[Seasonal Event] In The Dark

[Naiya]

Naiya crashed into the stones with uncomfortable force, sure to leave bruises in their wake, but she couldn't mind too much as she had a solid place to cling to now. She clung to the rocks with already beaten hands. Her bare toes dug into cracks and crevices, propelling her forward as she clambered up the side of the structure, the water pushing against her all the while. She trudged onward, reaching one hand, one foot, after another. When she leg go of more than one grip, the water threatened to tear her away so she kept three points of contact with the piled rocks, making her slow path to the top where she finally escaped the current.

She collapsed onto the dry rocks, sputtering, coughing and retching until her lungs quieted and she could finally breathe normally once more. Even still she lay draped over the rocks, staring down into a tunnel of stone that promised nothing but the lake floor at the bottom.

This was what she had nearly drowned for? A hollow tube of rock? Now she was stranded in the center of the lake with only her log to get her back to shore. A log that had proven less than helpful in the first attempt to navigate the water. She supposed, though, she had learned something helpful. When drowning, kick harder. That and perhaps that bubbles could help you orient yourself beneath the water, but those hardly seemed useful unless she magically learned to swim before attempting to return to the shore.

There was little alternative, unless someone realized she was missing and brought a wagon to float her across the water, the log and hope were her only chance. Perhaps if she lay across the log and kicked her legs she would have better luck than before.

She grasped the log, trying to maneuver herself into a good position before braving the water once more, but sharp pain in her knee stopped her, and she paused in her attempt to see what had cut her.

The sharp edge of the rock had caught her knee, and her closer inspection brought more to light about the stones. Each and every rock was marked with a word, power, forgotten, secret. Her eyes darted across the stones, reading the words is quick succession. She peered down into the dark tunnel once more, looking more closely into what was more than it appeared. The inside of the rock was worn smooth, the tunnel leading to somewhere, or she figured now that it must. No one would take the time to carve each stone in a tunnel to nowhere.

She had already risked her life once, was it worth it to tempt fate with a second risk? She shook her head, it didn't seem logical. She moved, lifting her hand to reach once more for the log, but the blood from her hand caught her eye against the rough stone face.

"Brave." She read, speaking the word out loud. Something in her fell into place, and without giving herself time to doubt, she placed both legs into the tunnel, lowering herself down the smooth stone with the strength of her arms, seeking purchase in the stone where she could hold her weight up.

No luck, The stone was smooth past the length of her body, no ledge to catch onto, so she let go, releasing her hold and slipping down into the unknown.

Her hands came up, covering her face to keep crashing into anything with her head, her legs widened into a fighting stance out of habit, the adrenaline in her blood pressing her forward into the only option she had left.

Fight.

When her wild ride across the stone ended, she would be ready.

[Amunet]

Part of her was in awe that here was a legend standing in front of her and the other part of her was a little bit scared that a legend was standing in front of her. The coldness from the close proximity of his fingers as the coin passed sent shivers down her spine. She wondered exactly where she was at. Amunet heard the sea of grass had old magic in it. The Djed ran thickly around like a spider’s web that ever changed. The girl didn’t understand what that meant, but this set of circumstances was shedding a new light on the strange happenings in the Sea of Grass and placing truth to those stories.

The girl watched as he tested the coin and accepted the payment. It was a simple exchange but it seemed an important one. She looked towards the cave entrance he was mentioning and the rules of traversing the caves. Those blue eyes grew wider with each rule as her young self took those rules in with earnest. Then there were the gifts he presented. Her brow furrowed as she wasn’t expecting anything of the kind.

The parchment was just parchment which she rolled up and put into her belt. The ink stick was just that. That she placed in her coin pouch. The lattern was the most curious gift. The blue fire seemed to reflect her eyes. When she looked up at the old man Haku, he was already retreating to his tree saying his little haunting chant. “Blessings to you Haku. “ The girl said as her hand raised as her heart was in those sky blue eyes and he disappeared. “I hope he heard me. “ She said in a quiet voice to no one but herself. The lattern she lifted up again to look at its blue fire and then her eyes went to the cave. Now they seemed to beckon her.

