Open Chronicles Hellsfeld

[Kara Orin]

When Ferelith leaped out of the trap, Kara raised her sword in a stance to guard from attack. Yet, Ferelith dashed toward the exit. Kara saw Callard miss an attack and the bandit dash up to the surface.

“Let her go!” Kara ordered, “There’s-“

“Miss, she’s just face planted... out cold?!” Shamih yelled as she pushed herself up after being knocked on the ground.

“Huh…”

Kara raised an eyebrow at Callard – who just shrugged. They had yet to see evidence of Ferelith being afflicted by vampirism. Their best guess could have been that the lightning spell’s full effect was delayed.

Turning back to go deeper into the hideout, Kara instructed Callard to, “Please help Shamih tie that girl to the tree.”

Just after saying that, Kara’s eyes saw the hole that Heike and Szesh crawled out through. The disturbed, dirty cot that Ferelith kicked earlier made it clear that it may had been used recently.

When Callard got to the ladder, Kara told him, “She had friends. Be careful, Callard. I’ll be seeing where they went…”

Before Callard could protest, Kara was already diving into the escape tunnel. The man could sigh and climb back up the surface.

“Did you see how fast she moved?” Shamih asked Callard once he appeared.

Listening to their “boss,” Shamih and Callard would attempt to tie Ferelith to the lonely tree. They would banter back and forth without any word to Ferelith herself.

Unknown to them, the time that Ferelith would be exposed to sunlight drew near its end. The sun was just about to set.

Eventually, Kara would exit a trap door into the dimly lit forest. No sight of anyone – Heike and Szesh had already gotten far enough away for any noises made by their footsteps to be drowned out by the breeze. The darkness made it impossible for Kara to see any tracks on the ground.

So, Kara lifted her glowing sword up once more…

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

As the sun grew closer to setting the shade of the tree grew Ferelith began to regain control of her body once more if still bit by bit and sluggishly.

“I..ha beh listuhning to yow-r banther. You pepple sheem noce..” She struggled out. Her mind clear but her sluggishly recovering mouth not having that luxury. The sun set further.

The hunger struck her then. It begged to be satisfied. It would bring her no peace and as night drew in it only grew louder.

She wasn’t going to be able to control herself much longer. The only thing keeping her two foes alive right now was the fact that the sun still shown on parts of Ferelith’s body and that they tied her up. When night came neither would matter in the least.

“Buh..you...n-need..” she began to be able to speak normally as she strained. Some would think she was straining against the ropes when in reality she was trying to force herself not to slice them to nothing.

“To...Run...right now..” She struggled out. Her eyes were screwed shut and she kept her mouth tightly closed.

Until with a shriek of blood curdling pain and misery rent the area. Any other vampire who heard it would know it meant one thing. Another of their kind had lost control of their hunger and was on the hunt. No one but another vampire would be safe from death if they crossed her. She was a new vampire.

A mere infant in the face of eternity. She did not know how to control her hunger. She was letting her hunger control her. Something new vampires struggled with quite frequently and would often result in bloody carnage until they matured enough to keep their hunger in check. Ferelith couldn’t, she just didn’t know how.

The ropes snapped like fireworks. Each cracking with a pop as she stepped away from the tree. Her glowing eyes would snap open able to see in the dark like it was broad day light. If either of them were still there she would pounce on the nearest and begin to feed with bloody, greedy slurps.

 

[Szesh]

Szesh followed his undead companion. He could see reasonably well in the dark, reflective eyes and wide pupils made sure that he would not loose his footing nor miss an incoming threat, but he was blind next to Heike. She moved as if the darkness were a boon instead of a hindrance, and he readily moved in her footsteps.

The trench was a welcome reprieve from moving low and in fear. Surely by now they had put enough distance between themselves and their hunters that they could move more freely. Trajan was beginning to grow heavy, but Szesh simply shifted him to the opposite shoulder and continued on.

He was concerned. How had the bounty hunters tracked them so readily? If they were after the catalysts, as was most likely, how would they know to come to the tree instead of the tower? Did the objects carry some signature? Some beacon that drew others to them? The bouncing satchel at his waist began to feel more cumbersome than reassuring.

A horrible sound reached them. A scream of sorts, although no mortal vocal cords could produce such a thing. Szesh thought with cold apprehension that Ferelith may have been unleashed on her attackers, and he hoped for their sake that it was a scream of defeat. He watched for Heike's reaction, surely she would know more.

They walked for a long time in the darkness, the forest unyielding. The riverbed, thankfully, kept the densest branches away from them and allowed them to make good time. In the distance, however, Szesh picked up a light. It grew as they walked, flickering through the thick bows. A soft sound of music reached his ears, and a pleasant male voice followed. Whoever it was had begun to sing.

