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 Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:12 pm
Samsara limped through the forest. Nothing had gone right. She couldn't even kill a pathetic unicorn. She cursed her small size. If she had been born a more solid breed then she would be able to properly bring terror. With her delicate butterfly wings and the short stature that came along with it, she might as well be one of the mewling pets kept by the humans in their huts.
How would she ever kill her father like this? Maybe if she was stealthy. Maybe if she was lucky. Samsara knew that she couldn't rely on those uncertainties. She needed to know that she could kill him before attempting or she would face the danger of being killed herself. She wanted to bring death to others. She didn't want to die.
She scowled at the trees all around her. Nothing could improve her mood, not even hunting smaller prey.
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:32 pm
Zulian chewed on a bone as he walked. He hadn't made this kill himself. He found the half-eaten deer lying around and had decided not to let it go to waste. Meat was meat and deer meat was good. There wasn't much left on the thigh bone but he chewed to enjoy the sensation of it. He liked the sound of bone cracking in his jaws.
He was currently following a set of hoofprints. The smell of whoever had left them was still hanging in the air and it was slightly familiar to Zulian. He wasn't exactly one to pass up the opportunity to kill an old acquaintance, so he followed.
He heard the sound of her just before he caught sight of her. Glittering purple wings and a black pelt. It was the young skinwalker he had met that night. Not who he expected. "You...." he growled. "What are you doing here? I should kill you." His last sentence wasn't a threat in Zulian's mind. It was a statement of fact. He should kill her, yes. Was he going to kill her? Not yet, at least.
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:36 pm
Samsara whirled around instantly and hissed at the other skinwalker. "Maybe I should kill you!" She lashed out with her words when only moments before she had been bemoaning her lack of killing ability. It was an empty threat at best.
She may not have seen the other skinwalker since that one night but she had not forgotten him. She still remembered his hulking power and feline scent. He was everything that a skinwalker should be, and everything she wasn't. She wished that she was strong enough to put force behind her threats but knew she would never be able to defeat such an opponent.
She flared her wings out in a last attempt to make herself larger. She had seen animals doing similar for years. It was time to try the tactic herself.
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:42 pm
Zulian was quite aware of the small danger that the other skinwalker posed. "You don't scare me," he stated with his characteristic hissing rumble. "You look stupid like that. Maybe you should tear those wings of so you look frightening instead of stupid. Maybe I should tear them off for you." He pierced Samsara with a glowing blue stare. He had never torn the wings off a flutter before. What would it be like? He imagined it would be fun.
As his gaze traveled over her he noticed the scrapes and tears in her hide. "You got into a fight and lost. They didn't find you scary either, looks like. Too bad. I could have killed them." He chuckled ominously.
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:44 pm
She might look stupid but the other skinwalker obviously was stupid. Some of the things he said barely made sense. It was almost like he was rambling to himself and not really talking to her at all. Samsara bristled at his last sentence. He could have killed them? Probably. "Maybe I should point them out to you and let you kill them, then!" she snapped at him. There was a lovely thought. Imagining the tiger skinwalker tearing apart her foes improved her mood, but only by a little bit.
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:47 pm
"Maybe I would if you weren't so stupid," retorted Zulian. No, he wasn't a stunning example of soquili intellect. What he lacked in brilliance he made up for with cunning and force. He didn't need to know why the seasons changed to stalk and kill a family of humans. That was too easy.
His tail twitched with predatory curiosity. It wasn't often that he met another skinwalker. It was always an interesting experience when he did.
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:51 pm
Maybe he would if....
He didn't say he wouldn't do it. He said "maybe he would if." Samsara paused. She hadn't thought to consider the idea until now but it crept up on her as silently as a snake stalking a bird. She had thought that she would have to kill Hayagriva on her own. What if that wasn't the case? What if she could harness the strength of this brute toward that end? Out of the blood scented haze that clouded her mind the idea stuck with her. She couldn't kill Haya by herself, but maybe with others....
"What about elders? Do you think you could kill an elder? You look so slow and clumsy. I don't think you could." She sneered and raised her head in the image of disdain.
