stand now, although he was utterly exhausted now after his previous labors.

Slowly Ronin rolled himself onto his stomach, letting our another muffled roar and lying as he was for a few minutes before he finally began to push himself up. Finally he was standing, although a bit shaky, his legs wide apart to keep himself from falling over. Consequently, the swollen wound on his shoulder was protesting sharply, sharp pain across his whole shoulder, and a dull pain that still encompassed his right flank. His vision was still a bit blurry, but he was able to make out the shape of Syliss sitting nearby.