Fate - First Reply Wrongdoing

[Khari]

Khari paused for a second, once again finding herself in a conundrum. Jane had been kind, nice, and she did not want to lie to her if she didn't have to. Plus there was the fact that Dornoch had scorned her more than once in her life.

The Dynast never had, she had always been there.

Like a mother, the ruler of Dornoch had supported and done everything she could to ensure that Khari had a good life. Sure, she used Khari as an assassin, but everyone had their role within the great city. It just so happened that Khari's was to kill. "I would not say they don't mind..."

Khari looked up at Jane with a shrug. "Most were forced to get used to it."

How much did she say?

"I have some...privilege..." She said slowly. "Back home."

 

[Jane]

I have some privilege... Back home.

Jane grinned, and she nudged Khari's shoulder with an armored fist. "Flex what you've got. Get 'em used to it. That's what I like to hear."

Still. How intriguing. That people (alright, alright, Cerakers along with the Mainlanders) could be made to get used to the presence of demons. Khari didn't know exactly what she was--fair enough--but Jane liked to think of her as a demon nonetheless. Maybe that was true, maybe that was only a bit true, maybe she was far afield from the truth, but Jane thought it. Because the idea was just too good for her to think about anything else. Dornoch having a demon--maybe more--just strolling through the streets. One of the people. Doing what she pleased. Oh my, oh my, what would dear Astra think? Her bloomers might just get into a twist at the sight.

"Stew's ready," said Galt, already ladling it into the bowls arrayed on the table. Mingus and Deborah got theirs and sat back down and kept up their own conversation about the goings-on of the town near door to Yarrick.

Jane picked up a bowl. Stirred the steaming stew a little with the wooden spoon. Eh, she would've liked that dessert she'd been craving, but that party and the fun with Cyprus and the climbing-up-this-and-that escape left her open for a second helping of supper.

"So do you like it there?" Jane said to Khari, trying a spoonful of the stew and--oh shit, surprisingly--finding it to be tastier than she expected. Good job, Galt. She swallowed. Said, "In Dornoch?"

For all Jane knew, that privilege might mean that she was the ass-kicking, face-smashing Queen of Dornoch herself. Or...she might have her own Eunuch, some asshole who may've given her chain some slack for this trip out at least as far as Yarrick, but who kept a shackle about her neck regardless.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari nodded her head as she took a spoonful of the stew into her mouth.

"It's okay." That was hardly a ringing endorsement, but the truth of it was that she couldn't really complain. In Dornoch she had an estate fit for nobility, butlers, all the food she could ever want.

There was nothing really to complain about in terms of her living situation, a fact that she was often at odds with. She was rebellious by nature, and more than once the Dynast had to replace all the furniture in her home after a fit of rage.

Something she was famous for. "It's better there than it would be in a lot of other places for me."

She frowned.

"In Vel Anir they would probably have me killed." A thought that had more than once entered her mind. "Dornoch isn't so bad compared to that."

A shrug rolled over her shoulders.

 

[Jane]

"Hm. Anirians," Jane said, eating another spoonful of the stew. "Had my fair share of encounters with them. Bunch of pricks and cunts."

They thought the Cortosi Coast belonged to them. That they had the best navy in the world. Alright, so maybe both of those things were more or less true. Made them even more of a damper on the raids she used to run with the Sisters. Jane admittedly didn't know shit about Anirians other than some little bits and pieces, but they sounded like a big gaggle of people who constantly stood ramrod straight, had no sense of humor to speak of, and always had sex in the missionary position. And right there she cut off her thoughts, before said thoughts got her in trouble with a certain someone whose amulet was dangling from her neck and whose worldly servant (and his name began with a "Redeem" and ended with "er") certainly fit into the first two of those categories and probably into the third as well.

Jane set the bowl of stew down on the table. Looked to Khari.

"They who's chasing you? Some dour lot of Anirians?" she asked. "It's fine if you think it best that I don't know."

Khari

 

[Khari]

She frowned for a brief moment, glancing towards Jane.

Did she need to know? It certainly seemed like she wanted to know. The woman had been unbelievably kind, more so than most...pretty much anyone else she had ever met save for one other person. Lips thinned and she took in a breath.

"No, not Anirians." She wished it was Anirians.

If it had been that sorry lot the Dynast would have been more than happy if she slaughtered three dozen of them. Unfortunately she was not so lucky.

