When Destiny Comes Knocking

by **Kaie** on October 29th, 2014, 4:36 am

85th of Fall, 514 AV
Evening

"You sure it's her?"
"Aye. I'm sure."
"What's the plan?"
"Same as the boss says. We track the bitch and go from there."
"Think she'll be an easy catch?"
"Hah! Not bloody likely."
"Oi, who are you two shykes talkin' about? Who's 'she'?"

The two burly men let out a deep sigh of irritation and looked toward the boy. He truly was hardly a man yet. Tall and skinny he was, a real scrawny looking thing, with peach fuzz upon his jaw line he liked to think was the solid start to his growing beard. His mismatched clothes hung loosely off his awkward frame. Just by the way the old, shoddy longbow swayed across his shoulder when he hustled to keep up with the experienced men, it was easy to see he was far from battle tested. Only one word came to his companions' minds when they first looked at him: green.

"She is the bounty." Jarrett grumbled from where he was crouched upon the ground over a single boot imprint. His thick, grubby index finger swirled thoughtfully into the dirt.
"Didn't really pay attention when you took the job, did you?" Lenyx growled from his lean against a nearby tree, valued battle ax clutched in his able hands. He was an imposing figure with an admirable bulk. When his coal black eyes fell upon the boy, the youth's own gaze dropped shamefully. He shook his head.
"Jus' need the Mizas." He confessed with a nervous mussing of his short blond hair. Jarrett stood and trudged closer to the boy, sizing him up with his good eye. Wormy lips pressed into a hard line. His hands gave a gesture toward the hulking mercenary as he addressed the green boy.
"Aye. We thought as much. Say, you ever met her, Lenyx?"
Lenyx's throaty laugh followed from the shadows of the trees. He gave a grunt as he shoved himself from the tree and joined the other two, twirling the battle ax as he went.
"The Myrian? She's a real pisser." Lenyx spat off to the side, turned toward the boy and gave him a solid pat on the shoulder. He practically quivered under the force of the hand...or perhaps that too was nerves. "Let's hope we get to see why the boss thought you worth our trouble, aye? Ben, was it?"

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"Petch!" She cursed under her breath with the snapping of a twig beneath her boot. The deer she'd been stalking lifted its head from the thickets serving as its feast, paralyzed with alarm. Amber eyes pressed shut in irritation, teeth grit as she tried her to best remain frozen and invisible. She heard the insulted grunt of the buck and by the time her eyes had flashed open, the animal had turned and darted into the oblivion of Sunberth's wild. Bronze shoulder sagged and a flurry of Myrian curses followed. With the growing animosity in the city streets came the stir of the savage within the jungle-born. Blood alone could not quell her thirst for old surroundings. Only the serenity of the natural world could hope to sooth her. This day she had decided to be more ambitious and try a more head-on approach as opposed to merely snaring. If only she had remembered her bow...

"What was I even going to do? Throw this at the petching thing?" She shook the gladius clutched in her right hand, the flurry of Myrian curses continuing in an outburst of frustration to sate herself as she navigated onward. Her Mother was surely shaking her head from her jungle throne. She paused in her steps. Did her Mother even think of her anymore? Had even Myri lost all hope in her return? Surely I'm not so lost, She thought desperately with a firm shake of her head. May the Goddess Queen strike me for my thoughts. I am not lost. No, no, I am not so lost. And strangely when wandered again into the shadows of skeletal trees barren of their leaves, Kaie hadn't a clue which way to turn. That's when she heard another twig snap, but this one was not by the doings of her own feet. Hardly a tick later she heard it again.

by **Kaie** on October 29th, 2014, 5:21 am

There was no telltale glance about her shoulder, no angry whipping around and baring of teeth in warning. There came only the perk of gooseflesh upon her sunkissed skin, the dilation of her eyes as adrenaline flushed into her veins, and the single thought that made her muscles tense: I am not alone, and neither are they. Then she bolted with all the urgency of the deer she'd followed before into the woods. Her strides were long, quick steps upon the earth. A gentle lean forward propelled her through the messy underbrush, away from the rise of hills that would exploit her. The hurried steps came just behind. Two pairs, She calculated with a strong exhale and a quickening to her sprint. Yet even she knew she couldn't run forever. She needed a plan. A strategy. But how? The Myrian lunged through a vicious mess of thickets toward a dead end crafted by an eroded hillside. Someone plowed in after her, and with a rapid glance backward, she watched the gleaming blade fall upon her.

