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[+] Kursha Vidari

Kursha's eyes narrowed. He crossed his arms defensively. “You mean to say it was another trap?” That seemed to be what Luxara was implying. Yet Kursha knew that was impossible. He had been careful to avoid all the traps, he was certain of it. They had been placed so obviously that it was hard... to miss them...

He dropped his forehead into his hand. Of course. Of ******** course. How could he have been so blind? There was only one good reason for a series of traps to be so conspicuous: to draw attention away from something else. Something else like another trap.

“I think I under-estimated our opponent,” Kursha responded with a scowl. Ordinarily he might have applauded such a ruse. He had company though, and he did not appreciate being made to look like a fool. What if she perceived this mistake as a weakness? It would be humiliating. Not to mention there was the Colonel to consider. She would want a full mission report and he could already taste her disappointment as he relayed the events. At least with Luxara he could not feel too ashamed. After all, she had not noticed either.

“Careful? Ha!” he said, laughter mocking. “What's the point? If blocking off the exit is the worst they can do, we have nothing to worry about. We're setting our sights on the treasure and not leaving without it.” Wait. Treasure? Kursha was not actually sure that there was a treasure. But why the hell not? It sounded good and in a place like this they were bound to find something.

He scoffed at Luxara's word of thanks. She thought this was fun. Well, to be honest it was fun, but also just so happened that he did this damn near professionally. To have it reduced to something as simple-minded as 'fun' was insulting. Really, he was just pretentious. “You practically invited yourself,” he said, making a motion of rolling his eyes. “Anyway, let's go. I lead.”

Kursha gave Luxara a defiant look that dared her to challenge him. He was sorely disappointed. She let him take charge without complaint; in fact she seemed almost glad to. He forced his gaze away as he started down the hall. Her inane grin was beginning to bother him as well as her perky demeanour.

As the duo travelled through the winding corridors, it became obvious—if it were not already—that they were trapped in a maze. They encountered dead-end after dead-end and might have gotten lost had not Kursha diligently marked the walls with his chalk. At least that was how it should have worked in theory.

Kursha squinted at the sight before him. They had reached yet another dead-end but this one had snagged his interest. After all, it had two scratched out arrows drawn in either corner. “You've got to be kidding me!” he screeched, throwing down his rucksack in disgust. “All of the walls are moving? How the hell are we supposed to make any progress like this! It's stupid! It's impossible! A maze is one thing, but a maze that changes as you unravel it? That's... that's cheating! If whoever designed this thing wasn't probably already dead, I'd... I'd...!” Kursha could not decide what he would do. Something terrible no doubt though. “Screw it! If they aren't going to play by the rules I won't either!” Crouching down, Kursha began to rummage through his pack. He would blow this place sky high.

Speaking of the sky, Kursha's indignant shrieking had drawn the attention of a something on lofty wings. Sailing down from the darkest reaches of the cavern ceiling came a long serpentine form with pronged horns and six talons. The wings tucked and the beast landed heavily on the wall tops of the maze. Underneath it the floor shook. It lowered its head down to face the two greenbloods.

Kursha was paralysed. This was beyond his expertise. Far beyond. He stared wide-eyed at the beast, feet locked to the floor. A moment later his voice came out in a pitiful squeak. “D-d-dragon...”

In response, the twin mouths on the dragon's head opened and released a roar, sending spittle flying into Kursha's face. That was enough to return the greenblood to his senses. Moving with military efficiency, he had grabbed his rifle, hooked it over his right shoulder, and fired, right into the back of the beast's throat. It was a pretty cool move, considering how he was absolutely terrified. He supposed he had the Colonel to thank for that. Unfortunately, the attack did not come even close to dropping the target.

“RUN!” Kursha screamed, as he grabbed his rucksack and bolted.

[+] Kursha Vidari

As he ran, Kursha struggled to come to terms with his predicament. A dragon. A real live dragon. Of all the monstrosities in the world he had to encounter a dragon, a creature that was next to indestructible. Not even the Colonel with all her ferocity and cunning would stand a chance, not against a behemoth like that. He could hardly believe his abysmal luck. If only he had a couple grenades, then he could give that stupid dragon what for.

Instead he was forced to flee for his life through a maze that was riddled with traps and which he had almost no chance of escaping. His future certainly looked grim.

All of a sudden, Luxara grabbed onto his wrist and darted past him. Kursha, who was already running as fast as he could, stumbled after her, half-sprinting half-dragged. His temper flared. Unacceptable. She was treating him like luggage. Despite the current predicament, his pride was stung. Nevermind that he was running away—he was not going to be shown up in anything. Drawing energy from a hidden reserve, accessed only by indignant outrage, Kursha put on a burst of speed to keep pace with Luxara. He might have made a snarky remark but decided to conserve his breath for running. It was already hard enough as it was.

