Where Rumors Grow [M] [Giraffe]

[Goldie]

A small, almost sweet smile, spread across his features as he reached forward to take one of her hands tenderly in his own. They were bound together in front of her, but all he needed was a finger.

Which he slowly began to bend backwards by pushing against it with his thumb. Slowly. So slowly. Deliberately. The sweet smile didn't falter.

"You are." He pushed further and further, waiting to hear the snap of bone, "What I say you are."

[wandering_giraffe]

A dull ache started in the finger the guy was currently breaking, and it intensified to a sharp pain with a snap. With which Pyla quickly reacted by trying to jerk back her hand, and forcing down the scream of pain that wanted to erupt from her. The room kindof blurred in and out of focus for a second.
"You can say whatever the fuck you want...it—-it doesn't change the truth," Pyla spat out through gritted teeth.

[Goldie]

"Do you know how many of you we've already broken? Some much older than you. Do you think you'll be able to withstand what we have in store for you if they couldn't?" The sick smile remained on his face.

He selected another finger, this time pushing it back quickly, not giving her any time to prepare for the pain that would follow.

"You are a slave."

[wandering_giraffe]

"No actually, I don't know. Please enlighten me," Pyla shot back at him.
And then he broke a second finger and Pyla closed her eyes for a second, the pain seeming to exponentially multiply. Strange how two fingers can cause so much pain.
Pain is just weakness leaving the body she thought to herself.
"No. I'm a soldier. Whether you like it or not," Pyla said,  taking slightly deeper breaths than she usually did.
I hope Jelani is safe, she thought.

[Goldie]

"Slave."

And a third finger snapped like a twig beneath his fingers.

"We can do this seventeen more times. Or, perhaps, we'll just start taking them." one of the other men came over and murmured something in his ear. He barked a few orders and within seconds their make-shift camp was broken down, bags packed, and scarves wrapped firmly around their faces.

They didn't give the same treatment to Pyla. Instead, they simply threw a rough sack over he head and tied her, tightly, to a sled. Then they went out into the storm.

[wandering_giraffe]

If there was one thing Pyla hated more than needles...it was not being able to see. More specifically, the dark. It was a stupid, irrational fear she's had ever since she was a child, and normally she had Zephyr to sleep with. The bag was shoved over her head and she was met with blackness, and then rough hands grabbed her and tied her to something...a plank? No, it was moving...maybe a sled of some sort. So they were going somewhere. She managed to discreetly tear a tiny piece of her shirt and dropped it in the cave, desperately hoping it wouldn't blow away.

Her left hand was absolutely throbbing right now, and she could only imagine how bruised and swollen her fingers were. She wouldn't be suprised if they were bleeding too. Which could be a good thing...if the blood trail stayed.

You don't realize how much you appreciate someone until they're not with you. Pyla realized how much of a sister Jelani was to her, keeping her in line, even asking her to go on this mission with her. She'll never cause Jelani a lick of trouble ever again...if she ever survived this mess...if she ever saw Jelani again. There was that annoying feeling of something being stuck in Pyla's throat that signaled she was about to cry. No. She was stronger than this.

Then her thoughts drifted to Zephyr...wait...she can communicate with him! They'd only really ever done it during training sessions and the occasional hunt...but it could be done!
Pyla took the fear she was feeling and latched onto it, using it as a signal to try to reach Zephyr.
Zephyr, please...I don't know where I am...time is short...we're moving again... She put all of her energy into trying to reach him.

[Goldie]

Zephyr started going crazy in the little cave that sheltered them from the storm. Cave was a stretch as it really was more like an overhang of rocks that just happened to be facing the opposite direction of the storm so they were mostly protected. Even still, Jelani sat huddled against the innermost rocks with her cloak wrapped tightly around her body and damp fabrics tied around her face.

She had thought she would have to wait out the storm, but the bird was in so much distress he was pulling at her clothes. Hakeshna, he wanted her to move. He wanted her to go out into the storm.

And she wasn't about to ignore him.

So she scooped him up, he was still injured, tucked him under her cloak and pulled at her magics to try and, at the very least, lessen the winds that were about to tear them apart.

"Tell me which way." She told him softly.

