The fields were aflame, fire licking the air as the wind carried ashes that only spread the fire further. The only godsend was that it was a cold day, the sky dark and threatening rain or even snow this time of the year.
But a threat of rain was not a promise, and in the meantime, the world burned.
People scrambled around the Banyur camp, salvaging their tents and belongings and securing their families while others worked on gathering the livestock and horses, many of which had scattered in their panic. Jayari was among those riding out to herd the cattle and the few horses that had spooked before the fool animals burned!
They'd already lost several head of cattle and a couple of horses, their bloody remains nothing but ashes on the wind.
Riding up beside a large stallion on Zala, Jayari looped a rope around his neck and reined him in close. It helped she was on a mare, which was part of the reason she'd gone for a female over the males so many people chose for show. They were more even-tempered, and stallions were more likely to follow when you needed to track them down! Wheeling around, she started back--
But that was when a large, winged shadow passed over her, the wind from its wings making her braids flutter.
Jayari's eyes narrowed as she looked up and followed the creature, the dragon that had caused so much destruction today. It was a young adolescent, small as far as dragons went--but they tended to be the most destructive as they learned how to hunt--and killed for the practice.
If it was a wild one, that is, and hadn't been sent by the Adelans...
With a frustrated sound, she thrust the rope lead into one of her nearby companion's hands. He startled, immediately realizing what she was thinking.
"Jayari...!"
"Just keep doing what you're doing," she said, drawing her bow from her back. "I'm going to make sure it can't do any more damage. Yah!"
"Crazy girl! Come back!"
But she was off, tearing out across the burnt field, following the dragon as it soared back toward the Terrin mountains.
She had a small window of time to get it, and that window was closing fast.
And just as Jayari was rushing off across the hills, as she would crest it came thundering a man upon some strange bird-like dragon creature- and it appeared as if the pair might collide head on! The man's eyes widened, the whites of them showing in great contrast to the red paint around his face. He pulled back on the reins and shouted, "Nana'tehk! Niy'eel-o!" Which stood for a command from the Red Foxes as 'Halt and evade!' But it seemed the dragon bird was too startled by the charging mare that it stopped abruptly, sending it's rider clean off it's back. And with a scream, the painted masked man was air born and soon eating the hill's dirt as he landed with a few rough bumps upon the ground.
"WAH!" Jayari didn't see the man at first, because she was too busy staring at the creature, and with a cry for Zala to stop, she yanked back on the reins.
But Zala was surprised, too, and she skidded to a stop--that was far too abrupt, and the masked rider wasn't the only one that went sailing over his beast's neck. She landed with a grunt on her back, the wind knocked out of her, but once she could breathe again she scrambled to grab up her bow.
She was back on her feet in moments, blades of grass poking up from her hair at odd angles, with an arrow nocked and trained on the strange, wild-faced man on the ground. Her body ached from the fall, but she tried not to show it. Didn't want to ruin the fierce image!
"Stay down!" she barked. "And call of your...beast...thing. Who are you? What are you doing here? Seems awfully odd, to me, that you should ride up here on that while our fields burn with dragon-fire."
Jayari wasn't saying he had something to do with this whole mess, but...
She was totally saying he had something to do with it.
By the time he was able to lift himself from the ground, he was on his hand and knees like a dog- and had a very sharp and pointy arrow aimed at his face. He swore in his native tongue before pointing to the air behind her.
"You fool! Run!"
ANd before he could even explain, the entire ground began to shake and rumble from the thundering of a hundred hooves of an Adelan Squadron. And these men, fully armored and well bladed, looked pissed.
The ground began to rumble, and Jayari's blood went cold. She snapped her head up and looked where he had pointed--
And her breath seized in her throat.
"...Oh Holy Mothers, what did you DO?!" she shouted at him, right before she spun on her heel, mounted Zala, and wheeled her around. She urged her into a gallop, but didn't dare head back toward her people. If these people were chasing the man, maybe they could keep them on their tail. The last thing they needed was an entire squadron heading toward her tribe, which was already in disarray!
"This way!" she called, leaning down against Zala's neck to lend her speed.
The painted masked man stood there, puzzled for a moment as the woman remounted her horse and called for him to follow her.
