Flashback Heaven Hath No Rage...

[Razkar]

Once again, he held his tongue. He tightened his jaw and clenched his fist as this woman he loved like his own blood, the healer who had nursed him through disease and wounds, declared her sheer contempt for another woman he...

"I'm sorry," he whispered to her, hating that word for it's meaninglessness but wanting to say something, anything. "They are... They do not take do outsiders."

Goddess, it sounded so lame. Literally. Like a pathetic animal trying to be proud. But she was stronger than that; stronger than him. She kept her mind on the mission, just like he told that greenie, and her hands patted her body, not liking the lack of steel they found.

"Bow, knives? Where would they keep them?"

He pointed without even looking. He'd know where the armory lodge was blindfolded and swung around, by the smell of burnt steel and old forge coals alone. "There. They'll give you what you need." He muttered the rest. "Or they petching well better..."

"So it hides up in the trees during the day...at least when it knows there are patrols abound, and descends upon Myrians when they are separate from their comrades, also hunting at night."

He nodded his agreement, grateful again for something to take his mind off being torn between friend and kin. He folded his arms and frowned at the jungle all around them, from their toes to the distant sky.

"It must be... somewhere in the middle. Plenty of cover up there, with the biggest branches, more shadows. Maybe... eighty feet off the ground. Even sound would be muffled. But something that huge... how would it move so quickly and quietly?"

"Well we know it likes hunting Myrians, but is too smart to deal with many..."

Razkar nodded, seeing embers of a plan cooking quietly in her alien eyes. So strange to think that two years ago those eyes would have provoked nothing more than his ax between them; now he looked at them and saw one of his closest friends and, if he was honest, the finer tactician of the two.

But despite that, his mind hit the same mine as she did.

"We need a trap."

"Yes!" He hissed, happy to have struck on something to lure the creature out. "Something tempting. A small group, perhaps? A hunting party? They could stick to one part of the jungle, with a larger party concealed for when the monster struck." Then he grimaced and shook his head. "But how would we have the ambush party get into position? This thing must be able to see us, and we-"

"I volunteer as the bait."

Razkar whirled on her, face pale. The rest of his fang did the same, but with markedly less concern in their eyes. They were just surprised the petching abomination could be so selfless. Weren't they all just a race of selfish monsters? His mouth moved but no words came out, and just when the barked "no" formed on his tongue-

"Excellent idea."

Heads turned to the new voice and then immediately dropped with respect, Razkar's included. Lowax was regarding the bunch of them placidly, other elders behind her with stern faces in the presence of one tainted by the Ancient Enemy. Razkar whirled again, eyes wide-

-and Lowax's own bored right through him.

"Our clan has lost too many already to this beast stalking our lands." Her words were so simple. So logical. So... concerned, for the welfare of her clan. The fact they were coldly sacrificing his friend was inconsequential to her. "As one marked by Caiyha, the abomination will be well-disposed to draw it out so we may destroy it. If it is indeed Dhani, it will be drawn to her, anyway."

Then she cast her eyes at Tinnok briefly, and Razkar felt another flush of anger. No hatred there. No contempt. Nothing at all. Like observing an insect. A tool to be used and discarded. Why had he never seen that before? Or was it only because she was directing that gaze on Wolf?

"You may yet prove yourself, abomination. Put her plan into action, Razkar. That is my command to you. I will send runners to recall Draksyl. His hunting party is the largest, and their skill at concealment is impressive. They will complement your own party well."

"Matriarch, I-"

"Yes, Fang Leader?"

The words would not come. He tried to make his tongue move, voice the rage and anger and... yes, fear that was rampaging throughout his mind. But they would not come. His tongue was stilled before cool and commanding eyes that had stared down Yukmen, Dhani, humans, pirates, raiders and her fellow savages. One anguished boy was nothing to her.

"... I... I understand."

"I knew you would."

She took her leave with narry another word, leaving Razkar there with his hands balled into fists. Oxil licked dry lips, sensing his friend and leader's anger, and knowing the rest of the fang would, too. So he stood, clearing his throat loudly and doing what he did best: keeping things steady.

"Alright! You heard the Matriarch and the halfbreed. We have a plan, and I want you ready for it. All of you, see to your weapons and start practicing your archery. I don't know when we'll be leaving but-"

Footsteps. Short, sharp and angry. Razkar was marching to the armory with Wolf trailing behind him. "Fang Leader, where-"

"To get her weapons!"

Hmm. Not a tone to argue with...

Razkar barely heard whatever else Oxil said. He stomped and stamped and when they got into the room filled with weapons of all kinds, perpetually muggy from the groaning and glowing forges, he whirled on Eagle and all his frustrated fury came out along an accusing finger.

"Do you want to die out there?!"

[Tinnok]

She saw the color drain from his face even as the ears that had been listening to every word of their conversations pricked with interest. Take that, you shyke eating racists. She thought grimly.