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:54 pm
Zulian responded without even thinking. "Of course I could. I've never seen an elder but I never saw one of those fishy soquili before and I killed it quickly. It wasn't hard to kill at all. It was slimy but it doesn't matter if your teeth are in the throat and it's bleeding everywhere. Then they can't get away even with the slime. It makes them slippery, you know..." He trailed off and then narrowed his eyes. "But I can kill an elder." He imagined what it would be like to bite out her throat. Skinwalker blood probably tasted differently from other blood. Maybe it tasted better. He wondered if he might find out today...
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 1:41 pm
He had taken the bait! "Then prove it!" snapped Samsara. "Prove it," she repeated in a lower voice. Her breathing quickened. Her father would fall. It was only a question of when, if she could get this walking killing machine on her side. "I know just the elder that needs to die. He mocked-" Saying that Haya had mocked her wasn't likely to get sympathy. Samsara had no sympathy left in her and doubted that the other would either.
"He mocked skinwalkers." She snapped her teeth and lashed her tail. "He mocked our entire race. For that, he deserves to die!"
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Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 5:36 pm
He growled deeply. He knew the type. Zulian didn't know how, but there were so many soquili out there that didn't fear skinwalkers properly as they should. Some soquili didn't even know what a skinwalker was! He had met idiot mares who had smiled at him and called him "kitty." They stopped calling that eventually, or maybe that was just because they couldn't talk with a torn up throat.
The world needed to know what skinwalkers were and how dangerous they were. Zulian would help remind them. "I'll kill him," he growled. "Tell me where he is and I'll kill him."
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Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 5:39 pm
Anger bubbled up within her. What did the oaf think? That she would give him the target and forget about it? "No! His death is mine! I will be there when it happens and will taste his blood!" In her rage she snarled, heedless of potential consequences. She flapped several times and dust and leaves kicked up around her. She slashed her hooves through the air before they came thundering back to the ground again. She glared at the other skinwalker, daring him to refuse her. If he wouldn't fight the way she wanted him to, she would find someone else!
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 6:09 pm
Zulian felt something odd inside him. He remembered a phrase he had heard used called "deja vu." He had always thought that deja vu wasn't a real emotion and was more something that people said to try to look intelligent but now he understood. The way the mare was talking to him reminded him heavily of something and it took grasping moments to realize what.
She reminded him of Thekal.
It was utterly ridiculous that she should. After all, Thekal had been a human and a terrifying one at that. The mare was only a stunted skinwalker and couldn't have hurt him if she died trying. Then again, he considered, Thekal couldn't have really hurt him either. Thekal had been his rider and commander out of will alone for their later years. The way she shouted commandingly at him was the way Thekal had shouted. He remembered how that felt, to feel ferocious loyalty to someone because of their inner strength, not their outer. He paused and grew uncharacteristically still, watching her. She wasn't Thekal, but...
"What was your plan, then?"
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 6:13 pm
His sudden change in demeanor was unexpected but Samsara knew it to be a good sign. He might not seem exactly subservient but he was no longer challenging her and that was victory enough. Her anger mixed with triumph. What funny things they skinwalkers were. Terrifying... yet just as open to control as regular soquili if one knew the right way to push them.
"The plan is this," she hissed at him. "You and I gather more to join us. He is an elder and strong. We need to be sure that we can kill him in one battle. Once we have found one or two more for our side then we go kill him. No earlier."
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 6:15 pm
He had fought in a group with other skinwalkers before so the idea was not foreign to him. Those skinwalkers had been all under the control of their human masters. Zulian watched Samsara with rare thoughtfulness. If she was going to keep them from eating each other she would have to have all the strength of their human masters and more. Either that or get it done very very fast.
"I'll do it," he growled. "But as soon as it gets boring, I kill the others and leave."
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Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 6:19 pm
He said he'd kill the others, not that he'd kill her. Samsara held herself high and strong, her wings rising above her back in fierce display. She already had one skinwalker to serve her, even if only temporarily. Haya would die. It was only a matter of time now.
She remembered something while looking at him, a piece of information left unsaid. "You may call me Samsara," she told him. In the ancient tradition of her family, Samsara meant the cycle of rebirth, death, and suffering. Her father couldn't have possibly known when he had named her how apt it would be. Endless suffering is what she would give him in return.
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