Private Tales The Mountains Ahead

[Aviana Sabel]

There was no point in arguing with him, she could see that. If she stood there in her stubbornness, they would both be overrun soon and Kasim wouldn't be able to defend both her and himself.

Internally, she cursed the archer that'd shot her. He'd managed to take her mostly out of the fight and turn her into a massive liability.

She watched as Kasim's form faded in front of her then she turned away to half stagger, half run towards the woods. Moving at all was excruciating, but trying to run was so painful that it nearly caused Aviana to black out altogether. The connection to Kiovec gave her strength and pushed her onwards to the safety of the treeline.



It wasn't clear how long she ran for, but by the time she regained her senses, Aviana found herself deep within the forest. Her breathing was ragged and uneven, struggling to draw in as she stumbled into the trunk of a tree for support. She pressed her free hand against the shoulder that the arrow protruded from, gritting her teeth to keep from screaming out in agony.

Tears blurred her vision, making it difficult to focus on her surroundings in the darkness of the forest. She realized that she'd managed to flee far enough to lose sight of the village lights.

Where was Kasim? He'd said that he would catch up...

She dropped down onto the mossy forest floor, unable to move any further. Magic could only push a failing body so far, and she needed to rest.

For a few minutes, she was surrounded by peaceful darkness and trees. A wind whispered through the branches overhead, causing the leaves to stir in the cool night air. If she'd been uninjured, it would have been lovely.

Blinking the tears from her eyes, she was finally able to get a proper look around her. She'd collapsed at the edge of a beautiful glade in the midst of the dense forest. A narrow stream flowed through the middle of the clearing, moonlight reflecting off the rippling surface of the water. The long grasses and wildflowers were bathed in a pale blue light, which made it difficult to distinguish the variety of colors. It looked as though someone had taken a painting and made it a reality.

The tranquility of the glade was broken by the sound of a hound braying out into the darkness. Aviana tensed up, feeling the hair on the back of her neck bristle. She didn't even need the magic to hear the handler running along behind the massive dog -- they were that close to her position. Warm light flickered in the trees across the glade, Aviana recognized it as a torch.

Moments later, a man glad in black with an enormous hound on a chain broke through the tree line. The dog had it's nose to the ground. Its face lifted up, floppy ears swaying beside its jowls as it gave another braying bark directly in Aviana's direction as she was huddled in the shadow of the gnarled tree roots.

The hooded man raised his torch a bit higher, holding the dog tight as it yanked against its chain in an effort to continue on the hunt.

Aviana was too weak to scamper up a tree, and if she moved now, she risked being immediately spotted.

An unsettling, screeching roar pierced the night air some distance away.

 

[Kasim Areth]

There was no blood magic, not this time.

The ghostly Jester turned around, the sword in his hand matching his ghostly visage. Almost as soon as he shifted five men came into view, each of them brandishing a weapon. One held a bow, though he seemed to freeze as he caught sight of Kasim standing within the alleyway.

His friends did not have the same fear.

They rushed towards him in an instant, each of them calling out a cry of battle. They were dressed in pure black, all of them prepared for the night.

No expression crossed the Jester's face as they approached him, instead he simply took a step forward. He moved more lithely than he had before, smoother. His blade flowed forward, flicking through the night and then suddenly cutting through the man that approached him.

A spray of blood and a guttural noise followed, then another, then another.

Three men crumpled to the floor dead before the fourth even had a chance to catch up. As he saw his friends fall the man hesitated, and in that second he lost his head.

An arrow flew through the alleyway, darting within the darkness. It pierced through Kasim...and then continued to fly. Half a breath later and it landed on the heavy cobbles of the alley, clattering as it came to a stop. No blood or ripped cloth adorned it's head.

Kasim glanced at it for a moment, a smile tugging at his lips as he began to walk towards the archer.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

The large hound reared up onto his hind legs, its bark booming through the otherwise silent forest. It whined in excitement, so close to catching its prey. The beast was big enough that its shoulder would stop just above Aviana's hip, to call it massive was an understatement.

Laughing quietly, the hunter reached down and unclipped the chain from the hound's collar. "Go get 'er, boy." He growled.

Without hesitation, the hunting hound surged forward once it was freed. Aviana might have been able to hide from the handler, but she couldn't escape the beast's sense of smell -- it knew exactly where she was.