Szesh continued to follow Heike, who, curiously, had not deviated from their course.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike continued along through the trench, her bundle of damaged clothes pinned to her right side and the bagged Catalyst in her unbroken hand. The damnable thing. At least they need only take it as far as Alliria to turn in the bounty, with Captain Bronmarch handling it from there. Two out of three wouldn't fetch Szesh the full bounty that he was likely hoping for. Regrettable, of course, but he had relinquished control of the first one by burying it.

Keen, these other bounty hunters. Concerningly keen. How they had managed to read the signs and trail to Szesh's hiding spot after--presumably--stumbling upon the sight of the bandit camp. Hopefully, with perhaps a minute or two spent in flight or after crossing a stream or such, they could throw off the hunters by having their trail now go cold. That was, if the hunters had slain or captured Ferelith and were actually in good enough shape to give pursuit. It would be seen.

Or heard.

Heike turned her head slightly when she heard some kind of scream on the wind. It was made hollow and faint by distance, but she reckoned that it had come from the general direction of the hatch and the hideout. Ferelith? Hard to tell. Even if it were so, Ferelith had made her decision. It was a highly unorthodox situation, but she had armed herself, and thus was responsible for herself and had certainly foregone any state of surrender. Yes. The more Heike had thought on it, the more that simple fact shined clear: despite the complexities of everything, the act of taking up arms annulled Ferelith's yield.

And Heike, even knowing her guilt (and the shame of what she herself had done to Ferelith), was in no condition physically or circumstantially to go back and reinstate said yield. Damn it. The proper way of things, of restoring order, so often relied upon calling in one's fellow knights until superior strength through numbers and overwhelming force had been achieved. But when you had no one else to call upon? What then?

This. Fleeing, making do, ensuring that she--the last of the Golden Blade--yet lived to further uphold her duties.

Heike glanced back to Szesh after the scream subsided. Asked, "How are you doing?"

The riverbed stretched on, the trench starting to snake more and more. Soon it would be better to abandon the trench altogether and continue on due west, lest they waste time walking in an increasingly exaggerated horseshoe shaped path.

Up ahead, somewhere out of the shallow trench it seemed, Heike saw a splash of color--and that meant light. And was that...music? Singing? The scratching in her throat intensified, as if the affliction were some malevolent intelligence within her that had detected through her eyes and ears potential sources of satiation.

Heike slowed--briefly--and asked Szesh, "Do you hear that? That singing?"

Szesh Kara Orin Ferelith Scathach

 

[Kara Orin]

…and with a pulse of its glowing runes, remotely carved a magic circle upon a tree within eyesight. Kara activated the magic and a white light flooded the area. From the river, the trees could have had slightly more detail that what one would expect in the beginning of night.

The mage’s eyes saw tracks on the ground. One set of footprints seemed humanoid and another obviously inhuman. Kara could recognize the distinct toe-step of a Draconian – or maybe just a large Lizardman. The slashes she saw at the tree where she found the catalyst came to her mind.

Back at the lonely tree, Kara’s companions finished tying Ferelith to the tree.

“What you think we’re going to do with her?” Shamih asked, “She looks like she’s been through hell.”

Callard shrugged, “Question and dump her like the thief we found? Kara didn’t help him.”

Then, the pair saw the tree line light up. Shamih and Callard quickly noticed this. Had it been high noon when Szesh and Heike exited the tunnel, the lonely tree would have been close enough for Shamih to spot them.

“It’s Kara,” Shamih said as she hopped on a horse, “You said there’s more bandits? Let’s get to her, before she’s in trouble.”

“What about the girl?” Callard asked.

Gesturing at Ferelith (who was mumbling from the pair’s perspective) and the tree, Shamih responded with, “She’s tied to the freaking tree! She’s going nowhere.”

After that, both of them rode off. Kara’s horse remained at the tree.

Back at the forest, Kara began to slowly trace Heike’s and Szesh’s steps. Even with her runic magelight, her not being a hunter plus the lack of other sources of light limited her ability. She heard Shamih and Callard approaching on horseback and quickly arriving to her side.

“Kara!” Shamih yelled, “You… look like you didn’t find trouble.”

Before Kara could say anything, Ferelith’s scream rang through the air…

Heike Eisen Ferelith Scathach Szesh

 

[Szesh]

Szesh looked down to his companion as she asked him how he was. In truth, he was growing tired. Trajan was not small, and his armor was heavy. While they had managed to sleep in Ferelith’s hideout, it had not been the most restful of sleep.

”I am fine,” he answered in time with his long, slow strides. ”Are you well?” He could see that her wounds had not fully healed since the tower, and although she moved unencumbered he had seen her wince as she was pushed out of the tunnel.

The light and singing had drawn his attention, and he grunted an affirmation as he nodded. ”Travelers,” he suggested. Anyone who lit a fire and sang so brazenly was either not expecting trouble or extremely well prepared for it. Given that being prepared generally involved knowing when not to make noise, Szesh assumed the former. The unfortunate man, and whoever he was with, had picked the wrong campsite.