"That way? But..." And he panted, taking one good look at the on coming army before muttering something in his native tongue. "Nana'tehk!" He called over to his dragon-bird, which was dancing worriedly in place. "Nana'tehk, come!" he said. But it seemed the strange creature was not to listen, and he tried to whistle and call for Nana'tehk again, before he growled and rushed after the dumb animal, pulling it by it's reins but it reared away.
"Not now, Nana'tehk! Do you want us to die?"
It seemed the dragon thing almost understood him, as it turned it's ostrich like neck and head towards the man with a curious, wide eyed blink. Releasing a hot sigh to see the bird-brain was calm enough, he wasted no time in mounting it-
But Nana'tehk was quick to squawk and run in a circle before the masked man cursed a few more times and had the beast under control. And soon, with a kick to it's sides, he had the avirian racing off after the horse. And that thing was surprisingly fast, kicking up a light trail of dust behind it's tail as it's head bobbed while it ran, and the pair were nearly gaining on the woman.
"Do you know which way you run!?" he called after her in perfect common. "The River's that way...."
And the falls- wait...
The Falls..
Was she thinking to throw off the army by leading them to it?
Jayari heard the man calling out to her from behind her, and was relieved to know he was smart enough to follow. Now she just had to hope the army was dumb enough to go after them, and not smart enough to realize it was a diversion.
"What?" she called back to him in the Banyur dialect of Duhjari, shouting so it would carry. "I can't understand you." Hadn't he spoken Duhjari earlier? And his features, from the brief glimpse she'd gotten, had looked it. It had surprised her to hear that, but maybe she'd heard wrong? No matter! As long as he followed, that's all she cared about now!
All she worried about now was Zala, and how willing she'd be to cross a damned river today. Hopefully she wasn't in a mood!
Hearing her speak in a tribal tongue- and one with a particular accent he was somewhat familiar with, he re-asked his question again in a tongue she could understand.
"The way!" he called out. "Do you know which way you run? There are falls ahead and the river runs wild."
...Wild? Well. That would make sense. They had gotten a lot of rain this season...
And recently.
Very recently.
Which was something Jayari hadn't accounted for in her split second "LEAD THE MASSIVE AWAAAAY!" decision.
With the storm that had passed the other night, the river would be high, and it would be wild, indeed. How high and how wild, Jayari couldn't say, as she hadn't yet been there.
...That complicated matters a bit.
But still she pushed on, urging Zala to run faster. "Good!" she called back, glad for the switch in language. "Maybe they'll be stupid enough to follow us and drown!"
"Yes," Katoma said with an uncertain frown, the little legs of his mount doubling their speed in order catch up. "But can we really out smart the whole army into..." And at that, his eyed lit up. "Woman, the cliffs. Let us go up coyote pass. If we are careful, we can trick them and hopefully they will be as dumb as the buffalo, and run off the cliff in their stampede. Then again, this cliff they will not see until they go over it." The tall, wild grasses would assure then that. And the raging rapids and rocks would meet them below.
Hearing that, a wide grin spread over Jayari's lips, and she slowed Zala down just enough so that she could pull up beside him.
"Great idea!" she said, beaming despite the stress of the situation. As frightening as it was, she couldn't help it! The rush fueled her and only made her feel more alive, and the thought that they could actually defeat an entire Adelan squadron, just the two of them, but tricking them? Gods above, it was brilliant!
Two Duhjari versus an army. Take that, Adelan pigs.
"The only problem I see is it'll be a dead end for us, too. We'll have to be smart about this, but I'm sure it'll come to us as we get there!"
Katoma nodded, his own expression brightening.
"We'll have the advantage. Sure- we can go over as well, but we'll know what to expect. And instead of falling like those fools, we can step back into the grasses, or cling to the cliff walls- anything to make them come after us and think that it would be safe to do so."
"Sounds like a plan!" Jayari said, still grinning broadly. "Let's go, then! Can your...your thing run any faster? We'll need to put more distance between them and us!"
"That thing is an avirian. They're very rare you know!" he shot back through the winds as they ran. "And I'm lucky Nana'tehk even listens to me." But he grinned back anyway and called after, "But I'll see what I can do!" And with a YA! the bird-like mount released a caw and suddenly it was running very fast as Katoma bounced along upon it and was soon going fast enough to pass Jayari. And as soon as he did, he grinned back at her.