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"Lenyx?!" Jarrett called from outside the tangle of thorns and shrubbery, practically doubling over, huffing and puffing. He swiped the back of his hand across his forehead. "By Ivak... I'm not nearly.. as young.. as I once was," He cursed between breaths. He turned his good eye toward the last place he saw his de facto leader. The place where he swore he saw the battle ax fall upon the Myrian, just before the two vanished into the shadows. The seasoned mercenary squinted. "For petch's sake...Lenyx!" He tugged out his tulwar just in case and ventured closer. Closer. Closer still, until finally the pair emerged. Jarrett's eyes went large at the sight.

Kaie and Lenyx slowly rounded the tree and made their way back into the open. The chest of the two heaved with exhaustion, the Myrian's lip curled angrily. In her grasp struggled the massive mercenary Lenyx, who was unceremoniously doubled over with his large arm twisted viciously behind his back. Kaie seemed to be struggling to maintain control of the man, but her grit was unwavering. Amber eyes were alight with a vengeful fire as was the blessing burning upon her skin. Naturally it helped that such a brutal man believed headstrong methods of brute force alone could always overcome a woman. A catch of his falling ax arm with her forearm, a knee to his solar plexus, a simple disarm of his weapon, and the consequential twist of his limb behind his torso had turned the tables. The shame was written plainly across his enraged face. Jarrett lifted his blade and made to rush her. A warning jerk of Lenyx's arm farther up his back was enough to merit a cry of agony, and a halt in his companion's rush.

"Ah, not so fast. Take another step and your friend here will have one less arm to jerk you off with. A shame too. He's got a strong right hand," Kaie teased dryly, Common filled with righteous menace. Jarrett's face twisted in a variety of emotions. He merely stared dumbly at her as if lost in what he should do next. "What was your little plan? Saw a woman alone in the woods? Figured you'd slither on up behind me? Take me as you please and whatever I had of value? Not petchin' likely." Lenyx gave a whimper with another crude twist of his arm. One of his knees buckled, which to Kaie's delight made him far easier to handle. Silence persisted. "That's it? No clever excuse? No begging for me to let him go?"

Jarrett's eyes swayed just behind her, and when she realized it, it was far too late. A rush of blonde slammed into her opposite the way she'd been forcing Lenyx's arm, knocking her off her feet and him harmlessly out of her grasp. The two tumbled across the grass, and the lanky boy soon had her pinned on her stomach. The Myrian thrashed, cursing violently in her own tongue at him, blessing burning something maddening on her neck. Lenyx gave a growl and flexed his arm, gritting his yellowed teeth. Jarrett rushed to aid Ben in his catch, jutting his tulwar beneath her lifted chin. She spat at him.

"Told you. Real petchin' pisser, this bitch," Lenyx reminded his team, deeply scarred face grimacing down at her. "Get her up." Ben found ground and wrenched the savage woman up from the ground. His arm was soundly locked around her throat, preventing her from fighting him much. Jarrett's threatening blade lingered nearby just in case. Kaie's indignant glare settled on Lenyx. If only looks could kill. "It's a good thing the boss always makes real good on his promises. If he didn't so madly insist on us bringing you in alive, I'd happily deliver you to him in pieces." She offered him a reply of brutal, venomous hisses in Myrian. He cut her off with a savage strike upon her face. Her head jerked to the side with the blow, and for a moment she saw stars. "I wonder just how well he'll pay me for you, little jungle flower." Suddenly, Kaie whipped her head back toward him and spit blood into his face. Lenyx grimaced, struck her again, and wiped his face with Jarrett's offered handkerchief. "More like a jungle tigress," Jarrett murmured, jutting his tulwar against the soft flesh of her neck.

