Into the Woods [Ora, Leviathan]

[Rhuryc]

Knives, why knives?

Rhuryc grumbled as he saw the movement. Those projectiles may have been small, but it was impossible to tell where they were going. The man felt his ancient hatred of missiles surface, old wounds festering hot. In defense he swept his torso about and attempted to provide as slim as a profile as possible, his shield raising in typical tandem with the movement. Luck played in his favor when the shift sent the first knife streaming into the forest floor, but the second easily found its mark. He felt the metal pierce his flesh and his face contorted into an expression of masked pain. The knive stuck out of his thigh, blood dripping down the blade as it managed past his coat and through his breeches - how, armor, how Rhuryc wished he had brought his. Nevertheless he remained strong, upright, shoving the pain from his mind as he allowed his adrenaline to fuel his strength. His opponent had made a mistake.

Hand, meet shield.

Having more than ample time to respond to the one-two, Rhuryc pushed himself forward and sent the front end of his iron plate into the exposed, extended fist, putting the full brunt of his own power into the attempted impact. Not finished, he stepped forward with his now back leg and brought his sword up, over his shoulder about to his left side, the blade screaming through the air on a direct collision course with the 'leader's' right shoulder.

[Ora Sa'vina]

She knew the Akalak would be angry with her, but the young woman could not just stand by while the pool of blood grew at his feet. The two men with weapons were waiting until he became too weak to fully defend himself. Her small fingers gripped the three pronged horn Sai's, the skin over her knuckles stretched tight. She was scared, the thoughts running through her head were dangerous ones.

Before she could go back on her plan, Ora's legs tensed as her feet kicked up dirt, her body moving fluidly, running towards the man with the mace. "Never go for a straight on attack," The teacher ad told Ora and several over young Konti women. "Run past them, then duck low, strike their backside, their legs, make them immobile." Ora remembered her lesson, her legs following the instructors faded words. Her limbs moved smoothly as she ran past, just out of reach of the man, her right leg jutting out in front of her path, kicking up dirt and rocks as her torso twisted, her left leg pushed her back towards the human male who held the mace. Her twisted horn weapons jabbed at him, with any hope she would at least scratch him, and with any hope, the properties of these Konti Sai's would affect him.

Her eyes focused on the man before her, fear of the large weapon hovering over her coming down on here with a great deal of force and pain. At least this way one the Akalak would take on one while she distracted the other. Ora knew the man would be upset, but she could not just sit idly by while he slowly died.

[Leviathan]

The leader of the group quickly adapted, seeing the shield lift instead of lower, he would open his hand, catching his palm against the rough solid surface of the shield, using that to slow his movement, and to hold it from guarding his leg, which Rhuryc would notice in a few moments had the dagger digging deep into his thigh. The blade rested firmly against the bone in Rhuryc's leg, which would be one of the greatest (physical) pains that Rhuryc had ever experienced. However, his instinct came through as his blade swung down, burying itself not in the target's shoulder, like aimed, but was off, and stopped its descent at about the man's nose. A sickening suction sound was heard as the man's cleaved head slid from the blade's grasp. Rhuryc had won his battle, but the war was not yet finished. He still had a knife and dagger, one buried in each of his legs. Movement would not come without pain for days, perhaps seasons. - - - The Akalak saw what he had feared all along, the Konti, Ora Sa'vina, the woman he sacrificed his own body to protect, was placing herself directly in the line of danger by rushing the man with the mace. Thinking quickly, the Akalak used whatever strength he had left to lunge towards the man, grasping his throat with his left, and only usable hand. It was about there that the Suvai ripped through the man's flesh, and he would have howled in pain, but his throat was being clenched viciously. The man swung his mace, bashing the Akalak giant across the jaw, and downed the large man. He had nothing left. As if it wasn't enough, the man with the mace turned and delivered a quick backhanded slap, which held enough force to force Ora to the ground. She, after all, was not accustomed to pain or combat like the rest of those here, either living or dead. And speaking of the dead, as Ora hit the ground, the man with the mace did as well, collapsing right on top of her. He would not awaken from this nightmare, the Suvai doing their job as they were well known to do. There was but one more man now. But it was too late. The Blue Giant rested on the ground, a gaping hole in his chest, through his body, and to the back where the man's blade entered. Being no longer able to defend himself, he was helpless to survive longer. Putting up an amazing fight, but was ultimately slain. In minutes he would be dead. Heart punctured. Even Rak'keli would have difficulty saving such a soul. The last man pulled the sword from the Akalak's withering body as he glanced around in triumph, expecting to see his leader nodding in victory, but instead looked over just in time to the the man with his split head fallen to the ground. Then to his companion that stalked the Akalak, who was already face down in the dirt (which hid Ora almost completely). Panic developed, and without hesitation, he fled, leaving the short sword discarded on the ground.