A notion occurred to him as he saw Heike staring into the flickering shadows. She had professed her distaste for her curse to him, and he knew how she fed from necessity alone. She had endured tremendous hardship and succeeded in her mission (or near enough)... it seemed sad to him that she should continue to suffer.

A smaller light broke off from the fire, walking through the trees. He made a decision, and set Trajan down. ”Wait here,” he told Heike, and walked towards the small torch. He was surprisingly quiet, given his size. Thankfully the singer was loud enough to drown out the branches he grazed and the twigs he stepped on.

For all he knew their pursuers would be close behind. Hell, Ferelith herself could be tracking them down in vengeance for abandoning her. There was no time to weigh options, there was only time for action.

A young woman in leather gear had strayed from the fire to relieve herself. As she stood and refastened her belt, Szesh’s hand shot from the darkness and crushed her neck instantly. There was no screaming, no suffering. Only death. The torch fell to the ground, and he stamped it out. The man continued to sing.

He knew Heike could see him through the shadows as he returned with the body. This was his gift to her: eliminating her choice in the matter. The woman was dead, she could not have prevented this.

”Feed,” he said as he lay it down in front of her. The blood would not remain hot for long.

”...Please.”

 

[Heike Eisen]

Are you well?

"No," Heike said, for it was the truth. "But I will endure."

Then came the matter of the light and the singing. Travelers. A solid guess. The singing seemed out of character for bandits or mercenaries or Allirian Rangers or most other things which could pose a significant threat to them. A fortune. The last thing she and Szesh needed was to be pinned between bounty hunters possibly in pursuit and a potentially aggressive group of unknowns to their front.

Heike climbed out of the trench and got a look through the settling dark and at the small capsule of orange firelight. And Szesh was right. A man and a woman, sat around a small campfire, some distance ahead through the trees and brush. Presumably having journeyed from afar, and still with a ways to go.

Damn it. Why did she have to do this? Why did she have to be monster which stalked the innocent at night? But here was the world ordering itself, placing Heike in proximity of these two unfortunate souls. Her thirst and their blood having intersecting paths through connecting lives.

Szesh set the bald man down, and Heike looked to the Draconian quizzically. But she did wait. Watched with gray-and-white clarity in the dark as Szesh stalked through the forest toward the woman who had broken from her fellow traveler to set off some ways alone. And, after watching Szesh approach the woman, Heike understood. She had mentioned that she needed blood and rest in order to heal her wounds, so Szesh was going over there to bring the woman back here. Hold her--she had no chance to break free from Szesh's incredible grip--while Heike...did what she needed to do. Heike was grateful for the help, but shamed that Szesh would be involved. Perhaps it would not bother him as much as it bothered--

Szesh crushed the woman's neck and she dropped dead to the forest floor in an instant.

Heike stifled a holler of shocked horror with a hand clapped hard over her masked mouth. And she slapped her broken left hand over top of her right a moment after, her claws like abhorrent wings gliding off of her cheeks. Her eyes popped wide open, and both breathing--that ancient relic of the past--and trembling of her arms began in the moment that followed. Inhales and exhales hissing against the pressure of her hands.

NO! SZESH, NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??

They weren't mercenaries, nor bounty hunters, nor bandits nor soldiers nor anyone who may have lived by the sword or anyone who may have in some way meant them harm. Or even if they were, neither Szesh nor Heike knew that. They knew nothing of this couple by the fire. They were, until proven by their actions otherwise, innocent. Innocent! And that meant...meant...

Reikhurst. Ferelith. Now this. Now Szesh too. After the negligent infecting of Ferelith, Heike could scarcely imagine what the next Worst Possible Thing in her life might be. Now, not only did she know, but it had already come to terrible reality in the very instant of knowing. Szesh...and this. He had accepted her. Helped her. He did not judge her. He did not see her as a monster. And he was one of the few people Heike could even dare to call a friend.

And this, too, became ash in her hands. A murder--committed right in front of her--could not under any circumstances be allowed to remain unpunished while she retained even the smallest ounce of capacity to carry out said punishment.

The words of her Oath of Justice began to ring in her ears, spoken as she had said them before King Rommel, the Twenty-Third King of Reikhurst, himself: I, Heike Eisen, shall uphold the laws of Reikhurst and Arethil, and rightfully punish the guilty. This I swear.

Szesh came back. Laid the body of the slain woman before her. And Heike just took two steps back. Pulled down her mask and her hood and dropped her shaking hands down by her chest.

"You murdered her..." she said.

I, Heike Eisen...

"You murdered her!" Heike exclaimed, completely enraptured in the horror of her current plight and heedless to the presence of the man at the camp or the possible presence of the pursuing bounty hunters.

...shall uphold the laws of Reikhurst and Arethil...

Heike spread her feet. A firm stance upon the ground. Held the claws of her unbroken hand up and ready, coming slowly (reluctantly) to brandish them as she had against the mercenaries in Rennegast's tower. She said with a voice made hollow by the total eclipsing of hope, "Szesh...for the crime of murder you are hereby sentenced to hang by the neck until dead. In lieu of a gallows, summary execution is permitted."