They seemed to pull her in like the ephemeral arms of creation to wrap around her its foundation. Foundation of what remained to be seen. The girl’s small quiet feet made slow small steps as she lifted the lattern up and had to put the crook of her arm to her nose as the strength of the smell hit her. It must have taken many chimes to be able to breath what was passing normal. The eyes darted to the fungus and molds that grew on the walls. Part of the curiosity was wondering if there was anything to these fungus but the trail went more forward and something told her that rot and decay may not necessarily harbor healing properties.

Upon reaching a fork in the path, the herbalist lifted the lattern and its ghostly blue light down the left tunnel then down the right tunnel. Those fingers raked through the long tresses of dark red hair kissed heavily by the sun over her left ear. There was the distant drip sound of water. To the right the breeze made the little errant spritely tendrils dance. The wind had always been her friend and it was on the right. Haku had said the right hand will always lead home. Down the right she went.

The girl didn’t make it too far till the wall had drawings on it that lead into another by a straight line. She lifted the lattern to the drawings and looked at them very closely. That curious furrow crossed those delicate features as she looked at the designs of people animals and other pictures of landmarks. The line was curious too as her finger lightly traced the line and bent closely with the blue fire light at the mouse like markings.

[Tribal]

Naiya Dawnwhisper

Brave the word in the rock had read, and brave she was. Naiya plummeted down into the depths of the cave, through the smooth tunnel of rushing water. Her descent was scary at first, though part way in she found it almost fun; never letting her guard down, and ready for anything. It seemed as if she might fall forever when suddenly there was a swift bend in the passage which undid all the woman's careful planning and defences momentarily.

Another sudden drop, a second sharp turn and then, she was flying, or falling rather elegantly until she realised that the floor and walls around her were gone and she was free falling, perhaps to her death. Through the darkness she went, down, down, down; a petrified scream the only thing she left in her wake. Splash! It was a sharp and sudden landing that in the dark, Naiya found very disorientating. As soon as the woman hit the spring it lit up a brilliant blue in colour and unlike the water of the Uvic Lake, this pool was not violent or rough with hidden undercurrents.

The woman struggled to the surface, gasping and spluttering as she kicked until her feet found the shallows. Grounded, Naiya was able to catch her breath and look around the caves. They seemed to go on forever, as far as the light reached she could see twists and turns and intricate shapes carved into the rock. The ceiling was alight with strange woven silks that glowed in the mirrored colours of the pool; strung up like spider web everywhere she turned, all far out of reach.

Standing at each bend in the winding pools stood a stone man with a length of woven thread pulled from his mouth, chest, or hands, lifted skyward to join the mess of silk. Naiya realised suddenly that this is what the spun djed linked across the grasslands must look like; at one time or another her people, the Drykas, must have called this place home. Secret, forgotten, hope; the words etched around the mouth of the cave slowly came back to her and all fear and woe flooded from her being as if the healing springs had taken them from her, Naiya heard a sound that made her heart sink, the high-pitched screech of a Zith.

Lian Windrunner

Lian must have sat there in the dark alone for a good twenty chimes before he finally managed to spark the end of his torch to life. Carefully he blew on the hungry flames until they took and he was able to see. He worked his way through the tunnels, winding down the long staircases and narrow hallways. The passageways seemed to go on and on with no end in sight and Lian's enthusiasm was wearing. Should he turn back and try to find the spring again and attempt to scale the walls to the surface, or push on and see what other treasures there were to be found?

Soon he came to another V in the road, to his right another stairwell, and on his left a long, winding, dark tunnel. Lian stood and waited for a while, listening to the caves, the far off echo of running water and howling wind when all of the sudden a woman's scream reverberated up the length of the stairwell. Without hesitation, Lian descended into the depths of the cave and ran out into a large room littered with shallow pools of the glowing blue water. He looked around for the girl and spotted Naiya crawling up out of one of the pools in the centre of the room and, thankful to see someone else down here, he smiled. That was when he heard the bloodcurdling screech that could only belong to a Zith.

Naiya Dawnwhisper & Lian Windrunner

A small stone fell away from the ceiling above them and both looked up to find the slight of body woman with long, outstretched wings hanging above them. She gave another ear-ringing screech before dropping down to stand between the two of them and hiss; there was no doubt in either of their minds that this confrontation could only have one ending and it was up to them to make sure they were still standing when it concluded.

