|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:50 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:33 am
Himura cocked an eyebrow at the girl's cold tone, though he was unimpressed by it. "Were I you, I'd care more about if the one that tried to kill that fool manages to get back to his allies and brings them here," he said flatly as he sheathed his dagger at his hip as he half turned away. "If you are able to gain one that knows this land, you will have a stronger chance of survival," he said flatly before he loped back into the scraggly bushes and up the slope before he vanished over the other side.
A slight sneer crossed his face as he loped fluidly, not seeming to notice the bumps or dips in the land as he moved with what some would call inhuman grace. He dropped to the ground and rolled fluidly before twisting and catching the attacker's spear haft in one hand before he redirected it and rammed his own spear into the man's chest, recognizing the man as the archer from a short time before. The man's eyes dulled before he kicked the corpse off the spear, cleaning it with a fluid twist as he thrust it into a nearby cactus.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:17 pm
Quinn saw the recruit tumble onto the road and ran to help him. For a brief moment the vagabond woman's emanant hatred was forgotten as he checked that his comrade was unharmed. 'Why did you run, idiot?' The recruit was so terrified by whatever had happened to him in the last few minutes he was struggling to breathe. Quinn dragged him to his feet and pointed him back towards the badlands. 'No more messing around. You get back to the squad and you stay with them. I'll follow you soon. I won't say anything to the leader if you won't, so let's just pretend it never happened, ok? Ok?' The recruit eventually nodded, and started running with a little push. Soon he was out of sight, on track to rejoin the squad. Quinn looked back at the bush from which the recruit had fallen, and from which the mysterious warrior had appeared. 'Thanks for saving him. Whoever you are.' He wasn't even sure that anyone was still there. He finally turned back to the woman in the cart. 'And thanks for helping. Kind of... You're not going to kill me, right?' The tension was no longer bearable, and he had to ask.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:24 pm
Sol sighed. "If you do not harm or touch me," she replied coldly. Nothing the man said wold make her trust him, not after all she'd endured. However, she was tempted to use magick on him, to see what she could really do.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:47 pm
'Great! I didn't plan on it. I don't attack strangers, at least not on wednesdays.' Quinn immediately regretted this. His sense of humour wasn't one of his finer points.
'Hey, you're heading into the badlands, right? Mind if I walk with you? Just until I find my squad again. And I promise not to touch you, or your horse, or your cart.'
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 6:51 pm
Sol frowned but nodded slowly. "You might as well ride," she said slowly and moved over to leave space. "It will be faster." Carefully as she spoke she reached out towards him with her magick, not really knowing what she was doing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:54 pm
Himura shifted the hollowed out gourds, each capable of holding four and a half quarts of liquid, over his shoulder as he loped lazily back to his home, an underground cavern several yards from the road. He had strained and purified the cactus juice, leaving a slightly sour tasting water in them. Also, it was known to several of the tribes that certain species of cacti could act as antiseptics, including the species of cactus that he'd from. Certain other species could be ground and boiled to create a potent liquor. He glanced out of the cavern mouth towards the packed path that connected to the main 'road'. He could hear the creaking of leather, steel, and wood and sighed. He knew the woman he'd seen before would pass by, and since the heat of the day was shortly to strike, the wisest thing to do would be to stop in a shelter of some sort, though the only one within eight miles' distance at minimum was his own.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:38 am
Quinn was surprised the woman would show him such kindness, and afraid that to turn it down would be considered rude. He nimbly climbed onto the cart and sat beside her, careful not to take up too much space. 'So where are you heading, if I may ask?'
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 8:51 am
Sol shrugged. She hadn't cared if he had or hadn't taken her offer. She was only trying to be normal. Most magick users did not like having people near them. She'd met others that had magick like her and they tended to keep to themselves. Unbidden her mind drifted back to her time with one of those magick users who was now dead. She shook her head to clear it of the thoughts of him as she urged the horses on. Those thoughts were best left alone considering how he had died at the hands of the Council soldiers along with someone else she had cared about.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 9:31 am
The woman's shrug sent a clear message: 'stop asking stupid questions'. But Quinn was becoming curious about this vagabond. The hatred and ill intent she had been projecting earlier were no longer as strong. Getting the cold shoulder wasn't going to make him stop. 'I'm Quinn. What's your name?'