She scrambled onto her feet, shoulder screaming in agony from the sudden movements that jarred the wound, but there was nothing to do done for it. Instinct had taken over and it was calling for her to flee. It was foolish, there was no chance of her outrunning a hound at full sprint, even if she'd been uninjured.

She could hear the beast splashing through the creek, already closing the distance between them by the time she was turning to run. The moment she stood up, the hunter caught sight of her and gave a harsh laugh. He sounded as much a dog as his hound. "Atta boy! Run 'er down!" He shouted, voice carrying over the dog's barking.

His hand now free from holding the leash, the hunter grabbed his crossbow from his back with a bolt already ready to fire. He raised the weapon and took aim, lazily firing at the fleeing woman's back. His shot went wide in the darkness, grazing her sword arm instead of properly finding its mark.

The cut left behind was deep and painful but didn't cripple Aviana any further; the scent fresh blood, however, excited the hound all the more.

Get down.

She recognized the connection with Kiovec, the familiarity of the dragon's presence.

The hound was less than a meter behind her, she could practically feel its hot breath on her heels. Still, she dropped to the forest floor, skidding across the moss and hissing sharply as she wrenched her injured shoulder.

Just before she flung herself onto the ground, the dog had lept into the air in an effort to knock her down. Its momentum carried the beast forward. There was a tremendous roar and Aviana felt a surge of fear that she'd stumbled into a lion's lair. Above her, something massive impacted the hound midair and sent it sprawling back into the clearing behind her.

When she rolled over onto her side to look over her shoulder, she saw just what it was -- Kiovec.

The dragon and hound must have been close in size, but Kiovec's blood red wings and elongated tail, covered in keratin spikes, made him look exceptionally larger. He stood between Aviana and the dog, wings spread and head lowered, bellowing a ferocious roar that she could feel reverberate deep in her chest.

On the other side of the glade, the hunter's face ran pale and he fumbled with reloading the weapon.

 

[Kasim Areth]

The archer fell to the floor, his face frozen in a terrified scream. Upon his forehead was carved a symbol, the lines of blood running thick as black cracks had spread all over his face.

It had not been a good death.

Kasim seemed to flare slight, a gust of wind pushing at his ghostly form. His lips thinned for a brief moment, and then a terrifying scream tore through the night. It was not the sound of Aviana's voice, or any man that might have been chasing her. He frowned for a brief moment.

He took a step forward, and then there was an odd...pull.

For a brief moment his vision flickered, his balance lost as he saw an odd shadowy figure stood within the corner of his eye. Head snapped to the form, though by the time he looked it was gone.

Lips thinned, and slowly the Jester began to shake his head.

Briefly he glanced around the alleyway and at the corpses strewn about. Then without another second of hesitation he headed towards the distant scream.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

The hound was a beast bred for hunting humanoids or game, not for battling a fledgling dragon; however, the dog was still a loyal and valiant creature that stood its ground before the snarling Kiovec. There was a brief moment where neither beast moved, growling at each other in an uneasy stand-off.

The grumblings were interrupted by the hunter who raised his crossbow and fired a second shot.

Aviana watched the bolt leap from the weapon and then she lost sight of the projectile in the darkness, though she heard the dull thud as it impacted the front of the dragon's chest. It plinked harmlessly off of the armor-like scales and fell to the ground.

Kiovec's head snapped towards the hunter on the other side of the glade, letting loose a rage-fueled roar. He swung his spike covered tail, far swifter than Aviana would have thought possible, knocking the hound to the ground with a single blow.

The hound yelped sharply and didn't immediately get to its feet; instead, he laid whimpering in the tall grass.

This gave the dragon enough time to leap clear across the glade towards the hunter. Wings spread, maw open, the young dragon landed on top of the human and pinned him to the forest floor. Aviana watched on, feeling the draw on their connection as the flames formed deep in the dragon's throat moments before Kiovec unleashed the scorching fire.

Flames engulfed the hunter's form, catching his beard and hair, hot enough to char the flesh from his bones within seconds. It was a gruesome death... but a shockingly fast one. Nevertheless, it didn't stop the man's shrill shrieks from filling the otherwise calm night air until his vocal cords burned away.

The pull on the magic seemed to ebb and Aviana felt her strength rapidly drain away. She slumped onto her side to avoid disturbing the arrow that still protruded from her back.

 

[Kasim Areth]

As Kasim ran through the forest the ghostly nature of his skin seemed to return to it's normal form.