...and rightfully punish the guilty...

She blinked, and two small tears ran down her face. Her eyes were alighted with the intermingled flames of conviction, horror, betrayal, and heavy sorrow. Yet she finished the traditional reciting of Reikhurstan law to him, saying, "May the gods have mercy on your troubled soul."

And Herr Heike Eisen took a hostile step toward him.

...This I swear.

Szesh Kara Orin Ferelith Scathach

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

The hunger ate at her mind.

The freshest pain and hell she had yet to experience. Her arcane strength being called upon by the hunger itself to bring her to her feet and forward.

The sluggish tired feelings and pain of the hunger with only a minor reduction to her strength.

Every step shot bolts of pain up her spine. Each movement screaming in protest. She ran through the woods with incredible speed. Her ears following the sound of the horses riding off. That was when she heard it. Smelled it. More people. Nearby.

.........................
With another screech she sprinted towards the fire. Her eyes cutting through the darkness as they glowed their dim yellow.

A man sitting by the fire. He stood and looked as some ruckus occurred. She had him pinned before he could even gasp. “Serena! If your out there run!” He yelled as Ferelith placed a bare pale foot on the back of his head. “There’s another eh love?” She rasped. Her throat so dry from the thirst it almost made her screech again. Another rustle if movement. Aggressive.. “H-Hello!?” She called out in her normal voice. Straining her vocals cords she continued. “I stopped this man from doing some horrible things to me! Come help me tie him up!” She called out.

“Seriously? If anyone’s out there it’s Serena and I already told her to run.” The man gasped out underneath her.

“Oh..” Ferelith blinked before a grin spread across her face. “Guess you’ve got a point there so I think I’ll just have to settle for you then.” She began to sink Her head down towards his neck.

Her fangs ready to sink into flesh.

 

[Kara Orin]

Kara and the gang easily heard Ferelith’s initial screaming. They knew it came from the tree with the hatch. As the light rune faded, the trio panned their gaze around – looking for any sign of the beast they heard.

Then, Ferleith’s second screech tore through the air. Kara heard it fade into the distance. They could assume that whatever creature was the source moved away from them.

Turning toward Shamih, Kara told her, “Light a torch. Now’s the time to see if we can track the bandit’s friends.”

High risk, high reward. It could be assumed the bandit’s comrades would be frightened by the monstrous scream and try to hunker down. Though, Kara was unaware that the Heike and Szesh were monsters as well. Shamih would help with her experience in the wilderness. There was the chance of running across the monster screaming beyond their sight, but there was a chance they could potentially catch a catalyst before it got too far.

Shamih nodded her head. Though, her heartbeat maintained a rapid pace. Adrenaline coursed through her veins.

Looking to Callard, Kara said, “I’ll walk, but stay close. I can guard everyone if so.”

Once Shamih lit a torch and noticed the trail Szesh and Heike left behind, the trio began to slowly move…

 

[Szesh]

Szesh looked quizzically at Heike as she stepped back in horror. He had seen first hand the carnage she had inflicted with her own hands in just the past few nights. This death had been clean, even peaceful by comparison.

”You murdered her!”

Szesh took a step back. He did not understand this outburst. Fathomless black eyes searched her for an explanation, but all he could find was anger, sorrow, and resolve. As she spoke his sentence his mind reeled. Murder? How many had they killed before this? How many people had died horrible deaths to Heike and Szesh’ mission? Soldiers, mercenaries, thieves, all of them slaughtered in singular pursuit of three golden artifacts. What was the difference?

”I… it was for you…” he blundered.

He lifted an arm in instinctual defense, and he felt his heart and stomach grow cold and tight. This time it was not because of Heike’s dead eyes or cold flesh, he had grown used to those. This time it was stark recognition.

How could he have been so foolish? Had he forgotten her entire motive for seeking the wizard and his tower? She had no interest in the catalysts, he had known this. She sought only to punish the guilty. It appeared that line was far more clear to her than he had initially thought, and that these innocent travellers were not implicated in their quest. They were not associated with “guilty men,” and so by taking this woman’s life, he had marked himself for retribution.

A second emotion washed over him as the first wave of understanding calmed, and it grew hot within him. Rage. Indignation. It was too terrible to contemplate the entirety of what he had just lost in Heike: his first true companion in decades, a person with whom he could feel comfortable, at ease, someone with whom he could identify. Instead, his heart surged in retaliation, unwilling to accept Heike’s judgement.

”Would you not have?!” he snapped, obsidian teeth gnashing at his words. How dare she. How dare she. It was her hunger that he was feeding, her unholy need for living flesh that he had been trying to sate. Was she so blind to her own station that she thought herself above him? She was just like all the others, in the end, all those who had scorned him. The scar in his back seared with memory and anger. For all his shame and acceptance of his crimes, he had lied to himself for a long time. His pride had never truly died, it was merely buried. The only reason he lived was to prove that he was worthy of life. They were not better than him. She was not better than him.