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 7:38 pm
"Solana," Sol replied. She wanted him to be quiet but said nothing. Her mind was focused on keeping her horses calm. She still hated him but she wasn't going to let him walk while she rode even if he was a soldier and a man. That was also part of the reason she used her full first name. Only one person had called her Sol and she wanted it to stay that way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 10:50 pm
Ivana sighed as she hitched the horses to Taren's caravan and hooked hers behind it. "I hate that we have to go through the badlands, 'Ren. Why can't we just go around?" She was practically whining, but she didn't care much at the moment. "You know the badlands make me sight-sick." That was what she called the migraines she got from her visions and extra-sensory abilities when there was something dark in them.Taren blew out a breath. "I know they do, 'Vana, but it's the quickest way. Just move into your caravan when you start feeling ill, okay? I'll take care of getting us through." With that settled, he helped his sister into the driver's seat of his caravan and hopped up alongside, and they headed for the badlands.((Just a note: I said in Ivana's profile that she's somewhat clairvoyant. Another name for that ability is ESP.))
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 10:56 am
Solana looked lost in thought, but Quinn pressed on. 'How old are you, Solana? You look really young, if you don't mind me saying. I'm twenty myself. In the Council towns you become an adult at seventeen, so I joined the military right away. When do you reach adulthood; you know, you people from outside the Council? I don't actually know the correct term for your people. Gypsy is a derogatory term, and vagabond makes me laugh, because it sounds like... you know...' Quinn was proud of his talent for blabber. He could talk for hours and hours, and say nothing of any importance. All it served to do was annoy his conversation partner. Right now he was just trying to get Solana's attention.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:09 am
Sol glared at him. A bit of her power slipped into her gaze. "I am 21 and have been a gypsy all my life," she replied tightly. "The only person I have had contact with before you was...a mage. He is dead." She hoped that would shut him up but doubted it. What she had left out was that she loved the mage. Maximus had saved her life and if he hadn't died she would still be with him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:31 am
Himura grunted as he kicked one Din'mera clan member back squarely onto the tall cactus, its long spines impaling the man from behind as he evaded two spears thrust at him before he swung his own, slitting one member's throat and leaving a slash on the shoulder of the other as he leaped back. "You're going to have to do better than that," he snapped before he grunted as an unseen force hit him hard in the chest as a new member stalked forward, his hand extended as he held an unusual curved blade (scimitar) in one hand. "For all of your preaching of 'keeping the blood pure' you seem to be full of s**t!!" he snapped as his spear was yanked out of his hand. He could hear creaking and knew a wagon was approaching several dozen yards away over the hill. A spark of pale silvery blue energy gleamed in his palm, hidden behind his torso as he covered a shallow cut in his abdomen just above his right hip before the spark grew into a sphere of softly humming energy the size of a softball with two smaller spheres rotating horizontally around it. There were three bodies on the ground with various wounds and two members of the Din'mera clan in front of him. "I don't like using my powers unless it becomes necessary, but...." he thought as he clenched his hand over the sphere, knowing it would become unstable as he focused energy into it but kept the outer shell the same size. "SenkÅkahua," he snarled as he held the sphere towards the two members and released it, the sphere shooting at high speed towards the duo before impacting the ground just in front of them and directly between them before detonating with a thunderous roar. One, the magick user, was hurled backwards down a steep slope with severe burns, while the other was slammed into rocks with more than enough force to shatter bones and cause fatal injuries. He knew the implosion would draw attention for a few miles' distance since that particular attack tended to leave craters. As it was, it left a good two foot wide, three inch deep crater with several dozen thin cracks radiating from the crater.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