"Can't that thing run any faster? COme on, we've got the Adelan army behind us. Let's pick up the slack!"
"...I hate when my words come back to haunt me," Jayari muttered under her breath, and with a shout, Zala took off at a quicker speed, galloping after the strange bird-creature. She leaned down against the mare's neck to lend her more speed, her braids whipping the air behind her.
Because oh no, she was not letting this guy outrace her! And maybe she shouldn't have been thinking about competing with him when they had an army at their backs, but she wasn't ready to eat her words, either!
They always burned going down, and he had sounded just so smug, the brat.
"She can run faster than your bird, I bet!" she called ahead of her as Zala swiftly gained ground.
Katoma's eyes danced as he peered over his shoulder at the Duhjari woman.
"I don't know if this is the appropriate time to be calling bets!" he teased, but seeing the horse quickly approaching, he gave another shout again, urging his mount to run quicker.
"Can you think of a better time?" Jayari shouted back, grinning from ear to ear. "I always call bets when running into a situation. If I might die, I'd like to die victorious!"
And she was on his heels now, turning her head away from the dust his bird was kicking up. "I bet we'll beat those suckers, though," she added, and ahead of them she could see the dark shapes of the cliffs.
They were close, and the army was even closer behind them.
"And if you should die a loser?"
But it seemed fate didn't take kindly to his teasings as his mount let out a frantic caw as it tripped over the land.
"Woah!" Katoma pulled hard in the reins, fighting for control as the beast nearly went down. But he had done some stunts in his day, and was not deterred by nearly capsizing, but the scramble to stay upright put him behind!
"I won't die a loser!" Jayari boasted, and when the man's creature stumbled, she dug her heels into Zala and the mare put on an extra burst of speed. Soon, they breezed by the man, Jayari letting out a whoop of victory.
"You okay back there?" she called over her shoulder. "Having trouble with your bird thing?"
"Arra! Arra! I suppose there's no complaints back here!" Katoma called after her. "Besides, you're giving me a nice view! Perhaps I ought to stay in second? Isn't there some Adelan rhyme about that anyway? First is the Worst? Second is the best?"
With a hearty laugh at that, Jayari slapped her own ass and winked at him from over her shoulder. "I thank you for the compliment! I've worked too hard not to have it noticed!" she shouted, before facing forward again.
"Unless, of course, you were talking about Zala! She's a fine mare, after all! Strong legs!"
And soon, Coyote Pass was in view, and Jayari urged Zala onto the rough, rocky path.
Ah, Coyote Pass. This is where he would shine! Nana'tehk didn't have the over cumbersome body of a horse, and as the pass narrowed, Katoma gave a chtk! between his teeth and the avirian let out a 'caw' and spread open it's muted wings, but what happened next was definitely (in a sense) magical as the avirian took to the air, springing over head and landed, side ways, against the narrow wall, where it proceeded to run at top speed, undeterred by the fact the side walls were just as rocky (if not rockier) than the flat, snaking path Jayari and her horse were taking below. And it only took a bit more pressing and the bird's long neck was soon passing the long nose of the woman's horse. And Katoma simply waved at her as they passed, and flashed her the most boyishly playful of grins as the wild hair whipped his dark, long locks all about, and revealed the deep, red painted past upon his face with dazzling eyes twinkling beneath, like two sets of dark jewels.
And throwing up his arms, in a foolish attempt to feel free, to feel as if he were really flying, before he let out a 'COOOOOO-OOOOOOO!' noise that echoed sharply, happily, playfully through the pass. And just as they were nearing the end, Nana'tehk landed with an ungraceful plop infront of Jarayi before taking off once again into a run.
Turning back to the Duhjari woman, he called to her, "You'd better keep up! I think the Adelan army is gaining on us!" Whcih was untrue, but he wanted to poke fun!
What in the...?
Jayari could only watch in awe and surprise as the bird thing and the man soared over them and...
Ran sideways along the wall??
And then they were in front of them, landing back on the road, and Jayari had to shake herself to snap her out of her daze, because she'd never seen anything like that and--oi! What a show off! She'd be jealous if she weren't so damned impressed! Though ow, how her words did burn going down...
"Heeey! I think that's cheating!" she called after him, though there was a teasing note to her voice as she said it (because damn, points for creativity, though points deducted for the clumsy landing), as she leaned into Zala and urged her onward. But surefooted Zala was going as fast as she could safely go over the rocky terrain, so she didn't press her for greater speed.