She moved towards him, claws bared, and Szesh felt the heat grow within his breast, readying the flame within. She was stronger than he was, faster too, but he had seen what a passing glance of his fire had done.

A terrible scream shattered the tension between them. At first Szesh thought it had come from the vampire in front of him, and his entire body tensed, his wings unfurling and tail lifting. The sound of Ferelith tackling the man by the fire drew his eye, though, and he understood in a jolt.

Ferelith had caught up to them. Whether she had tracked them down or simply followed the firelight was unclear, but she was here, and she was on the hunt. Heike seemed to have control over her hunger and her strength, but Szesh had no such expectations from the newly undead. And if Ferelith had reached them, it was only a matter of time until the others did as well. Assuming, of course, that she had not slaughtered them already.

He gave Heike a sidelong look, glancing between her and the fire. Her proclamations of summary execution seemed less pressing all of a sudden. They would have plenty of time to murder each other after Ferelith and their pursuers were dealt with.

”Can it wait?” he said finally.

 

[Heike Eisen]

I... it was for you...

Szesh's statement absolutely broke her heart. That her affliction, her abhorrent thirst, had in a sense contaminated him as well through mere association. That it had spurred within him a compulsion to take an innocent life where he otherwise may never have even considered such an evil act. She should have never allowed herself his friendship, that bond. The isolation that stemmed from her affliction was agonizing, but here, in this case...it would have saved a life, and spared Szesh this tragedy.

The bag with the Catalyst. Dropped. Her bundle of clothes. Dropped. Another step closer to him, and though could not tell him explicitly to run, her eyes betrayed the battle between her unwillingness to follow-through and the horrified conviction that she must.

Would you not have?!

"No," Heike said. Firm and simple. Murder--the taking of innocent life--was unforgivable. It was a line in which, once crossed, there could be no return. And the law of all civilized places held it as a high crime--the highest, in many--the punishment fittingly the most severe.

Now Oathbound to this commitment of exacting justice from Szesh, Heike knew that she would likewise be opening herself up to be slain by him. For it was a rarity for a murderer to face their punishment peacefully, and she knew that Szesh--given the rage in his voice--would not. And it terrified her: she knew what he was capable of. She felt the effect of his Draconian breath on her back even now, and that was a mere split-second's worth caught at an oblique angle. Even if she did not have the crippling weakness to fire from her affliction, being engulfed entirely by his breath would still spell an agonizing death--and with such a weakness, a death near-instant.

Her left hand was broken and useless. Her back threatened to alight with arresting pain with the wrong motion or at the wrong time. And with the scratching of the thirst in her throat she knew she only had so much blood to spend for enhanced strength and speed--her only advantage. Once she had no more, then her death was certain.

But she was Oathbound. And upon her honor she could not allow for her personal feelings of reluctance nor fear to keep her from the fulfillment of her duty.

THERE!

A shriek came from the forest, and Szesh had turned his eye and his attention in the direction of it and off of her. Heike's combat instincts took over in an instant--the immediate capitalization upon the mistake of one's foe. Her legs burned what blood she retained within them for a burst of speed, launching herself in a lunge for Szesh's neck. The thought being that if she could injure the interior muscle of his throat enough that it would render him unable to properly use his fire breath; there was no better opportunity than this.

Sailing toward him, Heike slashed at Szesh's neck with the claws of her right hand. All other things disregarded.

Szesh Ferelith Scathach Kara Orin

 

[Szesh]

It took only an instant of distraction to set Heike in motion. His eye caught her movement and he reflexively reeled back, but it was too late, and he was far too slow. He raised an arm in defense and serviced only to slightly deviate her attack. Her claws sliced across his throat, and he could count his blessings that his thick scales reduced the depth of her attack by a few centimeters.

But it was still deep. Dark blood spattered the trees around them, and Szesh clutched at his neck. He did not know if the wound was fatal. He guessed he would find out soon enough. His insult and indignation mixed with fear and self-preservation. Heike, still to his astonishment, was actually trying to kill him.

He knew what this creature was capable of, and he knew that he would not get a second chance. He could be forlorn about this later, right now he was going to stay alive. He inhaled, ignoring the pain in his neck as his throat expanded… but a savage cough interrupted him, and he spat out a spray of black liquid. A small breath of flame, no greater than a torches’ light, accompanied the hacking and was quickly snuffed out.

Szesh swung his sword and shield wildly, just trying to keep distance between himself and the vampire. He did not need to breath to produce fire, but he couldn’t do so while he was coughing up blood. Here and there a small plume would find its way out in between heaves. He could not see Heike, and tracked her position merely by where her blows came from.