"Danarians." She said with a sigh. "They serve...served the Duke of Danar."

The man that had scorned the Dynast and severed trade relations. The man that had seized cargo ships and taken thousands of gold from the woman Khari considered a mother. The man that was now dead. "They are rather...keen. To see me dead."

Khari explained, entirely unaware that just as they were speaking those very Danarians were riding into town.

 

[Jane]

"Danarians," Jane said. "Can't say I've heard of 'em. Not that that counts for much."

The Mainland--Liadain and Epressa and all those little offshoot islands that weren't Cerak and the Black Bay--was enormous. Plenty of people she didn't know and didn't care about. Maybe Astra had an interest in them, but Jane didn't. Alright, so not exactly true, for reasons Astra wouldn't like of course. Sounded like Khari already dealt them a little something of a blow. Probably didn't have the sort of fun they had with Cyprus with this Duke or whomever, but blood was blood. Shed for a good cause! Right. Of course. Like Cyprus. Justified. Don't trample on me, Astra, it was for a good cause. For Dornoch. There.

She set aside the bowl of stew on the table. Half-finished, but she was satisfied.

"Well. They can be keen all they want. Won't do them much good, huh. You'll be gone, I'll be halfway to Guillotine, and Mingus'll cover for you."

Jane bopped a fist into Khari's side. Grinned. Said, "Too bad. I enjoyed watching you work."

Khari

 

[Khari]

The Daemonette grinned at her friend. "It was a pleasure."

It really had been.

Khari rarely got a chance to make friends. Most people looked at her with contempt the moment they met her. They saw her either as a threat or something to be disgusted by. Half of her couldn't blame them, they were ignorant fools and morons, but they didn't understand who she was.

It was normal to fear what you did not understand. It took someone of a special disposition to look at things differently. Khari was just lucky that Jane was one of those people.

Something she was more than happy about. "Maybe we'll see each other aga-"

The words died on her tongue as she spoke, a loud thumping echoing against the door.

"Mingus! Mingus come quick there's strangers in town. Two dozen of em!"

 

[Jane]

Mingus and Galt shared a look. Deborah just fanned herself with a hand, looking mightily entertained by this whole affair.

"Awfully late for strangers to be comin' to town, gala or no," Mingus said. He stood and set aside his bowl. Then, to Jane and especially to Khari, "I'll go have a look."

And he made his way to the door and opened it and joined with the knocking man to investigate the matter.

Jane, meanwhile, slid her gaze back over to Khari. The corner of her mouth curled upward. And she said, "Hey, Khari. There wouldn't happen to have been about two dozen of those Danarians chasing after you, would there?"

Maybe that fit, maybe it didn't--it was a particular number alright. But if it did, well, Jane would certainly welcome an excuse to delay her self-flagellation. Not too mention helping out a friend against some uppity Mainlanders. Astra would of course put a damper on Jane's fun, on what she really wanted to do, but self-defense was justified. Just like it had been Thagretis. Sometimes it wasn't just her Favored Enemies that she needed to fight.

Khari

 

[Khari]

"Fuck." If that didn't answer Jane's question it was enough of an indicator to allow for a guess.

She had hoped to leave the bastards in the dust. She'd even set other trails in hopes that they would be fooled. How in the fuck had they caught up so quickly? Lips thinned for a moment, pressing together as her eyes darted up towards Jane.

"They're not supposed to be here." She hissed quietly. "I was two days ahead of them."

It didn't make any sense.

Her mind flickered through a dozen different assumptions, and then she realized that none of them really mattered. They were here, and that meant she had to escape. Killing them wasn't an option, not with what the dynast had said. That was why she'd wanted Mingus to lead them away.

Slowly the Daemonette rose. "I need to go."

 

[Jane]

Fuck.

Settled that. Khari thought she had a certain amount of time and maybe she did, or maybe Aionus himself was having a bit of a laugh at her expense and had jostled time around when both she and Jane weren't looking, swept those two days under some cosmic rug somewhere. Whatever it was, a gaggle of pricks and cunts--not entirely unlike the Anirians Jane was sure--was prancing into town. Danarians they might be, and it was a good bet if Khari's curse was anything to go by.

Galt and Deborah weren't all the concerned, the latter not at all. Mingus might be able to do something to stall those Danarians, but Jane couldn't really imagine him being the kind of man who could put his foot down firmly and insist on something. Maybe in his bygone years, but not now.