Her head inclined with the rest of the clan, and if it was a fraction or so higher than any Shorn Skulls? Well no one was really paying attention to her in that moment to comment. Just as she thought the Matriarch and the rest of the clan grabbed onto the plan like a gift of a tiger pelt. After all, she was offering herself up as a meaty treasure and they didn't have to worry about their own. Part of her wanted to be upset at how fast they grabbed, but looking around at weary and grief stricken faces, trying to keep up appearances before the abomination silenced any latent rage. She was simply another monster to them, why not fight fire with fire?

Her body froze for a moment as the Eagle spoke up, eyes boring into the back of his skull. Don't do it you fool, this would be like that day in the woods...only so much worse. A breath of relief slid from in between her nostrils as he complied, and then suddenly the clan was in a frenzy of preparation. Tinnok's heart thudded in her chest, and she wished she had one of her blades...

Then he was stalking off like a Tiger in heat towards what she could only assume was the armory, brushing by the creature she only knew as the squat thing that had beaten the shyke out of her upon her first day in the training yards. Oxil locked eyes with the abomination and she with him. A strange moment passed between the two of them, a strange medley of hate and respect in equal measure, and then the moment passed and Tinnok strode after Razkar, entering the small shed...

Only to have the door slammed behind her and a finger pointing in an accusatory manner at her. Tinnok had the gall to smile, but it was the cold Dhani side that did so.

"Perhaps."

She turned and began looking about for the weapons they took off of her in the woods, her longbow and daggers...and her quiver. She glanced up to see him positively quivering in rage, a moment from exploding and Tinnok now decided it was safe.

She placed a hand upon his shoulder. "I am a servant of Caiyha...this is what I must do..." It wasn't enough, but something flickered in those golden eyes. She did not like to see him suffer, but she did not want to think what it would be like for him if she proved dishonorable to his clan. He was intimate with a tolerable half breed and called himself friends with an entirely intolerable one...did he not see how his connections could get him into trouble, with his people, with his clan?

"I do not do this for them...but for Caiyha...and you." And that was the end of that. After a moment she saw a bundle swaddled in thin cloth, and unwrapped it to reveal her weapons. She sighed in relief as she slid the dagger belt on and slipped on the quiver, longbow in hand.

"There is no time to argue things that are already decided Eagle, I thought you were more clever than that." A twinge of a smile was on her face, though the expression was laced with fear. Not knowing precisely what one faced could do that to even the most hardened of warriors.

But there was no more time for talk, not until after this thing was done.

The abomination undid her hair, tightly weaving it coils that hung at the back of her neck in quick motions, then strode out of the armory a new individual, head high and eyes watching. She did not require the praise she would never get....for she was a guardian of Caiyha's domain first, yet she was also a servant of a warrior Queen who would probably grind her into dust if they ever met. She could not turn her back on her people...even if they did not acknowledge her as such.

[Razkar]

"Perhaps."

Razkar wasn't expected that response, and so his own was slow coming. He didn't want to face the fact that his friend had a death wish, though Goddess knew he would understand why. Everywhere she turned she was feared and hated; even her own clan could barely stand to look at her. And all he could do was watch, and-

This is not about you! If she wants to walk this path, let her.

"You... You are too important..." He sensed a prickly in her shoulders and hurriedly followed that up: "As one marked by Caiyha. You have a gift over the beasts of the jungle that are useful. You-"

"I am a servant of Caiyha...this is what I must do... I do not do this for them...but for Caiyha...and you."

He heard the whole little speech, but listened to the last two words. Some nameless thing passed between them that was not quite friendship. Her hand gripped his shoulder and his own twitched at his side, some impulse there to reach up and take it. But he did not. Even now his anger, his impotent frustration was too strong.

"Why must you be so difficult?" He all but snarled, not wanting to raise his voice too high. A myriad of rushing feet circled the armory, half the clan mobilizing by the sound of it, Oxil's voice above them all, snapping out orders in a manner to make Razkar proud. "You will do enough just finding this creature, why must you-"

"There is no time to argue things that are already decided Eagle, I thought you were more clever than that."

His words were stalled again, not just by her own but what they implied. Ah... they had been over that before. In the dead Arena outside of Taloba. They both knew how their race worked. Half-bloods were barely tolerated, and those tainted by the Dhani... well, suffice to say Wolf was lucky she was not thrown into the jungle at birth, left for the ants and vultures. Razkar hated that for her, because he knew she was worthy.

He didn't need to have faith in her, or belief. He had seen her conviction, her devotion, her loyalty and her intelligence. But at every turn, the Myrians scorned her. Cast her out. The male felt an invisible gulf widening between himself and his people because of that... and he knew it would cause him trouble. But could he abandon her?

Never. No more than you could Ayatah.