He had managed to light some of the small brush on fire. It would not be enough. With great effort, he attempted to calm his breathing. The coughing reduced, but did not vanish. All he needed was a solid few seconds.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Contact.

But it was possible that he had saved himself with his deflecting arm, that she had not cut deep enough. So when the momentum of her lunge brought her against Szesh's shield and body she pushed back against them and springboarded backward. Landing on her feet, she assessed the closest tree behind which she could take cover.

Yet it did not seem necessary. His inhalation did not lead to an expulsion of deadly flame, only a cough and sputter of meager fire.

She couldn't stop. She had to capitalize on this. And her Oathbound compulsion to punish the guilty spurred her onward.

Heike came at him, again and again, bursts of speed fueled by expenditures of scarce blood. Her claws struck at his shield, were deflected by his sword, and she came from the left and bounced back and came from the right, tried to get around him and behind him but his warrior's senses were keen. As well she should know.

"I'm sorry, Szesh," Heike said after leaping back to the darkness after another failed strike. "I'm sorry that you met me." Even a low strike found only his shield, and Heike fell back again. "I'm sorry that you've become this!"

Genuine heartbreak permeated her voice, her words, even though both were unbecoming of a knight facing her foe.

His coughing was abating. Light from the small brush fire joined that of the campfire some distance away. Something drastic needed to be done to keep her advantage.

So Heike exerted herself and felt the squeezing pressure of spent blood in her legs and she leaped high into the air, far over Szesh's head and behind him and twirled around mid-flight such that she would be facing his back when she landed. A landing that he would no doubt hear in the darkness.

Thus, another expenditure of blood for a burst of speed was necessary--and the claws of thirst in her throat scratched harder as she grew closer to becoming blood-starved.

Heike lunged with that speed toward Szesh and sought to dig all ten of her claws into the scales of his back. His wings she subconsciously avoided.

Szesh Kara Orin

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

Ferelith’s fang sank into the mans neck. The euphoria of feeding was cut short. Her thirst was sated and yet her condition begged for more.

Howeveras she had consumed enough to survive she had come back to her senses and the fighting in the tree line caught her attention and the man fell from her mouth as he still breathed raggedly. Alive it would seem murder would not be on her list of things to do...for once...

“Huh..” her eyes were telling her one thing but her brain was drawing a blank at what to do with it. Heike was fighting..Szesh?!

“What are you people doing!” Ferelith rushed towards the commotion.

Tackling Heike mid air she would land heavily before bouncing back and placing herself between the two. Glancing between them Ferelith held up her hands as if to stop both of them by some invisible force of will.

“Stop this! Or did you forget we are being HUNTED by others right now?” She said glancing about for their pursuers. With some semblance of peace of only for a moment.

“W-what happened..” She said nervously as the moment left her to fully feel the tension between the two. Heikes eyes yellow points of honor bound anger. Szesh looking as if someone had just stabbed him in the back. Both looked equally guilty.

Normally Ferelith would simply side with who ever had been the attacked and kill the traitor. However, if this had been because of a dispute or betrayal neither was completely free of fault by how they each looked at the other.

 

[Kara Orin]

“What happened?” Kara’s echoed.

Emerging from the same direction Heike and Szesh came from, Kara revealed herself. The emblem of the College of Elbion on her cloak was somewhat illuminated by the brush fire Szesh started. Kara’s already wielded her blade in her hand. The runes on it glowed a bright blue.

Shamih and Callard remained in the darkness mere feet away – weapons drawn. Well, in the darkness for normal human eyes anyway…

Earlier, Shamih kept them on the trail long enough until they could hear the commotion between Szesh and Heike. Kara and her partners witnessed some of the fight between Szesh and Heike from a distance. Kara was content with just waiting until one of the two was slain. Yet at Shamih and Callard’s insistence, Kara appeared. Her partners assumed Heike to be a damsel in distress – ignoring the claws the woman sported.

 

[Szesh]

Heike was unbelievably fast, and it was all Szesh could do to keep her attacks from landing on his scales. More than once he thought he felt a claws scrape across his forearm, and it very well may have, the pain momentarily dulled by adrenaline and their incredible sharpness. Her words came through to him clear, and rather than appease him, they only served to intensify his disbelief and his anger.

"I've become nothing!" he choked out, raking at the air with his blade. "This mark is not given to innocents." Heike did not hold credit for making him a murderer. He did not want to give her the satisfaction of having made an impact on his life. She had made a tremendous impact, of course, but he didn't wish to believe that right now. His earlier suspicions were being confirmed. Had she known of his past earlier, she would have slain him. Rage, sadness, and humiliation coursed through him. The bond he had felt with the vampire making everything worse.

When she leapt, he did not turn in time. He could not even move his tail quickly enough to intercept her, and Heike's claws sunk cleanly into his back. Szesh roared like the animal he was. The pain was intense and radiating, spreading through his nerves to the ends of his wings and the base of his tail, up the back of his neck and making his eyes water. He shook his body this way and that, trying to dislodge her, until she was suddenly and painfully knocked from him.