The wind stopped pressing parts of him away, his stride slowed, and the rune that had been glowing upon his torso seemed to die and frizzle into nothing. Pain shot through him as he ran.

Not an agony of a wound, not the hurt of a cut or anything physical.

It was a different sort of pain, an echo that ran through him that would have been difficult to put into words. It was like a piece of his soul had been sheered off, slowly peeled away and stripped from it. It made him want to scream, his throat aching with pain as he called out. "Aviana!"

It was easier to call her name.

Easier than admitting to himself what he'd done to save them both.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

Aviana's consciousness felt as though it had split in two, preventing her from drifting off into the yawning nothingness of sleep that beckoned for her. Instead, she lingered in a semi-conscious state as her mind wandered.

She found herself standing naked at the edge of a smooth rock at the edge of a small river. It looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she'd seen it before in her disjointed state. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she realized that she was alone. It was quiet, though she could sense that Kasim was nearby. That assuaged her uncertainties, and she suddenly feeling quite calm.

She felt safe here, she realized.

Without a care in the world, she hopped off the edge of the rock and into the chilly depths of the river. The water was more frigid than she remembered, painful. Something felt as if it was tearing at her shoulder and she gave a sharp cry once she breached the surface.

Her eyes opened and she was on the forest floor, shoulder screaming in protest as she'd rolled onto her injured side. She could still feel the cool water lapping against her body and she slipped beneath the surface once more.

"Aviana!"

She recognized that voice.

It was Kasim.

Though she wasn't sure in which reality she'd heard him call out for her. She took a ragged breath, trying to find her voice to shout his name -- what came from her lips was little more than a strangled groan, however.

Kiovec heard her and quickly moved to her side, nuzzling into her arm with his snout, as if unsure what to do.

Across the clearing, the dead hunter's body still burned. A beacon in the darkness of the forest.

 

[Kasim Areth]

The flicker of light in the darkness was enough.

His gaze flickered through the trees as he moved, eyes eventually catching the flickering of flames just enough. Lips thinned, his heart turned, and then quickly his sprint turned towards the light.

He felt branches scratch him, roots attempt to trip him, but he kept up his pace. Bloody sword flicked forward as he broke into the clearing, the sight of a burning corpse immediately catching his attention. Lips thinned, his gaze shifted towards something moving in the distance.

At the other end of the clearing he spotted Kiovec, and besides him Aviana.

His breath caught. "Fuck."

The word was almost silent, breathless. He darted across the clearing, tossing his sword to the side and sliding down in place in front of Aviana. His hands immediately reached out to her, touching, feeling if she had any other wounds.

"Are you okay?" Kasim asked quickly. "Aviana?"

Was she even strong enough to hear him?

 

[Aviana Sabel]

The dragon snarled when Kasim first burst into the clearing, but he recognized the jester once he caught the man's familiar scent and relaxed. He moved to the side as Kasim rushed over to the fallen form of Aviana; as if knowing that the bard would be better suited to take care of her.

Aviana's left arm was wet with blood, the sleeve of her shirt stained a deep crimson and torn at the bicep where the bolt had bit into her flesh. On her right side, there was another darker stain that ran along her ribs and across half her back.


His voice was both closer and yet muffled at the same time. It was difficult to hear what was being said from beneath the surface of the water. Then she felt his touch and it seemed to draw her back to the surface.

She took a deep breath as her eyes opened, looking up at Kasim as he knelt in front of her in the dark clearing. The stench of burning flesh filled the air, but the fire cast her lover in a warm, flickering light. A faint and strained smile graced her lips when she saw him. The river faded away to memory once more as the pain surged through her body and she grimaced.

"Are you okay?" She asked him weakly, remembering that she'd watched him activate one of the ruins. There was a sense of dread that settled over her, but she did her best to keep the expression from her eyes.

 

[Kasim Areth]

"I'm alright." It wasn't a lie really.

His body was perfectly fine, much better than hers in fact. Not a single wound had been inflicted on him. No cut, no bruise, nothing at all. In fact, Kasim seemed as though he had just spent the last month in a healing fountain taking a well deserved nap.

Whatever the Rune had been seemed to have worked magic.

"What about you." Aside from the obvious bolt still in her shoulder. "How are you hanging on?"