She was right about one thing, though: her mind definitely was made up. Wolf busied herself with putting her hair back and out of the way, dripping with weapons once again and looking far more confident for it. All he could do was glower at her as she made her way to the door, head held high-

"Die out there and they win." Wolf stopped at Eagle's caw, and did not bark back. He was soon at her side, not slowing as he opened the door. "Live. Live and prosper. It is the finest service and the best revenge."

Razkar almost kicked the door open and was already shouting orders to his men, even as they stood to attention before him.

"Alright you worthless piles of shyke!" Ah, inspiring words if ever they were uttered. "You've heard the plan, so time to get it moving!" His arm shot out and swept around Draksyl's ragtag but alert bunch of hunters, leaning on spears and smeared with dirt and dung. "These will be your guides and your support. We will follow them to the ambush site. Move out slowly, carefully and keep your eyes up. That is where our enemy lies."

"And how did you divine that, boy?"

Razkar turned very, very slowly. Wolf felt her heart skip a beat at the barely-restrained violence in his eyes but tugged back her fear. He had been there before; no need to fret about it now. Instead, a smile was on his face...

But she was still unsure whether that was good or bad.

"It does not make tracks. It cannot be under the earth. So where else would it be, Draksyl? In the sky?"

The one-eyed hunter just glared, eyes flickering side to side as some of his fellows stifled guffaws. Interruption over with, Razkar turned back to his men.

"The plan is simple, but it will require patience and care. Tinnok of the Tempered Steel-" he gestured to her and used her full name, and fuck anyone who denied him even that simple, basic etiquette "-is blessed by the Green Goddess herself. She will narrow down where this beast, this monster may be. Once we have a rough idea, you and Draksyl and his men will fan out, surround and wait. You will hide, and hide well. You will watch..."

He swallowed what was left of his fear. What was done was done; now required the courage to see it through. Eagle's eyes hardened and he swept his gaze back to his troops, voice firm.

"... and she will bait the trap. Draw this abomination close and let us spring the trap. No mercy. No attempts at capture. You will kill this thing quickly, and we shall cure these clan lands from this sickness that infects them."

He held up hi gladius, a salute and a challenge to the choking jungle above and around them.

"For Myri!"

Two dozen voices and more roared back the words, and Eagle turned to Wolf, nodding to the treeline.

"Lead the way, female. Find us a trail through your gifts. Help us bring light to the dark and find the heart of our hatred..."

[Tinnok]

His words made her pause. He was right of course, living was the only way to prove to them all that she was something more than a monster, but she shook her head all the same.

Despite the seriousness of the whole situation she couldn't help but smile as he barked his order like a true task master. He was a good leader the Eagle was...could command respect, fear, and loyalty all in one breadth as if he was an elite female...she wondered sometimes if his fang saw him that way, as more than a male. She shook her head a bit sadly, standing to face the forest as he spoke.

So when she was instructed to take point the half breed started off with not a look behind her, a smirk still on her face for how the Eagle told off that one-eyed male...Drak-whatever.

Her bandaged legs strode swiftly over the ground, moving from the clearing in which all the longhouses were located into the thin brush, then into the thick jungle just behind it. It was time to get tracking.

Her fingers brushed the leaves and trees as she moved, but they would not give her any news that was recent, so slow were they to talk. It was a good way to eliminate places where the monster had not been, however, no strange disturbances of the earth or their branches, simply the wind the rain and Syna's light filtering down from the blue sky.

So she kept going, farther and farther from the camp. Her stance was crouched as all Myrians learned in their service of the military. It was a simple but vital rule, the less of you an opponent could see, the smaller chance to catch sight or hit you. Her strides were long and purposeful, but she did not run. Patience and precision were required, a single false step and this whole idea could be blown apart. If their prey was as clever as he was vicious...this was simply not an option for their hunt.

She spotted a patch of crimson upon a giant fern, and strayed from her line, stooping to examine it, eyes glancing around the clearing. She did not immediately see anything, but then the small plip of another drop hit the leaf and she looked upward to see the corpse of a howler monkey ripped in half, guts spilling out. Now that she looked she could see the earth around the fern was drenched in the crimson liquid that had slowly congealed to the point were it was now only infrequently dripping. Which meant the kill was probably a half a day old if not more.

Her eyes locked with Razkar's for a moment, then moved forward through the forest.

There was no tracking this thing, at least not in the conventional sense, but wasn't that why she was so useful?

After another bell Tinnok stopped the group to climb her signature tree: A strangler fig. Within the upper canopy a group of Capuchin were feasting upon the newly flowering fruit. A particularly curious male met her half way up the plant, curling his tail around her neck and sitting atop her shoulder. He chattered nervously as they descended, but after offering the omnivorous primate a bit of salted piranha and reassuring him of the intentions of the large group of Myrians that traveled with her, the monkey reluctantly returned to the ground with her. He chittered and talked, though she couldn't understand a word of it. What she did understand were the thoughts and feelings sent through her. Their entire troupe had been nervous for the past weeks. At night blood curdling screams could be heard, and the stench of blood always seemed to be in the air no matter where they traveled. Tinnok felt the fear of the whole group of them leaping from tree to tree with only a sliver of Leth to guide them as they heard something massive in the trees nearby. A hint of egotistical pride slipped into the capuchin's thoughts as he sent sporadic memories of howler and spider monkey corpses. They were stupid monkeys compared to the clever little ruffed primates, and would not be so easily caught by monsters such as the one that roamed the forest.