"Tie her up and gag her. I don't want to hear her, let alone the language of her filthy people. Not in my city. We'll drag her back, kicking and screaming all in silence. Get to it, Jarrett." The elder nodded obediently and withdrew rope from his sack. A piece of cloth was jammed into her mouth and tied behind her head, much to her protest. The young man went to securing her arms to her sides. "Oh, and Ben? You might just have a future ahead of you yet." To that the young boy grinned from behind the Myrian's thrashing frame.

by **Kaie** on October 29th, 2014, 4:55 pm

It had seemed they had walked for some time, the three mercenaries and their catch. With her arms fastened against her sides, the journey through the forest was awkward for the Myrian. Her hands could not move stray branches from her face, nor could she use them to vault over even the most minor of obstacles. Her captures seemed to enjoy her struggles and added to them when they could. Once when she was stepping onto a massive rotten log in their path, preparing to drop down to the ground again, Lenyx gave a vicious tug upon the rope that led her. She had no choice to let gravity have its way, and face plant straight into the mud. The three men chuckled and another tug was given to her lead to get up. If only I had my gladius...

All her possessions had been stripped from her but her clothes. Backpack, sword, kukri, all confiscated. Ben was their pack mule. He carried her things on his body along with his own weapons, making him look far more like a ridiculous human armory than anything else. It was Lenyx that wore her blade. Strapped proudly upon his hip like a trophy, he paraded in their march ahead of her. Each thump of it against his leg made the Myrian's blood boil. Yet what could she do?

Bells passed before they finally made it out of the woods. Unfortunately, there had been no other run ins. Not even a group of bandits had peered over the hills to capitalize on the travelers. All potential for chaos she could exploit to escape evaded her. Instead she was forced to march through the city after Syna's set when even the drunks had long since wandered out of the taverns. Once they ventured into their first maze of alleyways, a dark sack was placed over her head. From there it seemed like eternity she walked (or more accurately, dragged) in confusing patterns of twists and turns. Finally she heard the creak of a door opening and she was thrust inside some building. She was not yet free to look about her. Not yet. Her boots echoed across a wooden floor, and once she felt the heat of a nearby lanterns when she passed. Then it was down again, down, down through another door and into the earth where the fall chill turned wintry. There was the creak of another, final door. And there there was greater light.

She could see the figures standing before her...sort of. The bag still blocked majority of her vision. She could hardly distinguish the shape of her captors from a nearby chair against a wall after all. With the help of the various lanterns scattered about the odd basement, she could at least make out the blurred silhouettes of new characters before her. Two pairs of arms shoved upon either of her shoulders, and the Myrian woman was forced roughly down to her knees. The rope around her torso was severed, but she assumed it was Jarrett and Ben that grasped either of her arms tightly. Exhausted, Kaie merely let her head hang forward toward the ground.

"The fire of Ivak's light burns bright, my brother," She heard Lenyx greet one stranger solemnly in particular. The blurred lines of his head gestured back toward the captured Myrian. "We tracked her deep into the woods after she'd left Ruby's. No one saw us." There was a grunt of satisfaction from the stranger, and then her view of the figure was blocked by Lenyx's hulking frame when he paced into her meager vision. A mumbling came from the stranger that seemed to take Lenyx off guard. "Oh, right. Of course." The sack was promptly removed from Kaie's head, leaving only her curly brown hair cascading around her face to hide her features. Amber eyes glared at the ground, blinking as they adjusted to the offensive light. Next she felt the gag fall away and her tongue, too, was freed.

"Look at me," The stranger commanded in a husky, purring accent. The obstinate Myrian made no movement. Her head continued to hang, but her lip curled in response. She felt the two men holding her stiffen with anxiety. Lenyx stormed over and gripped her by the hair, wrenching her head up to look at the man who ordered her capture. And when Kaie's furious gaze found that of the stranger's, her spirit vanished and the strength of her fight was gone.

"Tsu'kai," She breathed in her native tongue. And the stranger smiled.

by **Kaie** on October 29th, 2014, 7:56 pm

He'd grown taller than she'd remembered him. Far more muscular, too. Toned arms had swollen into tight, beefy cords of tanned flesh. Down their length a wildfire ran rampant, an elaborate tattoo that spanned all the way to his wrists. His pectorals rose visibly from beneath his doublet, a simple garment of rusty red accessorized with flecks of gold stitching. The long black hair he had once thought so highly of was sheared into a crew cut. It was only when he'd crouched to look upon her face that she noticed one thing had remained unchanged: the earthy brown of his soft eyes. One of his large hands drifted toward her cheek, but when his thumb brushed against the bruising flesh, Kaie recoiled with a cringe. Tsu'kai's fierce, undoubtedly Myrian features hardened.