Amunet

The young woman made her way through the caves, collecting the odd rare bit of fungi in the form of mushrooms and the likes. She found herself wondering why she was even here at all, if it was not to help the old man and only to satisfy her curiosity; well, how much more could there possibly be to see? She felt as if she were going round in circles after a while, following her right hand just as Haku had instructed.

Finally, something in the distance caught her attention, a room off to one side that was filled with old clay pots and woven mats; historical items that some of the much older and much wiser Drykas members of Endrykas decorated the insides of their tents with. Amunet was just about to step inside when she noticed the starting point of a stairwell to the right of her. She paused, torn between the two options; who knew what lay to the right, and after all the room full of dusty treasures was very appealing to a magpie like Amunet. The young woman gave it another moment's thought before making her decision and going where her heart took her.

It she went into the room she might find an array of old books, jars, preserves, dried herbs, and other goodies, but if she took the stairs, there was no telling how far she would have to go before she found anything of use.

[Amunet]

The turn right produced more cave and more walls and more right turns. Just when the young lady thought that there were no more right turns, there was another one. This endless circle upon circle and it seemed like she was getting nowhere. Each right turn was getting the red head increasingly frustrated. What in all the gods and goddesses was the end of this? Haku said the right hand would lead the way. What way? The girl felt like being stuck in some endless loop and what started out as a kind gesture seemed like it landed her in more trouble.

There were periodic moments where she found certain fungus. Blue Slatite, The land barnacle and even some young Demon’s tooth was collected along the way. A couple of them she might be able to extract. The Blue Slatite definitely was out of her experience to be able to procure the properties from it. Preserving it she might be able to do. The rotten wood along the edge and the roots that grew into the ceiling of the cave along with the dampness must have allowed them to grow by the grace of the gods.

Just when she thought that, as if the very walls were reading her mind, the corridor opened up and the blue fire in the light showed something different. There was a room with ahead that had items in it. The front had broken pottery but the edges of the shadows seemed to indicate unbroken whole pottery and tantalizing edges of books and other things that tugged at her eyes as she peered around the edges of the darkness and shadow. The blue light came to a larger expanse of dark as the right revealed a staircase going down instead of just another right turn. The girl turned the lantern's blue light towards the staircase where it revealed more stairs and the stark darkness that kept its secrets hidden. Amunet then returned the light towards the doorway of the tantalizing treasures that lay within that room.

‘Ok there are books and pots and mats of patterns that she seen the weavers make and her grandmother make that said that the Drykas had always woven this pattern. Here in was possibly the first of its pattern. Other patterns lay in and there was no telling what other ancient treasures would be there. Should I or shouldn’t i.’ The face screwed in consternation as she looked again at the dark staircase. ‘ there to right is a downward spiral to god’s only knows what but could lead to something more significant and home hopefully. Should I or shouldn’t I’

Those questions lingered as then the vocal, “ARGGHHHHH,” exited out of her mouth in such furious frustration as she started pacing back and forth arguing with herself.

“There is so many nice things to look at in there.” The girl groaned. “how am I going to carry it you big oaff.” She told herself as she sighed and put the thumb and forefinger at the bridge of her nose and shook it.

“The staircase could lead to danger.” As she bit her lip, verbally rationalizing and vocalizing her thoughts as if that made the decision any easier. “Haku said that the right hand lead the way home. “ The vigorous pacing continued up and down as the blue light wavered with the waving her hand in animated self-argument. The gods in the walls have to be having a laugh. This had to be some kind of divine comedy. The wayward girl came up to a stop as she reached with her left hand to take the lantern and with her right hand she did an illogical thing.

“Inny, Minny, Miney, Moe. Catch a grass bear by the toe. If I stay I will be late, if I go, I won’t get home. I will choose this one.” Each word was staccato by a motion of the hand rhythmically going back and forth, till it finally rested. The poor girl opened her eyes and staring before her as her right hand pointed was the stark dank darkness of the staircase.

“All right fate lets go down the stairs.” The little red head went down the staircase as the blue fire light of the lantern reflected off the wall.

[Tribal]

‘Your right hand will lead you home,’ Haku had told the girl, and so she followed his instructions calling them ‘fate’. As Amunet made her way towards the staircase the room full of ancient Drykas treasure was left behind. Deeper and deeper into the maze of caves she went, careful as she took each step under the helpful guide of the lantern with the blue flame. There was a sudden rumble that shook the walls and caused Amunet to stop dead in her tracks, staring ahead of her to see dust fall away from the ceiling; was this an earthquake? The woman asked herself; should she run back the way she had come?