When the dragon swooped down, blocking their path, Kursha grit his teeth. It would be stupid to stay and fight, but at the same time he saw no alternative. They could continue to scurry through the maze until their limbs wore out or they could to deal some damage. After all, they did not need to kill it; just prevent it from following them. He raised his gun to fire another shot, but Luxara gave him another yank and he lost his target.

“We can't run forever!” Kursha protested, voice ragged. “Any ground we cover, it can cover twice as quickly. Sooner or later, it's going to catch up and I'm not going down without a fight. Let go or I'll—oof!” Luxara had shoved him into a gap in the wall and Kursha pitched forward. He caught himself on his hands before he crashed to the ground, landing unhurt except for his ego. Luxara scurried in behind him a half a second later.

Pulling himself into a crouch, Kursha inspected their hideout. It could not have been worse. There was barely enough room for the both of them in the cramped space, and no exit aside from the hole that they had just crawled through. The walls were green, covered with moist lichen and high above, he could make out the tangled shapes of where tree roots had penetrated the cavern ceiling. The shaft continued further, but from his present angle, Kursha could not make out how far. Not that it would have mattered anyway. The walls were too slick for climbing.

“What now, genius?” Kursha hissed, trying to mute his breathing. “If it's a fire-breather, we're toast!” With their backs to the wall, they were good and trapped. Outside their dimly lit hiding place, the dragon paced the corridor, each footfall like an earthquake. Then it became still, and a brief silence was followed by several loud sniffs. It would not be long.

Kursha was sore tempted to shove the other troll back outside. Maybe after a snack, the dragon would lose interest. Or maybe not. The greenblood was only bite-sized and that was putting it generously. Kursha cast about for a solution. Despair was beginning to sink in. He saw no possible way to escape from their predicament. His explosive charges might be able to hurt the dragon, but at such a close range he and Luxara would be blown to bits as well. His rifle would not be of any use either. Even after taking a bullet to the throat, the dragon had been unphased. This was it. He was going to die in a slimy hole without so much as one note of glory to his name.

...Yeah right!

Moment of self-pity passed, Kursha turned his eyes once more towards the ceiling. Tree-roots, lichen... neither were present in deep caving. There was not enough sunlight or airflow. That could only mean one thing then.

He pounced on his rucksack and a moment later popped up holding a grappling hook. The situation was back under his control. He grinned over at his companion. “How are you at climbing, Luxara?” he asked. It was a rhetorical question. Without bothering to wait for a reply, Kursha drew back his arm and hurled the hook towards the ceiling. It caught on the roots on the first try. After giving it a quick tug, he passed the attached rope to Luxara.

“Go ahead. I'll follow you in a second. I just wanted to leave our friend a parting gift...” Hunched over his rucksack, Kursha refused to elaborate any further. He spent several seconds digging around inside and then several more fiddling with whatever he had retrieved from it. Outside, the sniffing had evolved into a low growl that sounded like grinding metal. He had to hurry.

“Choke on that...” Kursha muttered, throwing a slender dark object to the ground. A moment later he was scaling the rope with practised dexterity. “Go, go, go, go!” He called to Luxara as he reached the top. As he thought, the shaft curved and went farther then he had been able to see previously. Though it was thick with ferns, up ahead there was a faint light. He sprinted towards it, a clock counting down in the back of his mind. Forty, thirty, twenty, ten...

He burst from the tunnel mouth, out onto the rocky mountainside. He had hardly taken three steps outside when there came a muffled boom from behind him that rattled the earth. Kursha's feet slipped out from under him and he crashed to the ground. He could not have cared less. Beneath the ground he could hear the echoes of angry scream and that was all that mattered.

Mostly.

There was still a certain idiot to deal with. His gaze sidled over to Luxara. She had helped him out, sure, but if not for her meddling, he would not havea required her assistance in the first place. Or at least that's what he convinced himself. Smoothing down his hair and clothes, Kursha got to his feet. “So, how's that?” he asked, trying hard not to sound too pleased with himself. “I'd say you owe me...”

A bright shape had appeared in the sky. Kursha squinted, for a moment fearing that the dragon had somehow escaped the labyrinth to pursue him. It was too small though. Too small and... No. Kursha knew that shape and in a way it was worse than the dragon. How long had it been? Over an hour surely. s**t. He was going to catch hell from her.

“Well, don't worry about it!” he said hurriedly, flapping a hand. “I have to go, but maybe I'll see you some other time and you can pay me back. Later!” Without so much as a backward glance, Kursha began to book it down the mountainside.