That left Khari and that left Jane, because she wasn't about to let some discount Anirians ruin Khari's night. What to do, what to do.

"Need to go. Right." Then to Galt, "Hey. Stew man. You got a back door here?"

Galt shook his head. "'Fraid not."

Jane looked back to Khari. Said, "Well...maybe they're not quite on this street yet? Could go out the front, around the corner, and leg it."

Big maybe on that. Yarrick wasn't exactly an enormous town by any stretch.

Khari

 

[Khari]

She considered her options for a moment.

The idea of 'legging' it wasn't exactly appealing to her. The people chasing Khari were famous for their use of cavalry. The horses they trained were fierce things, capable of stampeding and killing a man all on their own without a word from their master.

Lips thinned for a moment and she looked at Galt. "Window?"

The man shook his head.

"None big enough for even you to squeeze through. Helps keep the thieves out."​

She supposed that made sense. Khari couldn't count on one hand the amount of times she had infiltrated a place using windows. Her lips thinned and she let out a quiet groan as he face was buried in her hands. Seems she didn't have much of a choice.

"Front it is." Khari glanced at Jane for a moment. "You go first?"

At least that way she would have warning if someone was waiting.

 

[Jane]

Windows weren't an option. Galt here didn't have big, convenient, Cyprus-sized windows for them to make an escape. Sometimes you had no choice but to sail into the storm, and this was looking like one of those times--just replace "Anirians" and "Danarians" and a ship full of Sisters and captives with a small house in Yarrick and a potential escape path for a friend and there it was.

"Yeah. I'll go first."

Jane didn't draw her sword, but she had her heater shield out in her left hand. Never knew.

She crossed the small distance of the main room--Galt watching curiously and Deborah watching with an entertained amusement at this whole fiasco--and touched the handle of the front door. Pulled it open. Looked outside and even took a half step before she jerked back inside the house and shut the door promptly and turned around such that her back was to it. She scrunched her lips up, then looked to Khari and grinned a little.

Said, "So what do you want first? The bad news or the worse news?"

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari frowned. "Ba-Worse news first."

An inward sigh resounded in her head, and mentally she prepared herself to draw the knife she had been given and fight her way through two dozen cavalry. The fight would be a difficult one, and she'd probably die in the midst of it.

The inside of a house wasn't exactly the best battlefield, but at least she would have the advantage in confined spaces.

Fingers twitched for a moment, her eyes glancing down at them as she considered how much energy she actually had left. The meal helped, but her magic, like any other, had a price. She would rather not fall into a coma any time soon.

Especially in the midst of all this.

Before Jane could tell her the news Khari quickly added.

"Jane if they're out there, you should go." She didn't want her friend dragged into this. "There's no need for both of us to get hurt."

 

[Jane]

Jane was about to give the news when Khari quickly added her addendum.

"Works for me. I'll see you later," Jane said. She turned to face the door again and grabbed the handle and looked perfectly prepared to just waltz on out.

Then, after a second of simply holding the door handle, she looked back over her shoulder with a grin. "Just kidding."

She turned back around, her back to the door again. Yeah, they each had places to be, Khari and her, but Jane would leave when she was good and ready and some Danarians weren't going to have a say in that if she could help it.

"Alright. Worse news, they saw me. Bad news, they're outside--just down the street."

Of course, they weren't looking for a hard bitch in plate armor and delicious red hair, now were they? Double of course, Jane had no idea how belligerent they would be. Maybe they'd push right past Mingus out there if they didn't like what he was saying and come knock on the door, knowing that at least somebody was up and inside the house. That went into what Khari had said: how far were these assholes willing to go to get to her, hmm?

Almost as if hearing her thought on that, Galt said while standing up from his seat and raising his hands in a slow down gesture, "Hey, hey, let's not turn my house into an arena."

Deborah, fanning herself, said, "Oh, this just keeps getting better and better."

"Oh. Yeah. They're all mounted too," Jane said. "That's a problem for the 'legging it' strategy."

Khari

 

[Khari]

She felt her heart drop for a moment as Jane was about to go, realizing that she had hoped her friend would reject the offer.