Tinnok attempted to narrow down the train of the creature's thoughts. Recently, today, had the troupe seen something, anything connected to this creature?

Rustling, loud rustling in the trees and the screams of a howler. At first Tinnok's heart sunk to think it was the beast they had already happened upon, but the way the monkey envisioned the position of the sun spoke of it like it was only a couple of bells prior. A small dark hand pointed in the direction of the screams, and Tinnok lifted him up, putting the little fellow back on the tree and giving a whole piranha to take back with him. Chittering with glee he scrambled back up the tree, and Tinnok glanced at the party, whose faces displayed an entire gamut of emotions she didn't especially want to think about just then.

It only took a few chimes to find the second howler, grounded and eviscerated just as all the corpses had been before. Syna crept lower in the sky and Tinnok raised her head.

"From here I will have to go alone...It could be close."

She spoke to all of them, but looked to Razkar. He was the fang leader after all, the one truly in charge of this affair.

[Razkar]

It was agony, moving so slow and careful, across the debris-strewn jungle floor. They didn't speak, not for bells and bells, or so it seemed. Razkar would guess by the sun that they'd been out there for at least four.

Creeping in the undergrowth, legs screaming from cramp after crouching low for so long, faces set and intent, two dozen Myrians fanned out silently in the wake of Tinnok. No words spoken. Just bird calls tossed occasionally between querying member and the even rarer hand signal.

Rare because most of the time, Razkar could not see his fellows. But that reassured him: it meant they were following orders.

But he could see Wolf, and hardly took his eyes off her. He wondered idly just what her golden eyes were seeing as her fingers traced leaves and branches. He had heard stories about witches touched by Ciyha who had gone mad, overwhelmed by the countless millions of tiny voices that populated even a small patch of jungle. Everything from plants to ants to Tskanna and dire wolves... everything clamoring in your head for attention.

Stay focused!

Focus came in the form of the monkey corpse. Ripped to shreds and still, in death, retaining an expression of very sentient horror in its black eyes. Razkar's jaw tightened and he looked up, seeing a flash of grief in Wolf's eyes. He saw it... and nodded, eyes a silent promise.

We will stop this.

The sun began to dip when she vanished up the fig tree, and Razkar's voice trilled the order to halt, wait, observe. Hooting and chattering from what seemed like an army of primates above, and after a few chimes her lithe, dark form fell from the canopy and landed as smoothly as one of them.

Another trill. The party continued its noiseless hunt... until another splash of crimson marked yet another dead animal. A second howler, big and sinewy but as helpless as a newborn duckling against whatever had killed it. For the first time in what seemed like an age, Wolf turned to him, tearing her despairing, angry eyes from the carcass.

"From here I will have to go alone. It could be close."

Razkar just nodded, in no mood to muddy this hunt or his own intent with personal feelings. Too much was at stake. A large shape detached itself from the jungle floor and there was Oxil, smeared in mud and dirt so much that he was barely visible. Razkar leaned down to him.

"She goes ahead. We follow. Half-moon behind her, spread wide." He turned his eyes back to the with of the wilds. "When it comes for you, try to lead it back the way you came." He made a half-moon with one hand, like a bowl facing upwards, his other hands moving into it. "Draw him into our force. We'll hit the bastard from the front and sides."

Two sharp nods, and nothing else needed to be said. Wolf and Eagle waited, knowing the orders would need some time be be spread to all. It would be a slow, laborious process, done on one to one or by slow hand signals. But Razkar still smiled with pride as he listened to... nothing.

A score of moving, conversing Myrians, and the jungle gave no hint.

Razkar rubbed his face, spreading around some more of the dirt and grime and vine juice that camouflaged him.

"Move out, Wolf. Bring this abomination to us."

[Tinnok]

They were quiet. If she hadn't known the fang and the troop from the Shorn Skulls were with them she almost could have forgotten there was anyone there save her and the Eagle...almost.

Her heart thumped in her chest, loudly beating within her ribs. She wished to quiet it but knew that it would not happen...not until this was over. Strange that she held no fear against nearly anything, even the Dhani...only hate and disgust. But this entity...this thing of the unknown, this was what she could not stand. She hated it for what it was doing, to her people, to her jungle, yet in her short time upon Mizahar she had learned that nothing operated without any purpose. To think of the reason for such anger and unbridled rage at anything that it came into contact was the thing that truly scared the Phylonurist more than anything.