[wandering_giraffe]

Pyla's muscles ached. The sled finally stopped, only for her to be thrown roughly into a wagon instead. At least, she thought it was a wagon. Whatever she was on was slightly rocking, and it was definitely It was hard to tell. The sandstorm had finally stopped, much to Pyla's relief. At least there wasn't a harsh, hot wind that was ruthlessly attacking her with sand now. Her fear was still ratcheted up to a hundred. If that deranged guy was serious...she didn't even want to think about it.
She lay limp, trying to convince her captors she was asleep or, at the very least, not paying attention. She strained her ears to see if she could hear anything.  The bag over her head made it difficult to hear much.
She could hear strains of their conversation though.
They were going to a port. Her throat tightened. A port near Essyrn.
She desperately tried to reach Zephyr again.
Zephyr............headed for a port near Essyrn...at least seven men...I think.........I'm in a wagon now...there's more that they captured, I don't know where the others are...Zephyr, I love you—- but her silent, telepathic message cut off there, one of the men cruelly kicking her.
"You still alive?" He mocked, and then laughed, turning back to the other men.
Her eyes watered. She desperately wanted to wipe her eyes but she couldn't.
The men were arguing about the best way to get to their ship.
 

[Goldie]

Jelani was able to make fast progress with it only being herself and the bird versus the men and their cargo. It hadn't taken too long before she was able to get close enough to start seeing tracks once the storm had passed. Zephyr's tiny nudges and skees had helped guide her - accurately - and there, on the horizon, she could see them.

Hakeshna there were so many. Far too many for her to fight alone. That became even clearer the closer she came. Even still she let a little bit of power swirl from her breath to keep her hidden. If she could see them, they would be able to see her.

Gods she hoped they couldn't see her....


"Shut your fucking mouths." The leader with the scar barked at the others. They quickly fell in line, looking ashamed, "Is this your first run? Is it?"

He slapped the loudest arguer across his ear.

"We use the same route we've always used. Now move."

[wandering_giraffe]

Pyla had discovered a nail jutting out of the wood in the wagon, and started sneakily rubbing the rope that was tied around her wrists against the nail.
15 minutes later, she felt the rope snap. Pyla quietly lied there for another 5 minutes, gathering up the courage for what she was about to attempt. Finally, she inhaled a deep breath, and slowly slid off her the bag from off of her head. The desert sun was blinding, and it took a second for her eyes to adjust. She looked around the wagon. There was one guy, luckily for her, not paying attention to her at the moment. She quietly kept the rope around her wrists to make it seem like her hands were still tied, and then coughed loudly.
"Excuse me," she said, making her voice sound weak.
"I feel sick."
He glanced at her and his eyes narrowed.
"Hey! How'd you get your hood off?"
Pyla shrugged.
"I just needed light, I feel really sick."
The man suspiciously got up and roughly yanked her to her feet.
"Don't try anyth-" and that's as far as he got, Pyla letting the rope drop off her wrists and slamming him as hard as she could into the side of the wagon, a suprised and angry yell coming from the man.

[Goldie]

The rest of the band were quick to respond upon hearing the grunts from the carriage. Despite their bickering, they had done this before and this wasn't the first time they'd had to fight against attempted escape. The two that came with the wagon were especially skilled - they were full time slavers after all.

Pyla would barely be able to get a foot off of the wagon before two, then three, then four burly men flattened her to the ground, pressing her face into the sand and pinning her arms behind her back.

"Bring her to me." The leader snapped once she was subdued.

[wandering_giraffe]

Pyla thought she had made it. For all of two seconds. She managed to land a powerful punch to a guy's jaw before she was slammed into the ground and got a mouthful of sand. A faceful of sand, really.
It was chaos, and then she found herself in front of the leader. She was breathing hard from exertion, adrenaline pumping through her veins.
She said nothing, choosing instead to ready herself for whatever was about to happen.

[Goldie]

TW: maiming

The rest of the crew knew what was going to happen and a table was brought before the leader without a single command. The men were silent, but that didn't stop the smirks they passed around.

The leader didn't break eye contact as Pyla was forced to sit on the other side of the small table. He wasn't smiling this time. He actually seemed to look...sad...

"I warned you." Was all he said. And in less than two seconds her hand was forced onto the table and he brought his scimitar down, severing her hand from her arm at the wrist.

[wandering_giraffe]

TW for references and results of maiming

A sharp, harsh impact.
Then pain. Blinding pain that caused her vision to black out for a moment.
Pyla couldn't hold back the agonized scream that erupted from her, her whole body tensing up as her brain tried to process the amount of pain she was feeling. The pain was so sharp, so intense, that she involuntarily broadcasted her scream to Zephyr.
She wanted to ball her hand up into a fist, but she couldn't.

Her body went into full fight or flight response, her pupils dilating, causing everything to look brighter, the harsh sun reflecting off of the desert sands.
This man was insane...they all were.

[Goldie]

Zephyr lost it, the moment the blade cut off Pyla's hand, though Jelani didn't know the reason just yet. She was close enough to the caravan now that she had been making plans to sneak in at night to free Pyla, but the bird couldn't be contained. She could feel his fury, his pain, and she didn't hesitate when he flew off without her and raked his talons across the face of the man holding Pyla down and the diving towards the man with the scimitar.