As the Jester spoke he reached into the bag he had been carrying, beginning to pull out a few herbs that they had gathered over the last months as well as a small vial and what appeared to be a paint brush.

Kasim was no doctor of course, but he was a Rune Mage.

That counted for something here.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

Her bright blue eyes slowly blinked as she watched Kasim rummage through the bag that he was carrying. It occurred to her that her own alchemy supplies were tucked away safely inside a saddle bag back in the stables. A frown tugged on her lips and she tried to push herself up into a more seated position.

As if understanding her intention, Kiovec padded around behind Aviana and gently eased her up with his large head, then he curled up behind her to support her weight.

Sitting upright, Aviana was made painfully aware of the extent of her injuries. The forest seemed to tilt around her as her brain readjusted itself to the new position. She reached out with her left arm, the one that hadn't taken a direct hit, and lightly gripped Kasim's forearm with a shaky smile.

"I'll live." She said in a soft voice, letting out a quiet sigh. "Just... a little dizzy."

 

[Kasim Areth]

"We'll get the bolt out now." He told her softly.

Before they had been too pressed for time, the blood loss alone would have killed her in minutes. Now at least they had a few minutes before they needed to hide themselves away.

"They won't be coming." Not for a while. "I'll have time for a proper rune."

Otherwise he would have been too afraid to get it wrong.

With Rune Magic would misplaced line could be as deadly as...well as a sword straight to the stomach. The Runes took time to do properly, especially when you were applying them to the woman you loved. "Ready?"

He asked softly as he put his supplies to the side.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

She gave a faint nod in response to Kasim's question. Even if she wasn't exactly ready, there wasn't much choice in the matter. The arrow needed to come out one way or another. She licked her lips nervously and shifted her weight so that her back was turned more towards the jester.

Kiovec watched closely, his head snaking around to peer down at them both. His tail swished anxiously behind Aviana, stirring the grass around them.

She took a breath and held it in, waiting for the searing pain that she knew was going to come when he wrenched the arrow from her shoulder.

"Yeah... I'm ready." She murmured.

 

[Kasim Areth]

Kasim grimaced, shaking his head and taking a deep breath.

The Jester wasn't much of a surgeon. Sure there had been the odd accident to deal with, one or two things that he'd had to seal up...but he wasn't exactly comfortable. "Deep breath."

He told her softly as he wrapped his fingers around the bol.

His other hand dipped into the vial.

A breath filled his lungs, and then in one quick motion he yanked the wooden shaft from her shoulder. The metal tip flew free, and in the same swift instant Kasim placed his finger over the wound. Before blood could even properly flow he drew a symbol. There was a flash of light, and Aviana would feel a burning pain as the wound sealed.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

Before Aviana could even properly draw a breath, Kasim's fingers had curled around the shaft of the arrow and ripped it free from her shoulder. Her mouth parted to cry out in pain, gasping sharply in surprise, but as she felt the effect of the rune sear through her form, her voice shifted to a more visceral snarl. Blinding white light filled her vision, making it impossible to see even though her stark blue eyes were wide open. Without really knowing how she knew, she could sense that Kasim's rune had invoked her own innate magic. It surged through her, left her feeling as though her head was splitting apart for one agonizing moment, and then the torment was gone as quickly as it had set in.

She was trembling and panting for breath, one hand clutching at Kasim's forearm while the other braced herself against a mossy rock in front of her.

Kiovec grunted in discomfort beside her then snapped his maw twice.

She felt weak as if she'd just ran several miles. And she dully realized that it was entirely likely that she'd done that during her escape from the village. She wasn't entirely sure where she was.

Her gaze turned towards Kasim's, eyes almost seeming to glow for a brief moment before fading back to their natural pale hue. A faint smile touched her lips and she leaned forward to press her forehead against his own. The hand that had been pressed against the rock moved to tenderly cup his cheek in her palm -- it smelled of earth, grass, and blood.

"I'm okay." She finally whispered, then repeated herself. "We're okay."

 

[Kasim Areth]

For now Kasim thought grimly to himself.

It seemed that even in a middle of nowhere village they were in danger. He had thought it would be impossible for them to be found here, but apparently that assumption had been wrong. He frowned for a brief second, shaking his head before he began to speak in a low voice.

"They were after you." He said quietly. "Paid assassins from the mainland."

Instead of more from Minaris. "I took this from them."