[Rhuryc]

A ferocious roar escaped Rhuryc's lungs. He felt the dagger sink into his leg just as his own blade cleaved the scalp of his blood-thirsty opponent. That little bastard. He had been cut before, stabbed, pierced, knocked, beaten, but nothing had ever scraped his bone. Such a new, pleasant experience. He could have done without it.

He ignored the smile, the grin, whatever it was, there was still a battle to tend to. Annoyed, but not down, Rhruyc made quick work of the two weapons in his thigh, ripping them out as he turned to survey his two other companions. Ora seemed fine - if collapsed, was that a dead fellow laying on top of her? Interesting. What drew his attention, though, was the Akalak, a gaping hole cut into the center of his chest. Oh. Almost growling, Rhuryc's eyes swept over the trees in rage, fueled by both his pain and streaming adrenaline. Movement drew him aside and he started forward, his new-found limp slowing him, but nowhere near stopping him. Pain be damned.

With an impressive hurl, Rhuryc grabbed the edge of his shield and sent the weapon slinging through the air towards the fleeing hunter. His aim was to fell the bastard, if just so he could catch up. With only his sword in hand, Rhuryc's limp-run brought him over the foliage, determined with the very core of his being to see that this man saw his just do.

[Ora Sa'vina]

The weapon held in Ora's hand made contact, her hand wetting with the mans blood, the point easily entering his calf. Her eyes moved to see the Akalak, his left hand gripping her opponents throat, crushing it with his large blue fingers. The man, in fear of his life, swung his mace, colliding with the Akalaks jaw, a sickening sound erupted from the collision. The blue figure dropped his body hitting the ground and in turn letting the man with the mace free, his free hand turned to strike Ora across the face. The force of the blow threw the small woman against the ground with a soft thud, her cheek reddening from the impact.

Ora had barely hit the ground before the corpse of the man with the mace fell on top of her, the wind left her lungs, her mind was dazed from the strike to her face and now she had a dead man on top of her. The woman's body gasped for breath beneath the full grown man, her hands struggling to push him off of her, to get away from him. I need to help him! Her mind lingered on the man who had saved her, her eyes could see his legs, a pool of blood growing around what she could see. No,

The woman found the strength to crawl out from under the man, on her hands and knees she crawled to the Akalak, the man who delivered the killing blow was out of sight, Rhuryc was chasing the invisible murderer. Rhuryc's legs both bled down his breeches; he would live, unless infection set in, Ora could at the very least tend to him until they made it back to Sylira, it was the least she could do at this juncture. Violet eyes returned to rest on the blue man lying before her, her eyes seeing the killing blow, a bleeding wound at his heart, he was sure to die, no matter what the young woman would try to do, she would not be able to save him. This fact seemed to break the young woman, her eyes darkened, her breath seemed to quicken, her thoughts stirred, angry towards herself.

Her face soon stained with tears, her hands touching the mans face as the clear drops hit his chest. Her eyes were blurred with tears, only clearing for a moment as a drop fell down her face only to blur again. "No.." Her voice was soft as she choked the word out, the word that slipped from her mouth were of her own tongue. "Please," Her eyes looked upwards for a moment, looking for a God to come help her, before returning to the man beneath her, her heart felt torn, this man was dying, and she could do nothing. He had saved her and how was she repaying him? Small pale fingers caressed his cheek. "I am sorry," Her voice was still broken, but her words were now Common. "This is my fault," The tears seemed to come at a steadier pace now, her hands were shaking as her eyes looked over his broken body. "I should have listened to you," Her words were broken off as she let out a guttural noise from the back of her throat, her eyes clenched shut. The bloody hand which supported her against the ground dug into the dirt, making a tight fist. This is your fault, you killed him. Her eyes remained close as she spoke again, her voice was barely a whisper as she bit her own lip, trying to hold back the cries that were building in her throat. "I am such a fool, please, forgive me."

[Leviathan]

Unfortunately for Naravane, the hurled weapon was not as effective as he would have pleased. The shield soared into a tree, only inches away from the fleeing man as he leaped over some low brush and vanished into the wood. It was probably for the better. The bloods on his hands was likely to attact something's attention out there. Hell, just being around the dying Akalak made all three of them a buffet for scavengers and territorial predators alike. With what time he had left and every ounce of strength he could muster, he reached up and placed his hand against her cheek. His face was empty, void of emotion, but his eyes burned with respect, honor. It took a minute, but the man was able to flash a weak, toothy, and blood smeared grin (it would appear that somewhere along the line he bit a deep gash into his tongue) and spoke. "You remind me of my love..." The Akalak, nearly eight foot tall of pure muscle, a killing machine, looked very vulnerable then, for it wasn't his wounds. No, Ora was reading this. There was a woman once, a Konti (not he mother mind you, but a Konti nonetheless), that could calm him, protect him from his darker half. Perhaps the tale of what happened to her, to him, to them, would never be known now. If he had hours, he might have told it, but already his world was fading. He had but one more thing to say. His eyes moved over towards Rhuryc, his smiled faded but that fiery gaze remained. He spoke up, but this time in Tukant, a language the man spoke earlier. "Protect her." A simple request in theory, but if days such as this were bound to repeat themselves, it could be a difficult practice. With one final look at Ora, that red cheek, inevitable bruise-to-be, and he took a single more pained look as his eyes closed. The Man was reincarnated as another, somewhere in Mizahar, that very moment.