Before Amunet had any time to make a decision, a loud cracking sound thundered overhead and the stairs beneath her disappeared, flattened to send her down, down, down on her backside into the depths of the cave. The stone path was surprisingly smooth, if not a little bumpy and as Amunet was propelled through the air and thrown into a deep pool, she was sure she could hear the old man cackling.

With a gasp she broke the water’s surface and kicked like a three-legged dog to the edge of the pool to find herself staring up at Naiya, who in turn seemed to be faced with her own troubles. Amunet lifted her lantern from the pool to find that the blue flame had gone out, rendering it useless. It wasn't until she heard the low, threatening hiss of the winged woman standing between Naiya and another man that Amunet suddenly realised exactly what kind of trouble they were all in.

[Naiya]

She was gliding, slipping, the cool stone a constant behind her as she descended into growing darkness. She made no attempt to stop or slow the ride, sure that such attempts would only leave her with bruises or scratches, and surely would leave her face unprotected.

Soon her face was the least of her worries, a sudden bend in the tunnel she rode stealing away her calm reserve and shattering her defenses. Before she had recovered at all, she was falling again as the path slipped out from beneath her, a turn followed, sharp and sudden, throwing her against the edge where she found herself cut along the thigh by the rough rock and the force of her collision.

Then she was falling again, the speed of her sliding sending her floating through the air once more, and she seemed to hang there a moment and wondered briefly if the feeling she had then, aside from the fear, was the feeling of a bird in flight.

She waited for the impact of the stone beneath her, waited for the cool fingers of water to splash along her skin, but it did not come. She did not land.

She did continue to fall, and when that realization set in, her death waiting at the bottom of the chasm, she lost all semblance of bravery, all semblance of control.

She screamed. It was a sound of terror so sharp that rang through the space as she fell.

She landed then, after an eternity of falling, and rather than ending the fall, ending her, she continued to sink, her mouth filling with water as it splashed around her. Her disturbance of the water did more than startle the girl. It seemed to startle the water as well, the liquid around her glowing, lighting up the path she traveled.

It was beautiful, the shimmering blue glow of the water. Almost peaceful, until she needed to breathe.

Remembering her last spill into the water, she tried to kick her feet, finding that she was at the bottom of what must have been a relatively shallow pool. She shoved herself up off the bottom, propelling herself trough the water towards the lightly glowing surface. She kicked, her legs pressing as hard as they could against the weight of the water.

She pulled with her arms, seeking something to hold on to, finding it eventually in smooth cold stone beneath her feet. She stood, rising out of the water with a cough to remove the liquid from her lungs. In her wake the water continued to glow, even the smallest disturbances causing the brilliant blue color to continue to shine.

The light shone bright enough to provide light in the dark cave, showing no end, no exit in site, even where the light barely touched, there was nothing to see but the carved stone cave. She trudged through the pool, trying to find its end, coming to a wall and knocking her shin on a stone in the water. Beneath her hand, the stone wall was rough, small ridges forming carvings in the wall, she squinted at them in the dark, carvings of people, words, shapes that traveled up along the wall.

She was following the path of one when she found the light shone on something else, something bigger. The entire ceiling seemed to glow with the light of the pool. Or, she looked closer, finding the glowing wasn't the ceiling, but something closer, draped through the chamber like clothing strung to dry. That was not doing it justice, though. It was beautiful and comforting, gossamer web strung across the sky glowing brilliantly blue as far as her eyes could see. Men stood in the light, carved of stone, connected to the light by hand, mouth, heart.

It was intricate, all encompassing, it amazed her, comforted her, and she realized after a long chime of admiration, this must be what the web looked like to the webbers in the sea of grass. This must have been one of the caves of the ancestral home, the caves that sheltered the Drykas while the world above was ripped to pieces.

She crawled up out of the pool, her fingers and toes finding purchase in cracks between the rocks, her forearms giving purchase to push up off the other surfaces of the rocks.

She was in Semele's belly, sheltered as the Drykas of the past. Her fear faded, her distress dripping away into the water beneath her. Gone in the warm moment of magic that connected her with the understanding of the place she was in. To further good feelings, a man appeared, a Drykas if she was not mistaken, looking as surprised to be in this place as she was.