It was selfish. Stupid even, but she had hoped for it. The pule that raced across her was a mixture of joy and sadness as Jane rebuked her. A stupid smile raced across her face for a brief moment, lips parting in a wide smirk that showed off her elongated canines. "That was a poor trick."

The Daemonette told Jane with a shake of her head.

Quietly she mouthed; 'thank you' before she began to offer the truth.

"We can pull them away." Khari said slowly, not wanting to ruin the home of the people who had taken her in. People who had fed her. "Maybe..."

Lips thinned. "Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone."

Khari said quietly.

"The party is still going on, and there's guards up there." If they loured their foe up the hill...perhaps they would just kill each other instead of her.

 

[Jane]

Ah, Jane loved doing that. The old "save yourself" fakeout. Granted, she only had done it...this time and once before it, when she had fallen in with that group of adventurers before she reached Guillotine for the first time. They certainly didn't take the joke as well as Khari did, let alone mouth a "thank you." That among other things which put them off (especially their stubbly-faced leader, bit of a prude that guy) left Jane in the cold until they forcibly parted ways thanks to the demon invasion.

We can pull them away.

"Well thank the gods," said Galt.

"Then I suppose it'll be up to you to entertain me for the rest of the night, hm?" Deborah said, and Galt flushed.

Jane brought her curled free hand to her chin. Two birds with one stone, eh. She liked the expression. Got it instantly. Apparently it wasn't so common around Cerak because she'd never heard it before there. Had a similar one about a handful of fish and one hook though.

Scratch that. Jane loved the expression, now that Khari had explained her plan. A chance for some more mayhem? Count her in. Sure Astra and Metisa and Nykios were sure to be annoyed, but Jane could make a measly halfhearted attempt to stop the fighting--like whispering "hey, no, that's bad, stop, be nice" before casually turning her back. Hey, she tried and that's what counts. Wasn't like it was her problem. Paladins weren't supposed to solve all the quarrels of the world.

"So. If the wind's catching in my sails"--her way of saying, if I understand it--"all we got to do is outrun those mounted Danarians to Cyprus's estate, let two gaggles of belligerent fucks murder each other, and then we should be good."

Jane ran her tongue across her top row of teeth.

"Tricky. Daring. I like it."

Khari

 

[Khari]

"We have to move fast." Khari said, pointing out the obvious with a weary sort of frown.

In her head she tried to map out the path up to the estate. She and Jane had walked it twice now, and although that wasn't as much as she would have liked it was enough for her to rudimentary plan our where they would have to go.

"Take tight corners." Lips thinned. "Injure some of the horses."

Simple enough with her wires. "As long as they don't catch up with us we should be okay. We can even hide in the hedge maze."

It wouldn't exactly be secure, but at the very least their enemy would be distracted. Her shoulders rolled uneasily for a few moments as she took a breath, knowing that they did not have much time before those men came down the street.

She glanced towards Jane.

"Ready?" There wasn't any time to waste.

 

[Jane]

"Godspeed to ya," Galt said after Khari succinctly explained the plan.

Jane nodded. Sound enough, the plan. On a straightaway they were pretty damn dead, or caught at the very least. So ditch the most direct route. Use sleepy old Yarrick itself as a weapon. Maybe these Danarians would get devious like the Anirians Jane had compared them to and try some tricks of their own, like having some chase on foot and some riding their horses ahead trying to predict where Jane and Khari might emerge from their protective alleys and narrow side paths between houses.

She wasn't a fan of running, but the groaning contempt wasn't to the extent of climbing. She and Nate and the Scaled King had themselves a little run back in Thagretis when all the world-shaking shit was going on. Sure, Jane lost her breath and got one of those awful stitches-in-the-side by the end of it, but also by the end of it they had ended up at a brothel and a bloodbath ensued. So there was something to look forward to here too. Potentially.

"Ready," Jane said.

She waited a second or two for Khari to stack up by the door. And then she ripped it open and broke into a sprint outside, turning toward the general direction back to Cyprus's manor with the gala still going on. Her armor clanked and rattled, this forever-annoying sound even more pronounced in her haste.

And it didn't take long for Jane to hear shouting from behind them. Shouts, cries of "KYAA!" that signaled the spurring of horses into a full-on gallop, and then of course the beating of hooves.

"Round one," Jane said between breaths, as if this were some manner of gladiatorial combat in an arena. "Let's see...what we get!"