[Rhuryc]

Rhuryc spat. Quick bastard. With a grumble the man stumbled over to where his shield had landed and he retrieved it, audibly groaning as the motion brought out a sharp fire from his thigh. Ouch. Really. For a moment he considered cutting the leader's head off again, just for good measure. Or to make sure his body couldn't be used by a nuit or something. Pah. With a limp Rhuryc started back off toward the Akalak and Ora - the woods no doubt claim the idiot for themselves - and he came to stop just before them, watching the exchange with a stoic gaze. How sweet. The warrior had protected Ora out of some long, forlorn memory, and the action no doubt lead to his death. Seems his fate was inevitable; despite his assumed 'innocence', there was no such way to judge fault based on nothing more than the bias stories of the day's participants.

Ora felt it far more than he did. In fact, Rhuryc did not believe he much cared. At all. Had the fellow stopped to speak, perhaps asked for aid, then he might still be very much alive. Putting himself in this situation was what got him called, it was no fault of either the Konti or Rhuryc. With such thoughts the man was left without much more than a simple nod, giving the Akalak at least a degree of peace in his last, dying request. He had the full inclination to protect Ora, at least until they reached Syliras once more. At that point she would no longer be his responsibility.

After some time of silence Rhuryc spoke up, allowing the woman whatever time she needed to mourn, though. From the looks of things she was not about to leave quite so easily.

"Come on, Ora. We need to go before the bodies attract something. I'm not in much condition to fight off much of anything." He said, but not before using the clothing of the nearby fallen assailant to wipe his blade free of blood. Nifty. Iron scraped against leather as the weapon as sheathed and Rhuryc gave the area a quick once-over, content to find they were still safe. Somewhat.

[Ora Sa'vina]

The hand that Ora was leaning against moved up to hold his, her eyes closed for a moment as her face pressed against it. Violet eyes opened again to look over his face, his mouth was bloody as he spoke. His love? The young woman seemed to know this, a beautiful Konti woman, one which she was no familiar with, a woman whom mad e him leave behind his reckless rage. The Konti knew he was leaving her, his hand had grown weak against her face, her own small hand was the only thing truly holding it in place.

The Akalak's attention moved but Ora's remained firmly on the man before her. The words that came from his mouth were in Tukant, Ora only understood one of the words that came out 'Her'. The young woman glanced over her shoulder to look at Rhuryc, her face was still wet as tears continued to roll down her face. Her eyes returned to the Akalak, his face looking over hers for a short moment before his eyes closed and his hand became limp in hers.

Ora let the man's hand go, she moved to cradle his head in her arms, small whimpers left her lips as she wiped the blood from his. "I'm sorry, I will not be able to give you a proper funeral." The woman spoke quietly to the corpse she held. "Please, be at peace." Ora kissed his forehead, her eyes closed as she did so, whispering a small prayer for his soul.

She remained, weeping over the Akalak's body while Rhuryc spoke to her. She listened as he sheathed his blade, her eyes remained closed as she was curled around the dead mans head. She knew they needed to go, but she didn't want to leave him, not like this. "You have no choice." She assured herself, her eyes opening to look at the man's face one last time.

Ora stood slowly, her eyes moving to the man whom died on top of her, looking for her weapons. One was still stuck in the man's leg, drenched in blood, the other was simply under his torso. The dirty one was quickly wiped on the dead man's back. The Konti moved towards her burlap bag and picked it up, dried blood still lingered on her hands as she approached Rhuryc. Her eyes remained on the ground as she nodded, Ora felt no desire to speak, she would follow him and help with his wounds, but her mind was elsewhere. "He died because of you. She thought to herself silently.

[Leviathan]

Thread Award! Rhuryc Exp +1 Wilderness Survival, +1 Observation, +1 Negotiation, +1 Philosophy, +1 Running, +1 Weapon (Shield), +1 Weapon (Sword), +1 Battle Cry Lore A Konti's Stubbornness, Convincing with the Blade of a Sword, Catching Knives... in your Legs Extra +1 Lingering Leg Wound, random pains throughout the rest of your life Ora Exp +1 Wilderness Survival, +2 Observation, +1 Interrogation, +1 Fortune Telling, +1 Weapon (Suvai) Lore Being Stubborn, Seeing the Gruesome Truth, Akalak in Person (Basic) Additional Comments Man, whoever thought up that Akalak was cool. Oh wait, that was me? Nevermind. As always, you guys can contact me with any questions or comments and I'd be glad to discuss it with you.