Then, the Zith shrieked.

Naiya reached for her bow, remembering far too late that the weapon was on the shore of the lake with her boots and her washed clothing. She pulled her dagger from her belt, carefully considering which grip would serve her best.

Forward, she decided, while her free hand scrambled for a loose stone, because if she needed the reverse grip while fighting the winged woman, she would likely be too late.

The Zith woman dropped between them, bold in her large advantage over the mere humans. She could fly out of reach, scoop one of them up and drop them to end the fight. It was a lose-lose situation.

Her hand found a loose edge and she dug beneath it to pry the stone loose. Her eyes flashed to the man, hoping that he was better prepared than she was. The light from the water was fading. She tossed a small useless stone into the pool, lighting it up and drawing the Zith's attention.

The creature hissed, a cruel smile spreading across its lips. Naiya brandished her weapon, her own lips spread in a fearsome grimace. The Zith edged forward, closing on Naiya, and she slashed at the air, still digging at the rock behind her with her free hand, she could feel her nails breaking, the pain minuscule beside the need.

The Zith was not deterred, the man had yet to act, whether paralyzed by fear of simply working on his own plan, Naiya couldn't tell. It didn't matter, she had a plan of her own.

A splash in the pool beside them light the pool once more the brilliant blue, the web glistening above them, but Naiya ignored it, driven to act by the large hunk of stone she had finally pried loose.

The Zith, however, splashed and startled by the new arrival flinched, turning to the sound with a slight lift from the ground, her wings holding her, ready to take flight. Wings that were her main advantage.

Naiya took the moment, the distraction, and barreled towards the woman, hefting the rock up to her shoulder so that she could put it to use. The furred woman turned to face her as Naiya let out a cry of triumph, swing the rock against her target; the Zith's wing just behind the shoulder.

It was a costly attack, the Zith swiped out, digging lines of fire just below her neck, Naiya's counter motion pulling the cut down at an angle from the joint of her neck neck and shoulder diagonally across her chest, nearly all the way across her torso if the lines of fire were anything to judge by.

The pain ripped through her, and she growled, letting the sound of pain turn to one of retaliation as she let the force of her swinging the rock take her into a forward roll, ducking behind the Zith and stabbing with her best effort at the spine of the howling woman. Her dagger went wide, her aim thrown off by speed or terror, or both. Slicing into the back of the Zith in a blow that likely angered more than it damaged.

She ducked back again, arms tucked in as she rolled again, backwards, away from the Zith and the man, ending up with the pool's blue light at her back, still clutching her blade and her rock. She held them both ready to strike again, ready to face the creature's anger.

Naiya was angry too.

[Amunet]

Amunet moves down the stairs very carefully. The arm lifted the lantern as if it was her only protection. They seemed to keep going with no end. Did she make a mistake? Maybe, maybe not. Life was full of maybes it seemed. The girl kept going. Everything started to shake as she grabbed the walls for stability. Her footing felt like walking on sliding marbles as the ground was none too stable. That big heart of hers thudded ever so quickly as fear was coming into play. There wasn’t much she was afraid of. Her entire foundation crumbling, that was something to be fearful of, literally and figuratively.

That unfortunate truth happened. Her very footing found no solace as the stairs flattened underneath her. Her rear end unceremoniously slammed into the stone and stated sliding. Luckily she was wearing her riding leather pants or her but would have been rubbed raw. Down, down she went till she sailed briefly into the air and splashed into water. The words of that old cackling miser came to her mind ‘don’t drink the water no matter how thirsty you get. “ Rather this was the spring or not , Amunet tried desperately not to drink as she came up for air rather noisily. Did old Haku have a wicked prankster for a personality or something, because as far as guiding goes, this was not what she paid for.

The thought then came as she struggled to keep her head above water as the last time this red head was in water was for baths and pretty sure that did not count for swimming. Down she went into the water as all of her limbs became uncoordinated and flapped independently not providing any help at all. She wanted to scream. She didn’t dare let go of the lantern that hindered her left hand from making a ecent movement. The seconds stretched out as the blue shimmer in the water caught her attention briefly. It was similar to the blue fire in the lantern that is now out. The girl pushed greatly up with her feet as it propelled her up. That worked! She did it again as her lungs burned and ached to expell the motions of her legs pushing up and her one hand trying to pull up on the water as if it was a ladder till her head broke the water and gasped for air.