With a small smile Kasim lifted a heavy purse, opening it up to show her the quite frankly insane amount of gold that was contained within.

They wouldn't be singing tonight.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

Her pale eyes blinked twice when she saw the large pouch of gold, not having expected this new development. All at once a myriad of conflicting emotions and thoughts erupted in her mind, trying to piece together exactly how that could have transpired.

She didn't reach out to touch the pouch.

Were they not safe anywhere? If they were trying to insistently to kill here this far from Minaris... what would happen when she arrived on their shores with a foreign lover and a dragon for a companion? While she hadn't told Kasim about the implications of the last piece of information, she knew full well how the people in her homeland would take it.

According to the legends, at least.

Doubt crept into her gut and clutched at her throat, causing her to look away from Kasim as she pulled at her bottom lip with her teeth. It felt wrong to drag him so far down into this mess with her. He was trying so hard to avoid conflict with his own heritage and birthplace; why involve him with something like this?

"Maybe... we should reconsider, Kas." She said softly, pursing her lips.

Almost reluctantly, she turned her eyes back to meet his own.

"I don't want to rush into something and get you killed." She whispered quietly, reaching out to gently grip his forearm.

 

[Kasim Areth]

"Pretty tough for me to die at this point." He said vaguely, shooting her a smile and going on immediately so she did not question the statement.

Perhaps she'd just think it a joke.

"Don't worry." He told her softly. "We can do this."

Though she was right about one thing...they needed a plan. Luckily the journey by ship would still take several weeks, and that was plenty of time to come up with something. There had to be people she could trust, someone with power that would back her. Someone they could turn to.

Otherwise they'd have to find some mercenaries. He knew that Aviana didn't like the idea, but it might be the only solution in the end of all this. "Whats the alternative?"

The Jester began to point out.

"We can't run West because of my family." His lips thinned. "Can't head north into the Blight, can't head east because...well."

He glanced at the corpse. "That's where we're already headed."

 

[Aviana Sabel]

A frown pulled more insistently at Aviana's features as she listened to him. It wasn't that he was wrong, just that she felt trapped. Her muddled mind stumbled through the options available to her, trying to piece together some sort of plan that would buy them time. If they must go to Minaris, she wanted to be sure that Kiovec was large enough to properly defend himself.

She followed Kasim's gaze to the still burning corpse on the other side of the clearing, then she looked to the coin purse in Kasim's hand.

Her head tilted ever so slightly. The fact that the coins were here was significant, she recognized that; but for the life of her, she couldn't quite piece together why just yet. Cautiously, she took the pouch from Kasim and pulled open the drawstring so that she could inspect the money hidden away inside. She'd been expecting Minrasian stamped gold -- not the intricate coins from the mainland that were contained inside the pouch.

She reached inside and pulled out one of the coins, turning it over in her fingers close to her face. The surface of the coin glittered in the flickering flames of the dead man.

Then it clicked.

Whoever paid these men must have been here on the mainland. And this pouch must have been only a portion of the payment for her life. Why else would they pursue her? If they were paid upfront, they would have taken the money and ran.

She pressed her tongue against her cheek, lowering the coin to her lap as she met Kasim's gaze.

"If we play our cards right... there's a chance that we can buy ourselves quite a bit of time. Whoever paid these assassins, they must be here on the Mainland. Maybe there's a way to convince that person that these men were successful?"

 

[Kasim Areth]

He glanced back at the corpse. "Well."

The Jester chuckled.

"I'm afraid I don't know any necromancy." Not precisely true, Rune Magic could accomplish the task, but the price was something he was entirely unwilling to pay. He was sure it was the same for Aviana.

Of course that was likely not what she meant, but Kasim couldn't resist the urge to joke. A situation like this needed that, a chance to joke, to push the story in another direction and make things a tad more...pleasant.

Otherwise they'd both burn out.

Kasim had always viewed life that way, even when he'd been a child. It was one of the things his father had always detested about him, something he'd tried to beat out of him more than once. He was never succesful.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

"Maybe... we don't need necromancy." She whispered softly, shaking her head.

Her eyes flicked over to the hound that was still laying in the clearing, injured but alive. Then she looked to the smoldering corpse beyond, frowning slightly.

Carefully, she pushed herself onto her feet, wincing as she stood. Kasim's magic had sealed her wound, but it had not been able to restore her strength to her. If anything, it had sapped her of even more vitality. She swayed slightly in place for a moment, before the dizziness passed.