Her bow was un-slung, body moving slowly and cautiously over the ground, careful of where she stepped. It was highly unlikely she would be able to sneak upon this monster where everyone else had failed, but she also wanted to make sure her separation seemed legitimate, that she was hunting and not acting as the drawing mechanism for whatever creature hung waiting within the under story.

She prayed to her Goddesses to Myri, Caiyha, Dira, and even Kihala that her weapons stay true, her will be done, and that no more lives of the Shorn Skull be lost. They were weak prayers born of fear and anxiety, but she thought them nonetheless...she had to think of something after all to keep her mind off of what awaited her in the canopy.

She felt cold, but assured herself it was only her own body, and no actual change in temperature around her, but after a shiver ran down her spine she was absolutely sure she was being watched...

After a few chimes of unbearable silence, the birds having been silenced and only the muted hum of insects to guide her, Tinnok glanced up at the canopy, hoping to see the creature. Golden eyes darted here, there, everywhere, yet she could see nothing...

Then there was the laugh. It slid like oil down her spine that followed the shiver that pulled at her skin. It was a laugh of madness and she had not heard such a sound since...well the cave.

"The little half breed wishesssss to make a noble ssssacrifice doessss sssshe?"

She froze, heart dropping into her stomach.

"Oooooh do not be ssssad, sssisssster. It wassss a good plan, but my eyessss are everywhere, we sssssaw you coming from leaguessssss away, heard every bit of your little plan..."

Her bow was drawn, arrow head pointed into the tree tops, darting from location to location, but she couldn't tell where the sound was coming from...not even remotely. It surrounded and engulfed her....sounded hoarse and scratchy....she growled.

"You dare defile Caiyha's realm serpent? Come out and face me? I do not need those idiot Myrians, I will take you on myself!" Her voice began as a tremor, but grew in pitch and sincerity.

The laughing continued. "You ssseem ssso brave, but I sssee the truth in your heart outcast, and it is filled with fear."

"THEN FACE ME!" She screamed upwards, sure her heart was going to explode.


And then...it descended. She had thought it to be just a Dhani, which would have been bad enough...but it was not so. One arm was massive and muscled, just as a Constrictor should be, it was the only part of the beast that seemed to be whole. The other arm was shrunken and human, yet covered with thick scales and curled in an unhealthy manner. The head was warped, one giant green eyes nearly full grown snake size next to a much smaller one, fangs sticking out at odd angles in a mouth too small to contain them, tail massive but dull, scales coming off of it. This was not a fate the half breed would wish upon any enemy, even a Dhani, and suddenly all the events became clear. It couldn't shift....something had happened to it, how torturous it must have been....

"How...?"

"The ssstorm." It spat the word like venom and surged close to her. Tinnok back pedaled beginning to turn toward where she was supposed to run, but a massive tail, much too big for a normal Dhani form to manipulate curled around her legs and hurled her across the clearing. Her bow flew from her hands, and she hit the ground with an earth shattering thud, knocking the wind out of her and causing a whimper of pain.

It coiled and swarmed toward her, grisly mouth opened in a vicious smile.

"It will be ssssuch a pleassssure ripping the life out of you...sssssissster."

Tinnok's eyes widened in anguish, struggling to rise without the strength to do so. Her mouth opened, but only a single croak came out. "Eagle..."

[Razkar]

The waiting was killing him by inches. Searching, hunting, tracking was tedious enough, but at least there was some purpose and movement to it. Something be accomplished. But this? Crouching in the mud, smeared with dirt and leaves and whatever dung he could find, nothing but a pile of the jungle floor with eyes. Listening... hoping... fearing...

Hold it together, for the Goddess's sake. She knows what she's doing.

Razkar told himself that, but only half-believed it. Scattered around him in a half-moon for twenty other of his kind. Seasoned hunters or proven warriors all. Weapons ready, arrows notched, eyes sharp and muscles eager for release. So why this tension? Why this nameless dread?

He breathed deep and tightened his jaw, as was his habit. The arrow he had notched trembled ever so slightly. He couldn't stand this. Almost ten chimes, or so it seemed, and she had vanished beyond the treeline. Occasional bird calls stabbed out from the jungle floor, and he answered them all with the same order.

Hold position.

"Can't do this much longer," he whispered to himself, "She shouldn't-"

A screech from the trees to his right nearly knocked him flat on his arse. An explosion of noise nearly stunned him into a yelp and made him sway to the side, head and arrow and eye flashing around, aiming-

At a steady and fierce gaze laid into a circle of black and white fur.

A Capuchin, if he remembered correctly. Small and nimble beyond any Myrian would ever be, it had jumped down from above... and his peripheral vision saw more flashes of black-and-white above it. A whole group, by the look of it. But this one was slightly larger, it's eyes keener... a leader?

Razkar lowered his weapon, something... he didn't know. But it tugged at him like an insistent child, and he felt...