"I thought I told you to bring her to me unharmed," He said suddenly, tone tight with forced restraint. Ben and Jarrett eyed one another and looked to Lenyx for guidance. The hulking mercenary bit his lip, and then released his hold upon Kaie's scalp.
"We tried, my brother. I swear it, we--"
Tsu'kai cut off his babbling with a passive wave of his brown hand. He gazed upon the woman's face before him and smiled knowingly.
"I know. I should've known better than thinking you'd come peacefully. You were always so gods damn stubborn, Kaie," Tsu'kai murmured nostalgically. Yet there was pinch in his voice as he studied her facial wound with deep disdain. Numb with shock and utter confusion, Kaie could only gaze back at him in disbelief. Her lips opened and closed several times as if unsure which of her limitless questions she should ask first. Tsu'kai seemed to remember something just then, and his eyes found Ben and Jarrett.

"Release her." The two relented immediately and dropped their hold upon her arms. Kaie let her hands drop to rest upon the ground before her for a tick. Then she rose to stand before her fellow Child of Myri, and with a grasping of one of her hands, he led her through the darkness into the last room in the corridor. No one else followed. One of the nameless men who had been awaiting her arrival with her long forgotten friend closed the door behind them. Lanterns illuminated the bedroom in an eerie sort of glow, casting strangely alluring shadows over furniture and bedding. Kaie stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. From behind her she heard Tsu'kai lock the door. She turned on her heels at that, and found him slowly wandering toward her. Finally her voice returned to her.

"Tsu'kai, what the petch are you doing here?" He offered her a sly but gentle smile and paused before her. It was only then she noticed the small emblem of fire sown onto his doublet, fierce with sharp flames. Then, suddenly, his tan armed looped about her waist and pulled her against him. Lips fell upon hers with a hungry urgency and yet an affectionate softness. Old habits from an almost forgotten life reemerged, and soon she found herself just as eagerly kissing him back. Everything became dream-like. A fantasy. Could this truly be real? With her hands wandering up to embrace him, she couldn't help but think to swear she'd kill the fool that woke her from the moment.

"You told me you loved me, that night by the falls," He dodged with a melancholy in his voice, though this time she was relieved to hear he spoke the Myrian tongue back to her now. "You told me that when you came back, you'd come back to me. Don't you remember, Kaie? Well, the storm found me first." That guilty weight that had sat on her soul since the moment she left her homeland returned with a nasty vengeance. It was as if a dagger had been plunged through her chest. Part of her wished it had been instead.

"Tsu'kai, I'm--"
"Sorry?"
She cringed. The blanket of shame his words had wrapped around her was suffocating. She bit her lip and went silent.
"I used to wait for you when the sun set. I'd climb up to those falls and look out over the jungle canopy, hoping that if I caught sight of smoke it would be from your fire, returning home...And then the storm came. That Djed Storm..." He trailed off, pacing away from her in thought. A series of emotions crossed his face before he spoke again. This time he seemed more strained. "My father, my mother, my three sisters at the barricade...all vanished. Every Myrian manning the front lines." He clicked his fingers. "Gone as if they were never there. Like the whole army had dropped their weapons and let the jungle swallow them whole. And my brother. He screamed for days about the bright lights in his eyes, shrieking at the top of his lungs that Syna cursed him. He had gone blind standing on Taloba's walls. I looked to my clan to sooth him, but half of them had gone blind, too. And the rest were too numb and stricken to help me. Then the Tskannas went wild. One herd crushed our longhouses. Our matriarch kept whispering one thing to me when I sought her out: 'Myri bless us, Myri bless us.'"

by **Kaie** on October 29th, 2014, 11:08 pm

As he told his story, Kaie slowly sunk to her knees upon the wooden floor. She saw their faces, the ones from his stories. In her head she could hear his brother's cries and the futile prayers of his clan mother. She heard the clanging of steel and wood alike as weapons dropped from the hands of ghosts into the jungle dirt. She heard the trumpeting of wide-eyed, frenzied animals and the panicked shouts of those trying to evade their stampede. And then, all of a sudden, she swore she could hear her own clan screaming, praying for Myri to help them...cursing their wayward daughter for leaving them to their fates. Mother...Keikyo...Yitmah. Kaie forgot how to breathe.

Tsu'kai seemed to need a moment. He licked his lips several times, arms folded across his chest, eyes wide as if seeing something that wasn't truly there. Desperate gaze flashed to a far table where a large flagon sat with a glass. He poured himself some of the dark substance and drank heartily. When he filled the second glass, he finally turned back toward her. He wiped stray drops of liquor from his lips with his tongue. "And that's when I knew why you left. Why I needed to leave." This caught the young woman's attention.