Eventually the trail split open to the cliffs, where the thunder of the falls could be heard. And in such close proximity to the narrow trail, the man with the painted mask looked around. But even as he strained his ears, the army's presence, if it was still behind them, could not be heard, and his avarian danced lightly with nerves as Katoma continued to listen and look. But after another antsy minute he pressed his mount towards the trail.
"I hope we have not lost them," he whispered.
Turning to the woman, he announced, "I'm going to scale the upper trail. See if I can't gauge where the army is." And he preyed they hadn't dropped pursuit... The woman's village was nearby and if anything, he hadn't intended to bring blood shed on his own people when trying to out fox the Adelans.
"Not alone, you're not," Jayari said, feeling the tension thicken in the air as the silence extended, her heart beating a little quicker. Not hearing the enemy was the worst thing. Not knowing where they were.
And in this case...
Oh gods. What if she'd made the wrong choice? What if she should have rode ahead to warn her people, instead of try to divert the squadron?
Her stomach tightened with sudden anxiety.
"Let's go," she said, and turned Zala onto the trail.
The curling taloned toes made the steeper climb a bit easier for the bird like mount as it struggled to pull itself and rider up the path. But sure enough, as they crested the peak, the Adelan army appeared to have halted mid trail. It figured the army would halt at the skinniest part in the trail as Katoma gave a heated sigh.
"They hesitate..." He swore. "To think they are so close..."
Sensing his anxiety, the avarian shuffled lightly, and with just enough momentum to kick a few pebbles over the side oftthe cliff. Katoma froze, eyes going wide before he ducked away just as the Adelan army was looking up.
Over the cliffs went the pebbles, and Jayari held her breath.
Only she was hoping they would notice.
And when the man ducked away, Jayari gave him a look and hopped down off of Zala. "What are you doing? We want them to come for us!" she said, before she walked to the cliff's edge, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted:
"Hey, you idiots! We're over here!" And though they couldn't understand her, several of the Adelans looked up, and when they did she spun on her heel, turned her back to them, and shook her ass at them. "Come and get it, assholes!" she said, giving her rear a slap, before with a laugh she ducked back behind the safety of the rocks.
The masked man could have eaten his fist. Sure, the plan was to get their attention- but you know, when he'd arrived at a plan! But seeing how this whole operation was improved, he supposed it was now or never to get the Adelan's attention- though to see the way Jayari went about it, he couldn't help but shake his head.
"I think you're enticing something else with that call," he teased, but moved to mimic her, butt out and shaking. This time, it got more than a cry from the Adelan's as a few arrows were unleashed their way. Katoma barely dodged one that was aimed for his ass before dropping into the bushes.
"Well, you made that look easy! Thankfully I'm faster than an arrow, or that one woulda landed on my butt!" ANd he wouldn't be a happy camper about it, either!
"Come on," he said with a gesture of his head. "Time to goad the Adelan's through the pass!" And without much hesitation, Katoma took a running start before LEAPING out over the edge, and went sailing into the air, wind fluttering within his hair and tossing the feather's about of his mount before landing on the rough, sharp edges of the trail and calling back to the army behind him- who were now ready to make chase after the masked man again!
Never one to be outdone, Jayari stepped back and took a running leap to follow after the masked man, landing beside him and scrabbling at the edge when some rocks slipped out from under her foot. She gasped, but caught herself, and kept close to the man because he was the one with the grand plan!
At least, Jayari wasn't actually aware he didn't really have a plan...
"We're even now, because you made that look easy," she said, her heart hammering away at her near fall as the Adelans took to the trail, calling out orders to each other. "Looks like that worked! Seems they liked your ass better."
"What can I say? I do my exercise," he told her with a grin. "And duhjari are known to have the finest asses in all the land- or maybe it's just all of the riding I do on a mount that isn't a horse!"
Jayari sputtered out a laugh at that, because that could be taken several ways, and her first thought was sexual. But then she smiled slyly and said, "Oh, your bird, you mean?"
Katoma cut her a look and couldn't help but smile, but before any remarks could be made- the Adelan army advanced their arrows on them- a detail he had been forgetting to keep a close eye of- until it sunk into arm.