The Capuchin pointed. It was an unmistakable gesture. It pointed where Tinnok had come from and screeched. Screamed. Howled. Thrust its face forward and its eyes shone and Razkar just stared and shuddered a little with every sound.

There were no words. No language. Just a feeling that rippled through him until the knowledge, the certainty, the change in and acceptance of a new truth had been born in his mind. He would not know if it was just paranoia and fear overriding him, or if he truly had got a message from the Green Goddess.

But he knew the truth.

She needs you.

Wolf was running before he was even aware of it. If fear, as the scholar said, gave men wings, then it ave Myrians feet of tiger themselves. Oxil looked up as a blur streaked between Zuran and he, his filthy Fang Leader barely recognizable as he blitzed by.

But his bird call was, piercing the eerily still air with the howls and shrieks of those damn monkeys behind him.

Close and attack!

Twenty bodies appeared like wraiths from the jungle floor, but all were still following in Raz's wake. Eyes wide, bow ready, he smashed through brush after brush, leaped debris and fallen trunks, breath coming out in hard gasps that stabbed at his lungs-

Hissing. Evil, vicious hissing, and from not far away. Then the clear crash of something heavy landing on the ground, the merest whimper of fear.

"Eagle..."

Did he hear that? Truly? He didn't know, didn't care, heard only a rasping, croaking hiss that he'd know anywhere, broke the final treeline, raised his bow-

"By the Goddess..."

-and hesitated. Almost fatally.

Whatever turned to him from it's fallen prey was a thing he had no words for. An arm built like two of his own, broader than an Isurian's, rippling with muscle... and yet it's twin was twisted, stunted, curled in on itself and useless, twitching pitifully. Skin that was not skin, scales that were not scales, covered the length of it, twenty feet long and oozing with puss and dried blood. The scales were even falling off it.

But the eyes were worst. Windows to a soul that was as deformed as it's body. One huge and glaring and serpentine, the other tiny, beady, but almost more threatening and insane than the other.

"Ssssssso, you come for your friend?"

The words seemed to bubble and ooze from it's throat, and Razkar gave a shudder when a smile that seemed entirely made of teeth ripped its face in two, seeming to stretch its maw painfully open.

"Ssssssuch bravery... ssssuch foolishness... exxxxxxxquissssite..."

Razkar fired a fraction too late. The... thing had already swung around, massive, lumpen tale smashing towards him, upper body shifting out the way as the arrow zoomed towards it. It caught it in the withered arm and the monster hissed in pain-

-Razkar throwing himself back and down, trying to avoid-

-the tail that crashed into him, knocking him to the side.

Do not fail!

The words boomed at him from somewhere both close and faraway, and through the agony Razkar rolled when he hit, dirt and stones sticking into and marring him, coming up on one knee, hand reaching for-

-his bow was snapped in two, and the Dhani-thing laughed.

"Ssssso weak without your weaponssssss." Sheer scorn made every word burn like acid. "Ssssssuch a pathetic racccccce. Pigssss... all pigssss..."

Even with horror and pain filling his eyes Razkar growled, getting to his feet and unsheathing his weapons, filling hands with ax and gladius. He spat a hateful glob at the creature, wrinkling his nose with disgust.

"Die." He snarled, pouring out everything in one word. "Die now and burn forever!"

He charged just as the first arrows flashed through the dirty jungle light. Draksyl and Zuran and Oxil and Xarel, they had all caught up, finally, and the monster's attention was so focused on Wolf and Eagle that she was taken by surprise.

Or he. There was no way of knowing anymore.

Whatever it was, the screech it let out seemed to shake the trees with its outrage. It reared up twice as tall as Razkar and threw its head back, half-a-dozen arrows sticking into it, but none doing more than making it angry. Razkar howled his rage and slashed down at the thick trunk, ripping open a ragged gash in it. His ax hammered down-

-the muscled arm lashed out and knocked him off his feet like a wrecking ball, ending him flying back and slamming him into a tree.

"Pigsssss!" The hissing roar seemed to still everything around it, dripping hatred and contempt for everything it saw infecting the whole jungle. "You did thissssss! All of you! All of you! YOU WILL DIE! I WILL SSSSSSSQUEEZE AND WRENCH THE LIFE FROM YOU ALL!"

Razkar spat blood and pushed himself up. Goddess alone knew, but his hands were still full, and Wolf-

-another outraged screech as the half-breed threw herself onto the creature's lower trunk, burying her daggers into it with a whispered curse that Razkar could not make out.

"Traitor!" The Dhani twisted as a fresh volley zipped all around it, crushing Wolf to itself with its good arm. "Nothing will change what happenssssss here! I will not be denied!"

It tensed, Wolf squirming in its arm, and Razkar knew what was about to happen. Feet shaky, he staggered forward, arms raised-

-just as the Dhani leaped upwards to the nearest, thickest tree.