The impact of Ferelith's tackle turn him around and brought him to his knees, where he lifted his sword and shield immediately. Until he saw Heike standing on the other side of the woman, he didn't know if he was safe. He still wasn't safe, Heike would not stop at Ferelith's insistence, and to make matters worse their combat had lead their new pursuers straight to them.

Enough was enough. Szesh had seen enough battles unfold to know that he had only seconds to act, so act he did. He searched the ground and found the second catalyst that Heike had discarded. He leapt for it, hoping that Ferelith might be able to stop Heike if she came after him, that the newcomers would not act quickly enough to stop him.

Should he succeed, he was getting out of here. He would leap into the treetops and fly far, far away from this place. Back to Alliria, back to safety.

Back to solitude.

 

[Heike Eisen]

This mark is not given to innocents.

There was truth in his words. But Heike did not want to believe it. Or, perhaps, she did on some murky level of mind, but retained the hope that the transgressions which brought upon his exile could be cleansed by the will to do better, the striving toward a redemption for past crimes.

Dangerous wishful thinking. As she was so prone to entertain.

And so her attack continued, her claws finding their mark through the scales of Szesh's back. Her legs dangled and swung about as Szesh shook and jerked his body in a bid to be rid of her. He was a deadly foe, and that was no mistake; if he were a man then he would be dead already, yet justice upon him proved ever elusive. (Silent relief at this.)

Something did dislodge her. Slammed into her and tore her from Szesh and down to the ground with a hard thud. Another assailant. The man from the camp? No. Ferelith. Hell's fury, had she dealt with the bounty hunters? And how had she found them, if not by sheer startling coincidence? It did not matter, those details nor Ferelith's strange plea for peace between them. The mercenary was not yielded to Heike anymore, even if she had apparently lost her weapon between here and the refuge--the immutable act of her taking up arms again had decided that.

So she was potentially a combatant. They were not so far removed from when this was the indisputable truth.

Heike stood. Stayed her advance on Szesh as Ferelith put herself between them; this, as bidden by her subconscious, rather than immediately rejoining the attack on Szesh as bidden by her Oath of Justice. Thus, talk, instead of action.

To Ferelith she said authoritatively, "Stand aside. Or I will make you stand aside."

What happened? said a voice, and there from the corner of Heike's eye came a new trio. Heike wheeled around in such a manner to regard them but not to entirely turn her eyes from Ferelith either.

Now what? Who were these people, then? The woman had a familiarity to her voice and the man and orc had a familiarity to their appearance. Could it...? No. Heike saw the emblem of the College of Elbion on the woman's cloak. No, those couldn't be the bounty hunters. Unlikely.

Regardless of the trio's true allegiances, Szesh seized his opportunity and took flight. Heike would take a half-hearted step in his general direction, but stop. Outwardly frustrated, but inwardly, on an unspoken level in both heart and mind that so often contained the actual truth of things, she rejoiced. Glad that her Oath would go unfulfilled today, as derelict of duty as that feeling was to hold.

But now, the utter peril of her situation began to settle in. Here she was, now alone, with one enemy whose strength she knew she could not best as she was and three more potential enemies, all looking at her with weapons drawn. There on the ground the dead woman and Trajan, so close in mortal proximity to the woman that he may as well be counted in her grim company.

Heike knew from experience that nothing she said would possibly matter; the true tragedy here being that her Oath compelled her to chase away the one person who would have given her charitable consideration.

She was a vampire. A monster. And that was all they would see.

Heike held up her right hand--Szesh's blood glistening on her claws--ready for the inevitable, and began to back away from the trio and Ferelith alike. She said as she did, "This woman was murdered."

She backed up further--there was likely to be no recovering Trajan. The bald man would have to be abandoned, for she would have no choice but to run. She could not attack the Elbion trio for doing what was righteous, for attempting to slay a vampire. Her only recourse to save her own life--such as it was--to flee.

To the trio, she added as well, "I mean you no harm."

Kara Orin Ferelith Scathach Szesh

 

[Ferelith Scathach]

“Hey wait up! Don’t leave me with these creepy college people! Heike!” Ferelith said taking off after her. She caught up quickly.

“Your hurt and tired. I can carry you. If I try anything your claws are right where they need to be ok? I yield.” She said running in front of Heike and stopping holding up her hands.

“Just let me help..I won’t let you run away from what you did to me..” She said with a flash of anger.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me anymore Heike..Now let me help...You owe me that much..” She finished stoically standing her ground and waiting to see what Heike would do next.