She padded across the meadow until she reached the slain man, looking him over while trying to avoid taking in the sight of his ruined face. There was a distinct necklace wrapped around his throat and a broach that held his cloak in place, both matched; though the were still glowing from the heat of the flames that had killed their owner. Somehow, she knew that she could touch them without hurting herself.

Without much hesitation, she reached down and pulled both ornaments from the man's corpse and tucked them away inside a pocket -- a move that should have seared her soft flesh, but was little more than touching a warm plate of food. The man's crossbow was still intact, which she also gathered and slung over her shoulder.

While kneeling over the dead man, she started to rummage through his pockets, trying to find anything else that she could use to trick the person that had hired them into thinking he'd accomplished his task.

"Any ideas as to how we could fake my death without presenting my actual corpse?" She asked, looking over her shoulder to Kasim.

 

[Kasim Areth]

He thought for a moment.

Trickery was something he'd always been good at, especially when it came to fooling those who would never expect to be fooled. It was another thorn in his father's side. A lot of Kasim was. "One way."

That came to mind now.

"But..." Would she even consider it? Kasim's way wasn't exactly the most pleasant, but it would be practically foolproof. At least as long as nobody did any other magic on the body. He figured at the very least it was worth pitching to her, particularly given their situation. "We'd need another body, a woman."

He was sure Aviana would not need long to get what he was talking about. "As well as some of your blood. About a pint."

Enough to draw the symbol properly.

"Plus I'd need a few days." To craft the symbol.

For a moment he hesitated, then decided to explain himself just in case.

"With Rune Magic you can transmute things. It's extremely complicated, usually, and generally not worth doing." At least with most metals. "With the right things I can turn a dead body into you...well, I can make it look like you anyway."

Not that he'd ever done it before, he just knew it was possible.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

Aviana listened to Kasim's list of necessities carefully while she looked down at the charred corpse at her feet. Was this what she'd been reduced to? Rushing home was clearly out of the question. She needed to take this slowly, gather her resources and information, plan... and give Kiovec time to mature. This would buy her that time.

Taking a deep breath through her nose and then slowly exhaling, Aviana turned to face Kasim with a reluctant smile. There was still blood soaked into her clothes and smeared across her neck and face, even though the injuries had been closed themselves. Her hair stuck to her throat and the side of her face, the ends of the normally silvery white strands were now scarlet red.

She took a small step towards him, pulling at her bottom lip with her teeth.

"Where... would we get a woman's body?" She asked him in a low whisper, her voice laced with pain and the contempt she felt for herself at that moment was clear.

 

[Kasim Areth]

Kasim couldn't help but feel a little bit of shock at the reply, but like the masterful politician that he was the Jester hid it all from his face. "Graveyard?"

The corpse did not have to be new.

As far as he knew as long as the bones were still there it would work. The idea of course wasn't exactly...pleasant. Anirians did not have real death rites per say. For most a grave was just as good as a pyre, but some cultures were not at all the same.

He knew that in the far west their dead were sacred, and in the north bodies were interned in frozen crypts.

Every culture dealt with death differently. In Kasim's home death was an accepted part of life. A person who died was honored for what they had done in life, their bodies...their bodies didn't matter so much.

 

[Aviana Sabel]

For a moment, Aviana blinked up at Kasim in confusion. In Minaris, the dead were never buried in the ground. To let a corpse rot was seen as an almost indescribable dishonor. Only the worst of criminals were left to decompose and be consumed by the worms and insects. Traditionally, the deceased were either buried at sea with a ceremonial pyre or cremated. According to Minaris custom, the soul could only reach the after life once the body that bound it to this world had returned to ash. The concept of burying the dead intentionally in the earth was appalling to the woman.

"A graveyard?" She asked, puzzled. Her body was still recovering from the blood loss she'd sustained, and it took her a few seconds to catch on. She'd forgotten that most Mainlanders adhered to that barbaric tradition.

She avoided looking down at he corpse behind her that she'd just pilfered, handing the crossbow to Kasim with a wry smile on her tired features. "I assume we can't use this one here? That it has to be a female?"

The thought of digging up a half-rotten corpse caused Aviana to shudder and she bit her bottom lip, looking away from the jester. She kept picturing beetles scuttling around the empty eye sockets of a fetid skull, worms wriggling around inside a gaping mouth.