The hand that was pulling endlessly down on the water seemed to find purchase as it seemed it found the rock ledge and grasped it with a death grip. The white knuckles and finger tips strained to bring the rest of her to a reasonable length where her head was at least out of the water. The left arm came up and around to drop put the lantern that was very much out on the ledge. That was when she looked up and saw Naiya in not very much. That was also when she heard the screech of the Zith as she turned with the back of her neck at the ledge to gasp and scream herself. It was a high pitched blood curdling scream of a rather significant soprano pitch that reverberated rather nicely against the stone.

The girl didn’t see the female form that did battle till the Zith attacked something behind her on the ledge instead of her. It was Naiya! It took her a tick or two to realize that they were in battle. The scared girl swallowed as she hovered in the water for another tick or two before shaking herself out of the stupor. Her friend was in trouble. She gasped as she saw the Zith ripped her a long one. Her hands went palm down onto the ledge and with a surge of adrenaline she surged her body up onto the ledge with a whoosh of water. It was not the most graceful of motions as a clumping of wet meant her boots found purchase and she stood up. It seemed to take forever as her left hand found the lantern and her right hand drew her dagger.

“Get away from my friend!!” she screamed with no thought of anything else but her friend. Good friends often are harder to come by then family. She swung the lantern as more of a distraction before slashing forward with the dagger. Amunet had not noticed the other Drykas in the same location.

[Lian Windrunner]

It took a while, but Lian's efforts in lighting his torch finally paid off. Once the torch was lit, he continued on his way down the stairs. After a while, he lost all sense of time in this strange place, and it began to feel as though he had been walking forever...and would continue to walk forever. He started to wonder if it wouldn't be better to go back the way he had come and try to find that spring again. He came to a split in the path while he was still trying to decide what to do. Then the sound of a woman screaming made his decision for him.

Lian raced through the depths of the cave in search of the woman who was screaming. Eventually, he found himself in a large room filled with shallow pools of water. The water glowed blue, and Lian thought it might be the same healing water he had found in the place he had fallen into at the start of this journey. He looked around to see if he could find the woman who had screamed, and saw a red haired woman crawling out of one of the pools in the center of the room. Was she the one who had screamed? And if so, why? Lian looked around, but could see no immediate threat.

When no immediate threat presented itself, Lian's main thought was relief that he wasn't alone anymore. But that changed quickly when the terrifying shrill scream of a zith filled the room. Things began happening quickly. A second woman emerged from the pool of water, near the first. The first attacked the zith with both a dagger, and a large rock. The second woman screamed at the zith, ordering it to get away from her friend.

There was no time to think, only to act. Lian grabbed his bow, and readied an arrow. Then he hesitated. Not out of fear for himself, but fear that he might hit one of the women instead. He had little doubt that he could hit his target at this range, but what if one of the woman moved after he released his arrow, moving into the arrow's flight path? Should he use his hunting knife instead? There would be less of a chance of him injuring someone else by accident, but he had no real idea of how to use it in a fight. And trying to teach himself a completely new skill while fighting a zith...also something he had never done before...seemed like a very bad idea.

So there was no real option after all. The bow was his only choice. Lian took careful aim at the zith's wing. The zith had the advantage in a number of ways. It lived in a cave if the stories he'd heard were true, so it could probably fight better in one than they could. Then there was the matter of its wings. It could fly out of the way of an attack while attacking them without fear. But if it couldn't fly, one of its advantages would be lost.

Lian took an extra tick as he tried to be certain of his aim. Then he released his arrow, hoping that it would find its mark in the creature's wing, and hoping even more that neither of the women would move into the arrow's path. He wanted to warn them, but he couldn't. Any warning he gave would alert the zith to its danger, too.