It should have been impossible. Wounded, armless, something so irrevocably... broken, should not have been able to wrap and twist and slither up the trunk. But it did, arrows chasing it with every flexing of its coils, growing smaller and smaller as it did-

Razkar did not hesitate this time. He stowed his weapons and ran for the tree.

"Draksyl, keep your people down here and track it!" He barked, arms stretched out to grab the first handhold. "Warriors of Taloba?! To me!"

His back was on fire and his arms screamed in protest, but he climbed. His breath tasted of blood and sweat, but he climbed. Every foot he covered was but ten to that which the monstrous, deformed abomination covered with his struggling captive, but he climbed.

Because he would not leave her to this. Even if it meant a long drop or a slow death in the canopy, he would climb.

"Hang on, you petching half-breed," he muttered, words a strange mix of insult and fervent hope, "Hold on, please..."

[Tinnok]

Her blade sank deep into the Snake's flesh. She would call it a snake...for that was all she could acknowledge of it, all she could allow herself to focus upon lest she curl up in a whimpering ball of fear and worry. She felt like a tiny child, combating her fears so that her mother's disgusted glare wouldn't hold so much venom, thinking of that was what drove her forward, put the power behind the attack.

And then it crushed her against it's side. She heard Eagle's battle cry, it was a familiar blood curdling sound, not that it had much effect on the reptilian beast that had her clutched in it's grasp. She saw gashes torn open in its skin, but they seemed like mere thorns to it as the thing surged towards the trees, tail propelling it upward, Tinnok's body shaking like a rag doll as it used a couple claws to climb while still holding her.

"You will be mine, pretty little mixed blood. If you are the lassst thing I take from thisss world."

Tinnokstuggled, trying to find purchase, kicking out, biting its scaled hands, but none of it was to any avail, and all she got for her trouble was he slamming her body roughly once against the trunk of the tree, causing her to lose the air in her lungs all over again, body groaning in weariness.

"Enough of that. You have sssspunk, but it will do you no good."

The tree shook from the creatures weight as it climbed ever higher, and was finally forced to stop. Tinnok was brought out before him, mismatched eyes drinking her in. A tongue scratched and bleeding from sitting inside a mouth filled with razors lashed out and ran across her neck. Tinnok bit her lip to keep from shrieking like an infant. The laugh that followed chilled her to her very spine.

"Do you feel....dirty? Defiled? Ssssubject to my whimssss sssnake ssspawn? Good."

An arrow flew by them, then another sank into the creature's tail. From somewhere below Tinnok heard an enraged scream...that could only belong to one. The snake cackled, pulling his body backward, then sling shotting from one tree to the next. The branch he landed upon snapped under his weight, but that thick meaty tail wrapped around the trunk of the tree, laughing with insane delight as he turned back to see his pursuers, gazing down warily at those following from below.

The wolf closed her eyes tightly. They were wet, and she had to focus, to bring her rampaging emotions into check into focus...she knew of only one way to do this...and the part of her that could help was furious at her for even volunteering for this idiotic job in the first place. Serves you right for being the martyr, aye?

She couldn't beat this thing by being Myrian, though...no she needed the Dhani, and needed it fast.

[Razkar]

He knew this was what the monster wanted, and he didn't care. For him to give chase, pursue vertically, exhaust his body climbing up and up, to a place where the Dhani would have balance and control, and he would be wobbling and shattered on the canopy. The smart play would have been to keep it in sight from the ground and wear it down, instead, sap its strength with arrows for bells until blood loss claimed it.

Razkar knew all this. And he kept climbing.

His arms burned as he hauled himself up another stretch of towering tree, hearing the curses and scuffles of Zuran and Oxil behind him. Further behind him than he liked, actually. The monster was fast, strong, even malformed, but it had apparently stopped.

The Myrian bore his teeth with a snarl, but there was fear behind the grimace. He knew the Dhani. They liked to play with their food. He climbed closer, breath already coming out in ragged clumps and heard the strained, gurgling hiss of the monster above him. He looked up... a vast shadow, looming over a struggling shape.

"Stay there, stay-"

An arrow whistled by him and slammed into its tail with a thunk. Razkar's head whipped round in fury and saw Xarel, the girl bracing herself between trunk and limb with a bow leveled.

Commotion above him, and he knew what it as before he'd even turned: the Dhani let out an outraged hiss and leaped to another tree. A thick, wet snap of wood told him that the landing was not perfect, but it was away yet again, glaring down at its pursuers-

Down. Not up.

A frantic, momentary plan formed in Razkar's head and he slid out of sight behind a tree trunk even wider than the Dhani. The thing wasn't expecting an attack from above. The canopy had been its ally for Goddess knew how long, and it believed itself the master of it. So to strike from an unexpected quarter...

Keeping out of sight and teeth gritted so hard he felt some of them crunch, Razkar kept scaling upwards, ears pricked the whole time. The snapping twigs and shouts of Draksyl and his party, far below them. The scraping and clambering of his Fang, scaling the same trees with the same grim determination, but with none of the fearful adrenaline that had sent him powering ahead.