"What?" Her voice was scratchy and weak. She felt as if she were choking. Drowning. He studied the bewilderment upon her face, overlooked the pain, and rushed over to her. He knelt before her, hands growing animated with some sort of excitement she could not comprehend. He seemed almost...enlightened. So much so that a wide smile spread across his face as if he'd seen the sun for the first time.

"You knew!"
"The petch are you talking about?"
"The truth, Kaie!"
"What truth? There is no truth! I told you why I left."
He clenched the glass and ran a hand through his cropped hair, exhaling. She searched his eyes but found nothing. He took a drink of liquor, made a face, and continued.
"After the storm I went out to find you. See, everyone thought you were dead but I.." He pointed proudly to his chest, tapping over his doublet. "I knew you weren't." Kaie shook her head and gestured for him to pause.
"You didn't just leave Taloba and everyone we love to try to find me." Tsu'kai scowled deeply at that accusation.
"Why not? You did...Besides, that storm proved Myri couldn't protect us. She was our Goddess and our Mother and she didn't protect us. She was weak!" Kaie struck him then, a vicious slap across his left cheek that turned his head and left a red print across his face. She could practically feel the heat from it where she knelt. The burn in her hand was a righteous one. Tsu'kai stared off to the side. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but he ignored it. This time when those soft brown eyes found her angry amber ones, they were tight with something cold she did not recognize. He stood and paced away until he was near the door, back to her.

"All our lives we were taught a lie. I learned that when I left. The light of the world is not in the jungle. It's in the flames. When I learned of Ivak I knew...I knew before the Azenth said it was he who caused the Djed Storm, that he was the only god. I am his son, not Myri's. And so are you."
"Tsu'kai, this is not the way. You know not what you say!" The meek guilt that subdued her was balanced with the raw fury in the face of blatant blasphemy. She rose to her feet. Hands balled into tight fists and the burn upon her neck flickered to life in preparation. He turned on his heel to face her. For the first time she realized he had not only chanced his appearance, let alone his dress. Tsu'kai had stripped everything Myrian from his body, piercings and all.
"What I say is true! Walk in Ivak's light with me, Kaie, and you will see. Can't you see this is all in Ivak's plan? The Father of the Flames sent you here, to me. You said it so yourself that night years ago, we're meant to be together. You and I."
"You're out of your petching mind. I pledged my sword and my blood to the Goddess Queen, as did you when you joined her army, deserter! I've been away from her light for years, longer than you, and you let this barbarian world fill your head like you're a child! Where are you going?!"

Tsu'kai stopped before the door and stared condescendingly at her.
"This is my compound and I have business to attend."
"Business?"
"I'm a slaver now, and fresh stock just arrived."
"Is that why I'm here then? Is that what you want? You got me here to slave me out?" He frowned, wounded by her words. Slowly his head shook and he gestured almost affectionately toward her.
"No, I want us to be together."
"And here we are."
"And here we are." The pain had returned to his voice. His eyes lingered upon her for a moment, as if he wished to say more. He caught himself. His tanned right hand pressed upon Ivak's emblem at his breast, and he was Tsu'kai no more. He set him just then and opened the door with a face as cold and hard as any stone. The nameless guard from before appeared in the doorway. He too wore a rusty red doublet with the same fire emblem. A bastard sword was strapped to his back and a dagger to his side. He returned to Common.
"Fin, see to it no one comes in or out of this door other than me." The guard gave a nod and Tsu'kai closed the door behind him. There came the sound of the lock from the outside, and that's when she went ballistic.

"Tsu'kai, you son of a bitch! Traitor! Deyhan!" She pounded upon the door with her bare fists, boots slamming into the heavy wood with all the ferocity she could muster. Her cursing did not stop nor did her abuse until Syna's rise when she could physically carry on no more.

by **Vapor** on November 7th, 2014, 11:32 pm

Look to the skies, Vapor descending down upon you with a extra special gift.... Thats right, a grade!

Kaie :

Great read Kaie! Loved it, can't wait to read later plots. If you have any issues or questions at all please do not hesitate to send me a PM, which I will gladly answer.

Love,
-Vapor

Solo When Destiny Comes Knocking