It would have hit his 'bird' had his arm not reacted quickly and he grit his teeth and swore as he looked over his shoulder.
"I think our plan might have been too effective. Time for plan B!"
Jayari cursed when a few arrows glanced off the rocky wall near her, and she ducked and jerked away. Shit! They needed to get moving! They were completely exposed right here! And she was about to shout as much when she heard the man's curse and looked--to find he had an arrow jutting out of his arm.
Oh spirits.
"What the fuck's plan B?" Jayari blurted, and reached over to him quickly without so much as a "how do you do" to snap the shaft off short, so only a couple inches of shaft were sticking from his flesh instead of a foot. It was dangerous to pull it out; they would have to push it through. But there would be bleeding, and it would have to stay in until they could deal with that. "Except that we need to go! We're gonna get shot. Well, shot more."
And as she watched, she saw in surprise that a group of around ten Adelans had dismounted, and were starting to head up the trail on foot.
They weren't so stupid after all...
"Plan B?" The masked man cringed. "Your guess is as good as mine. I tend to improvise!" But recalling her snapping off the end of the arrow from his wound, he got an idea.
"Up the pass, there was a tree- half fallen. Come on, let's get there before the Adelan's turn us into pin cushions. But we have to keep them on our trail." And at that, he flashed her a grin. "Can't knock a bunch of Adelan's over a cliff if they're not standing under the tree we aim to throw at them!"
That'd show 'em for shooting him with an arrow!
"I like it! Let's do it!" Jayari said, and quickly climbed back up, and paused when she got there to offer a hand to the man so she could help haul him up. She'd never been shot before, but she had a feeling it was kiiiind of hard to use one's arm when you had an arrow stuck in the muscle!
"Spirits, if we pull this off, they'll write songs about us," she said, even as she watched the Adelans below. Some were nocking arrows--and the man was a sitting duck. Wasting no time, she reached and grabbed him by the wrist with both her hands and hauled him up the rest of the way.
"Well, I think they already sing songs about me," Katoma informed her through a grin and pants as they made their way to the fallen tree. "Except most of mine I'm glorified as the enemy!" And he beamed at that, and the fact they made it to the fallen tree in one piece, and with Jayari's aid, they were both able to get into a good position to start applying weight and testing the precariously half fallen tree as the Adelan's continued towards them.
"I think if we can get them to try to kill us here, we can both apply our weight about ... here," he said, testing it beneath the balls of his feet as the tree bounced and lightly cracked. "Then down will fall tree, and down go the Adelans.." he said, pointing to the path the dead tree would take as it would not only wipe out the men soon gathering below them- but half hte army would ALSO get knocked into the ravine!
"An enemy? Of the Adelans, I assume," Jayari said as she bolted after him to the tree and tested it with her own weight. "In that case, congratulations! To be sung as their enemy is a great accomplishment, indeed! Let's give them something else to sing about."
And she looked over at the masked man as she took up position, and smiled sweetly. "Shall we?"
Though he was dexterous, it took him much longer than anticipated to get into any sort of position, and as the Adelans neared them, he braced himself before calling out a few taunts.
"Hey, bucket heads!" he shouted clearly, in Adelan. "What are you doing down there? You aimin' to bow to the might 'Masked Tribesman'?"
And if that didn't get their goat, he didn't know what would! And the second the men began to rush the tree, he saw their opportunity and gestured to Jarayi.
"Now!"
Jayari couldn't understand what he was shouting, but it sure sounded inflammatory! It got the desired result, too, as the Adelans let out a roar of shouts and whoops and poured after them.
As soon as the man shouted to go, Jayari heaved her weight against the tree, grunting with the effort, her heart pounding even as relief coursed through her as the tree began to creak, crack, and give under the pressure--
And that relief and hope soon went up in flames as surely as the smoking fields.
Because that was when she felt cold, sharp metal at her neck, and heard the gruff voices behind them, snarling words she couldn't understand in a language she only recognized as Adelan.
They'd been so busy focusing on the tree and the Adelans before them that they hadn't noticed the men coming up behind them, at least not until they were at the end of their blades.
It was a crash course in the most gravest disaster the two might ever face, for the second they were to enact their little plan- both were commanded to surrender.