And it. Hissing. Sliding. Chuckling. Wolf. Terrified. Almost whimpering...

Razkar finally hazarded a look when he was further up, the light so fresh this far up, near the canopy's peak. Below him, the Dhani was pleasuring itself with its captive, enjoying every disgusted and horrified moment it could wring from her. But it was so big, taking up everything around-

But not above. A limb jutted out maybe six feet above it, nearly level with Razkar-

Now or never.

Edging quickly around the tree trunk, forcing himself not to look down, the Myrian drew his ax, threw his arms and body out and for a moment... he flew. Down below, his fang and clan just stared as a Myrian-shaped shadow blotted part of the canopy. Blotted... soared...

Missed.

Razkar yelped as the branch slammed into his shoulder, overshooting his mark and stopping his grace-less soar with a bang and a shudder of impact. He fell. He fell and his arm lashed out, ax swinging and burying into scale and flesh and with an inhuman screech the Dhani whirled on him-

"Pig!"

The falling Myrian clung to her tail, one arm wrapped around it, the other clinging grimly onto the handle of the ax buried in it. Black, glaring, hateful eyes that almost matched the contempt in her own flashed up at her, past her-

-seeing Tinnok pressed against the trunk with that one massive arm, looking so... unlike Wolf.

The Dhani blinked. Rarely had she seen rage like that flare so brutally quick.

"You cannot hide here." Razkar snarled fixing the Dhani rigid with his words, just like he knew it would. "This is our jungle, monster-"

Razkar's whole world became a thrashing, swaying, vibrating screaming mess of noise and movement, but he gripped gladius handle tight, his best and only real anchor scores of feet above the jungle floor. Stuck between the Dhani's deformed ribs, the blade held fast, no matter how much it screeched and squirmed.

But it could not last. Razkar's other hand quested to his back, found his dagger-

-just as the monster's shrieking head darted towards him, fangs bared.

[Tinnok]

She realized in a moment of stillness, of quiet in the madness surrounding her, why she feared so much, why her bones quaked and her eyes watered when she looked upon the creature. It was because this scene, this mad hunt where every being had rage and death in their eyes, revenge and wrath playing out in a cruel game, was her nightmare. She did not look like this creature, but she felt like him...her...it. She knew what it felt like to be hunted. And sometimes she too feared that her will would snap, that she would do something that her monstrous blood encouraged, the way this scene could be played out so easily in reality with the simplest slip...that was what scared her the most.

But this was not about her, not really. This was about the abomination that had done wrong, not the monster it was holding as it scaled the trees.

So when she heard the cry, heard a form land upon the tail and the snake hiss in annoyance, her eyes snapped open, and she knew what she had to do.

It was distract, still holding her in its vice like grip, but surging towards the warrior that had leapt upon it. The half breed struggled, hands sliding out a second dagger from her belt and burying it into the monster's hand, making sure the blade sank not into the meaty flesh of the back of the hand, but just in between two fingers, stabbing herself in the leg in the process as the blade cut through thinner and more sensitive webbing. Another shriek called out, and just as the beast planned to rip the head off of the petulant Myrian, its attention was drawn back to the prisoner in its grasp. Tinnok wasted no time in pulling out her dagger and stabbing the hand again and gain repeatedly, snarling as she did so. She felt the slightest of releases and kicked out at the monsters side, pushing herself out and away from the hand and landing albeit shakily, on a wide branch, bare feet curling around the trunk and ensuring her balance.

The creature was furious. Torn between tormenting the half breed and facing the full blood that was so wrathful, it had no idea what to do. But even in its mutated state the creature was exceedingly clever...observant. Even as arrows whizzed by its coiled form its mouth broke apart again. "You...Myrian, you sssseem ssso upsssset, ssso...riled. Your comradessss ssshoot calmly from the ground, yet you...you climb up foolishhhly after me...for thissss?"" A clawed hand curled in disgust, gesturing towards Tinnok.

"No." Tinnok said, voice so very very weary, but loud, commanding. She had enough games.

"Oh? Done wailing like a babe, half breed?"

Tinnok smiled, and the creature looked surprised...if one could judge its marred appearance and emotions correctly. "You will not taunt him, you will not use me as bait in my own trap. I am a witch and a wolf, and you die. Now."

And then she leapt, jumping onto the creatures arm and racing up the appendage to sink her dagger into its chest. The creature gave a choked cry of pain, then Tinnok felt that strong grip around her torso once more. "I told you...you will be mine." And then like throwing a ball the snake hefted the half breed and hurled her with all of it's might through the trees. Tinnok didn't even have the energy left to scream as she fell weightlessly through the air...surely to her own demise. The snake, weakened and slowly bleeding out, turned back to Razkar.

"Now...where were we?"