.
.
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[Tribal]

She was nameless, homeless, forgotten, and ravaged by hardship and suffering. Her limbs were no more than skin and bone and every single rib that made up her rib cage was on display, front and back where her old, leathery casing was sucked in between the cracks. Her skin was an off-grey colour, almost blue especially in this light, and her long mop of 'Witch hair' wet and mottled white and black clung to the shape of her face, neck, and back like stretched slug membranes. The Zith smelt terrible and the shadows cast under her sharp, triangular cheekbones made her look all the more sinister; no more than half a dozen teeth made up the expanse of her bite. Long lash lines marred her back, arms, and legs; this creature so accustomed to torture she had fled her home for a life in the caves, surviving on worms, bats, and anything else that was unfortunate enough to cross her path.

Dinner. She didn't see three mere humans, but felt the powerful, young thud, thud, thud of their hearts, saw the blood pumping through their veins, leaving them no place to hide in the expanse of the caves. Naiya was closest and she smelt the most delicious. The Zith pinned the redhead with a stare that promised awful things before distraction came in the form of a man and the pathetic cry of a girl the Zith quickly sought to outdo. The screech that fled her form like an unwelcome guest was strong enough to shatter glass and cause the healing waters to ripple and finally still, casting them all back into darkness. Naiya tossed a stray rock over her shoulder which lit the cavern again, but it was Amunet who won the Zith's attention with her wild splashing, the light off the water enough to momentarily blind and confuse the Zith; this was when Naiya had taken her chance with rock and dagger, gaining herself a deep bedded scratch in return from the winged woman.

They wrestled, the Zith with her claw like fingers and snapping, hungry mouth; Naiya with her biting steel dagger until the two of them finally separated and Amunet found the courage to charge the Zith. The creature turned to face her attacker, wielding dagger and determination alone. Senseless fool, the Zith smirked, ready to cut Amunet down when a stray arrow pierced her folded wing, causing the limb to stretch out suddenly, and like a boxer's swing, the end clipped Naiya, throwing her back into the glowing pool where Naiya would find (should she resurface), that the lacerations to her neck and shoulder had completely vanished, along with the cut to her thigh and knee, and any other scar she had acquired in her lifetime. All three of them had been subjected to the spring water but none of them seemed to have noticed that they had also been stripped of their windmarks.

There was no time for pause; the Zith still had to contend with the dagger wielding girl that charged her now. She took hold of Amunet's shoulders, even as the girl was free to lash out at her arms and belly, or wherever else she could reach, the Zith knew an untrained arm when she saw one and swiftly rose up into the air with one powerful beat of her wings, the arrow seeming to have phased her none. Instead, it was Amunet's weight that caused the winged woman to lose her grip and falter mid-air before dropping Amunet about five feet from the ground. It was the hunter's turn to face her wrath and she dove at him with arms that sprung black blood and a mouthful of missing teeth ready to do their worst.

[Lian Windrunner]

Lian had eyes only for the arrow winging its way towards the zith's wing. Would it hit its target? If it did, would it strike a telling blow against the creature? Or would it miss completely as the creature moved out of the way? And worst of all...would one of the women move...or get thrown...into the path of the arrow? Lian held his breath, hoping against hope that he hadn't made a horrible mistake by taking the shot that had presented itself to him.

Then the arrow pierced the creature's wing, much to Lian's relief. The best possible outcome had happened; the zith was injured, and the two women were not. Not by his arrow, at least. Lian found that he could breathe again. As he watched, the zith flung one of the girls into the pool of water. Lian kept one eye on the pool, waiting to see if she would resurface, and one on the zith, searching for a new open shot.

At first, Lian was too busy watching the battle to realize that things had shifted. The wing injury had not crippled the creature's wing as he had hoped it would. It didn't even seem to slow the creature down. Instead, the zith was now flying towards him, in an obvious attack. When Lian realized what he was seeing, his eyes widened. Then he scrambled back, dropping, and dodging to the right in a desperate attempt to escape. His efforts seemed to pay off as the zith's initial attack missed him barely.

Lian scrambled to his feet, grabbing for his bow with one hand as he regained his footing. With the other, he reached for an arrow, readying it even as he tried to circle around so he wouldn't be standing where the zith expected him to be. As he tried to evade the zith, he was also searching for a good shot. Now that the creature was coming after him, it had moved away from the two women. That gave him more confidence in his aim. Lian braced himself, tilted his bow to adjust his aim, and released another arrow. If it struck home, it would bury itself in the zith's chest. But Lian didn't wait to see if his arrow would reach its mark, or not. He had to keep moving if he didn't want the creature's attack to cause him serious injury.

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