And she took a hard right between a dirt path between two houses--little tufts of grass growing along the sides close to either house--and she kept running. Hopefully Khari was doing alright so far too.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari ran.

She had always been fast. Whether it was the demon blood or her training she didn't know, but her steps were quicker than most her size. She rushed after Jane as quickly as she could, moving in sharp corners and letting herself linger behind her friend. Behind them she could hear shouts, some calling out.

"THERE!"

Khari cringed inwardly.

She recognized that voice. It belonged to the Guard Captain, a man she had been told specifically not to kill. He was a favorite of one of the noble families that the Dynast supported in his lands, apparently a good option for marriage. Politics were always so confusing, games within games. She hated it.

"Jane go left!" She shouted as the sound of stampeding horses began to echo out behind them.

That soft glow flickered across the back of her hand and then crawled to her fingertips. She threw her arm, and then suddenly those odd lattice like strings appeared between two of the trees that she had just rushed through.

When one of the riders came swooping through he found naught but a gruesome fate. His body cut into ribbons and his mount brought low with a horrific shriek.

 

[Jane]

Poor Mingus couldn't do a damn thing to keep those Danarians from sprinting off into a chase. He had whirled around and shouted at them, but neither that nor him being the local head lawmen counted for anything. He was left in the dust.

Jane emerged on the other side of the short dirt path between those two houses and back out onto the street. And the Danarians, bloody bastards, were smarter than she'd hoped, simply taking the slightly longer route around instead of trying to follow her and Khari through the narrow space. Well hell, Astra better be lenient on the self-defense bit if Jane decided she needed to be a little more "proactively self-defensive," shall we say.

Jane go left!

Don't go asking questions. Go with the flow. And the flow was for Jane to break left down a different street while Khari skirted around some trees. A soft glow of light Jane saw reflected off of some windows, and she knew that behind her somebody was going to have a bad night. She heard a shriek that honestly could have been the man or his horse, some heavy thuds and wet splattering that sent tiny shivers of sensual pleasure up her spine, and knew that Khari had gotten at least one of them.

Jane kept running. Knowing she'd have to make another turn to get back on track toward Cyprus's manor.

But also, seemed the Danarians weren't much interested in her. Every one of them was in hot pursuit after Khari, and not a one coming after her. Heh, Khari wasn't kidding. Rather keen to see her dead alright.

Maybe though. Maybe Jane could get back on track and sprint ahead (if she had the damn breath) and possibly come out from some unexpected angle and "surprise" one or two of those Danarians.

So Jane, with a general prediction of Khari's path in mind, turned up another street and kept running. All went well with catching up to Khari and heading off the Danarians, and if she got a Holy Shield active to stun someone, she'd practice a little of that proactive self-defense she was thinking about.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari wove her way through the streets like a river.

She tried to follow the route from memory, though cut in different directions to set her path in a strange sort of zigzags. Her steps fell, drawing further and further. Behind her she could hear the pounding hooves, the shouting of men.

Her head whipped to the side in search of Jane, but she'd lost sight of her friend.

"Shit." The Daemonette swore quietly as she dodged to the side of another building. In the back of her head she hoped that her friend was okay, head whipping forward as she continued to sprint. A call went up behind her, the sound of one of the men shouting.

"I WANT HER ALIVE! DON'T KILL HER!"

She turned her head for a brief moment.

There she saw two of the riders, each holding strange curved bows with barbed arrows. Panic flickered through her heart, and with it came a lack of attention. She stumbled upon a root, not stopping but slowing just long enough to allow one of the riders decent aim.

His bow flexed, and then an arrow was loosed.

 

[Jane]

TANG.

The sound of the arrowhead striking against Jane's heater shield--its rim glowing white with Holy energy. The arrow flew up and back, frozen in its orientation as if levitated but this was just the curious result of how it had hit the shield and bounced, and then gravity took it and spun lazily as it fell to the ground.

Jane was panting. Heavily. She'd been sprinting to keep up along her tangential path and she'd sprinted harder once she saw Khari again. She had come bursting out of the walkway between another set of houses, caught sight of the mounted bowman and his aim readied and leveled at the recently stumbled Khari, and went to intercept.

And damn if it all hadn't left her fucking winded. Khari kept on going and Jane was behind her, running some more, but she had no idea for how much longer she could keep this up.

"Hey...Khari..." Words between breaths. "They don't...like me...much now...huh?"