 

[Kara Orin]

When Szesh began to flee, Kara did not act immediately. The facts she knew painted an incomplete picture. After a moment’s thought, Kara thought it prudent to cast a spell

The mage looked to Szesh and pointed. The runes on her sword shined brighter for a moment. She attempted to cast her tracking rune upon Szesh's "attire". Though, it was not guaranteed to take hold. It was dark, Kara required a decent line of sight. Szesh was just about at the distance to where any sudden movement would make it impossible to apply the mark. It also took no effort to dispel – in case Szesh or anything he carried had the ability to do so. And even if Kara succeeded, the rune would only last for a day. Unless Szesh stopped moving to rest for a long time again, Kara might never be able to catch up before she loses the trail.

Regardless, it seemed the trio was soon left with just Heike and Ferelith.

Kara silently examined the scene for a few moments. Her eyes glanced over the woman murdered by Szesh. Then she saw Trajan – though the darkness obscured enough of him for his health and identity to be unknown to Kara at the moment.

When Kara first saw Ferelith at the hideout, it was not apparent that she was a vampire. Now, it was clear the trio stood before two. Kara recalled the words of the thief the trio before finding the buried Catalyst.

“I see,” Kara said first as she turned her gaze to Heike.

Even with Heike being injured, Kara did not advance to attack the vampire. The two comrades behind her were on her mind for a second. While they were trained fighters, they were not monster hunters. They had families.

Kara wished for them to return home alive.

“I’m looking for a magical item: catalysts,” Kara told Heike.

Not waiting, Kara then asked, “Did you take one from a thief? Do you have another?”

Szesh Heike Eisen Ferelith Scathach

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike's eyes shifted with avian speed and precision between Ferelith who had approached her and the Elbion trio who stood awash in the glow of the small brush fire. A lot had happened in so short a span of time that her wits were frayed, the weight of emotional exasperation like a boulder balanced on her skull. Everything that had happened prior to the refuge was bad enough. Then came Ferelith's despair and Heike's own part in it. Being found by the bounty hunters and on the run. Szesh's murder of the innocent woman. Now this Elbion trio and Ferelith's reemergence.

This latter event the most peculiar. Heike would have thought Ferelith, upon apparently besting the bounty hunters and with herself and Szesh having gone away, would have surely used the blatant opportunity to retake her freedom. Yet here she was. Yielding again--evidence that she understood the universal rules of yielding (despite the extreme particulars of their situation potentially muddying those rules). The stark fact that she had come back voluntarily and submitted herself of her own accord was nothing short of astonishing to Heike; it spoke to at least a latent respect for order and the proper way of things, of a potential for atonement and redemption in Ferelith. There was an element of fear of the unknown concerning her affliction threaded through her intent, but it paled as a motivation for Ferelith to return to her, knowing full well what Heike was going to do.

Then as well there was the Elbion trio. Timely in their appearance. Heike didn't think they were the bounty hunters from earlier--Ferelith would have recognized them. Likewise she didn't think they were associated with the two travelers whom Szesh and she had stumbled upon by the campfire. Though the black-haired woman at their lead did confirm that they were looking for the Catalysts; it made some sense that, so close to Rennegast's tower, there would be a group of bounty hunters and a party employed by the College to run into. They did not attack her--yet. But Heike remained wary.

She'd only managed a few steps back when the black-haired woman said I see and asked her questions. Only several paces' worth of distance between them.

And Heike stopped. Apprehensive and defensive, she was nevertheless bidden by her Oath of Truth to answer.

A glance to Ferelith and she held up her mangled left hand in a bid for one moment: she could only address one person at a time.

To Kara, she looked at her--yellow eyes stained through with worry--and said, "Yes. I took one from a thief. But I gave it to Szesh--the Draconian who was just here--and he buried it. We secured the other two from a wizard's tower not far from here. Those two are now in his possession."

And, before she could stop herself, another word slipped out, "He..."

With this sentence dangling in the air, eventually the internal compulsion to finish it. Embers stoked to flame by her Oath.

"He was a friend to me."

Her eyes dropped to the ground, heavy with remorse. Then came back up.

"But he murdered this woman."

Kara Orin Ferelith Scathach Szesh

 

[Szesh]

Branches broke against his battered scales as Szesh shot into the sky, free. It was an uneven, choppy flight. Heike's claws in his back had not disabled him, but the lacerated muscles screamed in protest of the powerful flapping. His throat burned, and he continued to cough out a fine mist of blood. The vampire had sliced deep enough into his neck to just nick his trachea, and while it would heal, it continued to drip into his lungs. Despite the effort, he dared not stop. He knew how fast Heike was, knew how she could traverse the darkness and how sleep was merely a luxury to her.

It would be several hours before he was forced to descend. A small farm with quaint fields growing colorful with the dawn. A farmer, defensive at first of the massive reptile, but calmed by his humble plea for shelter. His sword and shield he offered as payment. They were not fine, but the metal would be worth something. Szesh was not ready to part with Trajan's hammer just yet, for it intrigued him.

He was allowed to sleep in the barn, but he declined their offer of a meal. Though he was hungry, he would not impose more on these people. For all he knew he was being tracked. He washed with a water trough and set down to rest. A few hours, no more, then he would return to the skies.