It was chaos. In the time it took Zephyr to close the gap, the group had already seared the wound closed with a red-hot iron so Pyla wasn't in any immediate danger. At least there was that.

Jelani called to the sands and swirled it around the camp, ignoring the part of her that screamed caution - Pyla's screams had echoed through the desert and Jelani was fueled by rage. A rage that only amplified when she saw the hand sitting on the table. A rage that blinded her.

Save her. Her brain screamed. Kill them.

And she listened. Sand tore through the camp like razors as she entered in like some kind of mythical goddess.

[wandering_giraffe]

Her vision blacked out again only to feel a red-hot, searing pain where her hand used to be. She tried to jerk her hand away. Pyla wanted relief.
She screamed again, a broken, heart-wrenching scream.
"Please...just make it stop," she sobbed. She had screamed so harshly her throat already felt hoarse.

And then there was another cry. An angry—no, enraged cry. 
Zephyr came flying in, a vengeful blur, attacking the man that was holding her down. She felt hands release her and then the world exploded into chaos.
She instantly dropped and rolled under the table, away from the leader and grabbing a dagger off of the belt of the man Zephyr had killed.
Pyla honestly had no idea how she was going to be able to fight anybody. She pushed down the burning, sharp, searing pain that had spread up her whole right arm, and viciously stabbed a guy in the chest.

The whole camp was engulfed in sand. Pyla recognized this. This wasn't a natural sandstorm. This was Jelani's doing.

Merely stabbing the guy in the chest was too much exertion, and Pyla fell to her knees, clutching her only way of protection tightly, gasping for breath.
"JELANI!" She yelled as loudly as she could through the chaos, before grabbing onto a tent pole to keep from collapsing all the way to the ground.

[Goldie]

Jelani had given herself over to the desert at this point, rage tearing through her as it tore through the caravan. She couldn't have stopped it if she tried, but she didn't try. She wanted them to suffer even if it meant taking every last piece of strength she had. She wanted the sand to rip them apart the same way they were tearing her family asunder.

Her eyes glowed gold and the sands obeyed her with a thought. Within seconds the screams stopped. Within minutes flesh had disappeared and was replaced with bone.

And she couldn't stop.

Pyla remained untouched while hell itself rained down and destroyed even the animals she that pulled the wagon. Even the wagon itself began to creak as sand pelted it with such force it was leaving rivulets behind.

[wandering_giraffe]

It felt like she was in a hurricane of sand, but sheltered in the eye of the storm. The entire caravan was decimated. Pyla forced herself up off her knees. Her eyes were dry. She couldn't cry anymore if she wanted to.
She stumbled through the destroyed camp, searching for Jelani.
Then, she found her, looking like a mythical being, her eyes glowing gold. She wasn't sure what to do. She slowly approached her, holding her injured arm to her chest.
"JELANI!" She yelled as loudly as she could. All of her energy was almost gone, the strange calm she felt for a moment, shattering into intense panic. She couldn't lose her again. The world was swirling around her, and she couldn't tell what was real anymore.

[Goldie]

Jelani heard Pyla and turned her glowing eyes towards the woman she had come to save. A part of her knew that her mission was complete, that there was nothing she could do anymore, but the storm continued to rage; she had let it go too far.

Hakeshna this was further than she had ever taken it before. She was no longer Jelani but the desert itself. She was sand. She was wind. She was destruction and she was life.

"You are safe."

The storm continued to rage.

[wandering_giraffe]

"Safe?" Pyla repeated.
She looked down at her wrist where her hand used to be.
"Safe?" She whispered.
She stared at it for a moment.
"Jelani...there's others..."
The storm seemed to be getting worse.
Zephyr flew in from the other side of the camp, his talons stained with blood and an enraged look still in his eyes. But the rage left as soon as he spotted Pyla, flying into her chest full force with a cry, snuggling against her chest. "Zephyr...I missed you...but the storm...can you do anything about it?"
Pyla stopped close to Jelani, trying to ground herself, tell herself it was alright. She wanted to embrace Jelani, thank her for, well, everything.
She was safe...she was safe. But her breathing wouldn't slow down. It was too fast. It felt like there was a weight on Pyla's chest. Zephyr could sense Pyla was in a state of panic. He could also see that Jelani was practically becoming a storm.
Zephyr took off, and flew, straight up over Jelani, and hovered high above her.
He closed his eyes, and a low hum filled the desert, low in frequency, but loud. Then, a second pair of wings sprouted from his back. The first pair were gold, these were turquoise blue, almost glowing. His eyes shot open, and they were the same blue.
Zephyr seemed to freeze in the sky, he was flying so slow. Almost as if he was floating.
Then Zephyr uttered a single word:
"Çåłm
It echoed across the desert, shattering rocks and even vibrating the sparse oasis.