Her armor always felt twice as heavy after she had gone running for more than two steps. Jane was trailing after Khari and starting to lag behind inch by inch as her stride was slowing. She had no idea now how close or how far Cyprus's manor was. It was all she could do to just focus on running and not on how much her legs burned and how much worse her lungs burned.

Behind her and Khari. Charging hoofs. A Danarian rider had drawn a saber and was ahead of the pack. He didn't know who this other woman was but she was between him and their target, the horned assassin. A blow with the flat of his blade ought to do to put this perhaps good-intentioned interloper down and out of the chase.

The rider drew closer, raised his high and out for strike against the back of Jane's head.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Khari turned around just in time to see the man swing his blade.

Panic flickered over her features and the passage of time almost seemed to slow. She could see the glint of light reflect off the blade, could spot the slight motion of the blade. Lips thinned and her heart thundered once in her chest.

Fingers tightened.

That odd blue glow wrapped around her palm. It sundered for a brief moment, and then she whipped her hand forward, dragging herself to a stop as she pulled the wires from nothing. The Soldier swung, but it was already too late for him.

Blood splattered over the back of Jane's head and across her armor.

The man atop the horse was rent quite literally into a thousand pieces. Pieces of his body rained down onto his horse and over the others behind him in a sickening red mist.

Khari found herself stumbling, falling to the ground as her magic carried out.

 

[Jane]

Jane didn't know in that first second what it was. That warm, wet feeling. All that was going through her mind was just how exhausted she was from sprinting so fast while lugging around her stupid armor and her stupid shield while wearing her stupid heeled sabatons and you know what fuck you Redeemer.

Then she got it.

The half-uttered cry of pain, the frightened shriek of the horse, the splattering sound and clatter of metal and gear behind her. Khari did have a little blue glow around her palm, didn't she? She did look back behind Jane, didn't she?

Haaaaaaahhhhh...!

Jane's stride stumbled for a second as her legs buckled with pleasure. An odd feeling that, the warm and sensual touch of her indulged sadism making itself known in her thighs and up her spine, that mixing with the thoroughly unpleasant burning of fatigue throughout her body--and special mention of that damn stitch-in-the-side. Ohhhhh...she could feel some of that rider's blood running down the back of her neck. Ahhhh...aaaaaa....ahhhh...how exquisite.

The reverie didn't last long, and soon Jane was ejected back into the dirt, grime, and darkness of the present. The riders, down two, were still pursuing. And Khari had fallen to the ground, her magic impressive but the cost heavy, it seemed.

Jane didn't hesitate. She had done it for Nate in Thagretis, and she was doing it again here in Yarrick. A selfless act.

Jane came to a halt and stood over Khari, one foot planted to either side of her. Turned to face the oncoming riders. "I am...Astra's shield!" She said, appropriately raising her shield still imbued with Holy energy up and ready. She was gulping for breaths. "Come on...Danarians!"

She wasn't really thinking about what she would do beyond bashing the first rider (or his horse) that came close, and thus consuming her Holy Shield effect. She wasn't really thinking about how poorly she would fight (and that now might be a good time to draw her sword) while so winded.

Jane was just thinking about her friend Khari and her lovely horns.

Khari

 

[Khari]

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

Panic spun through her. Heart began to race, lips thinned. She looked up at Jane standing over her, shield already raised as the oncoming cavalry charged. There was a brief moment, a glimmer of something as she tried to reach for more of her magic.

A pule ran through her, the lights at her finger tips erupted, and then sputtered out of life. "No."

She whispered, the thundering hooves of the horse echoing out her words.

"No no no." Khari protested again and again as she desperately tried to reach out for her magic. She fumbled, drew her hand against herself and flicked her fingers to no effect. Then the loud sound of Jane's shield striking against the first mount could be heard.

There was a crack.

It echoed out as the man and his horse were suddenly tossed to the side of Jane and Khari, thrown down onto the ground. A scream echoed out from the man as his mount toppled onto his leg, the crunch of bone sounding.

Khari only had time to feel an instant of relief as more riders turned the corner, all of them charging towards them. Her heart sank, and the lines on her face pulsed. "No!"

She objected, and then a roiling wave of shadow burst out just in front of the two girls. It rushed over the landscape, a warping, dissonant storm that cut, ripped, tore, it's way through everything within it's path.