But they had been so close. So close in fact as Katoma slowly turned around to oblige the men, he coaxed Jarayi to follow his lead, so that when they began to walk- it would finish breaking the tree and-
The crack and crash it had made paralyzed them all as the large tree thundered to the ground, barrelled down the way and crushed into a lot of the men who had been down hill of it-
and those fools waiting at the crest of the hill were knocked clean over-
and were soon falling into the ravine along with the rotting wood.
And all Katoma could do was stare back at the Adelan's with a shrug- before he was clubbed over the head and nearly bitten to death. Though somehow he clung onto his consciousness to feel after strike from his enemy, and every tight knot of rope as his limbs were bound from neck- to foot.
In one final act of defiance, Jayari turned with the masked man--
And heard the tree crack and roll, heard the cries of the men as many met their deaths, right before the Adelans closed in on them. And though Jayari knew it was impossible, knew they were outnumbered, she told herself she wouldn't be taken without taking one with her. And so she drew her hunting blade and fought as they came for her, punching, kicking, and slashing, but there were too many and they wore heavy armor besides. A gauntlet-clad hand struck her in the jaw, making her see stars, and then pain exploded in her head--
Then there was nothing.
Not for a long while, at least.
When Jayari cracked her eyes open, it was dark, and the air around her stank of sweat and blood, and something sharp was poking against her cheek and through her clothes. It took her a moment to realize it was rotting hay, and that she was laying in a pile of it, and when she groaned and tried to move, she found her arms were tied behind her back, coarse rope chafing away at her flesh. Her vision swam, her head throbbing in pain, matching the rhythm of her heartbeat, and her jaw and mouth hurt, too. Faintly, she tasted blood, and she licked her dry lips to find flecks of it dried on her skin.
...Oh fuck.
Disoriented though she was, she still knew what this meant, could still faintly remember the moments that happened just before everything went dark.
She was a captive.
A chord of panic struck her, for she'd been captured once before, by a rival tribe, and oh fuck this was not a thing that was happening again! But she remembered this time was different--it was the Adelans--and...
Maybe this time she wasn't alone.
Biting back against the pain, Jayari started to look around, and then, using her legs, managed to roll herself over--
To come nearly nose to nose with the masked Duhjari.
She sucked in a breath of surprise, and then let it out slowly. Thank the spirits...
"Hey." She slid a leg forward and nudged at his leg with her boot. "You alive?"
The man groaned as he began to awaken, some of the paint having been marred from their scuffle with the guards, but other wise intact. His one eye was lumpy, his cheek, too- in fact, he was lumpy all ove rhis head. I twas evident the Adelan's spared no expense in beating the living daylights out of him. But when Jayari gave him a kick, the man grunted awake before choking and coughing out blood.
Jayari made a face, because some of the blood splattered onto her face.
But she'd been covered in worse things in her life, so she rubbed her face unsuccessfully on the straw before nudging him again. "Dear gods, man. Are you...going to live?"
Because that answered the question of whether or not he was alive. But...damn. He looked like shit.
With his throat too hoarse to moan, and just enough strength to lift his head (for the rest of him was bound anyway!), he blinked as he looked her over.
"How much did I have to drink?" he found himself asked, before his strength was zapped and he let his cheek drop back to the hay and dirt.
Though contact with the ground sobered him as he grunted in pain. ANd fo ra moment, just held his eyes shut.
Yeah... pretty much every inch of him hurt.
"Nothing," Jayari said flatly, sighing through her nose. "You're not hungover, I'm afraid. But you did have the shit beat out of you. And not because of a drunken brawl."
At that, he managed a laugh.
"Well, at least after getting the shit beat out of me, they allowed me to share my cell with such amicable company."
Though as he studied her, he found himself frowning.
"Hey... looks like they didn't rough you up too badly." ANd he groaned. "Even talking hurts- I feel as if I have one too many black eyes- and not even ones on my eyes!"
"Well, if they punched you in the dick, too, I guess that could count as an eye..." Jayari said, looking seriously contemplative about that. "Or hm. They did beat you enough you look a bit like a potato, and potatoes have a lot of eyes."
And at that he laughed so much he groaned in pain and rolled over so he was on his back.
"Gods.. I think they even punched my insides."
"Probably," Jayari said, licking more blood from her lip. "Like, you look legitimately terrible. Not even like a potato. You're more like a mashed potato with the skins still on."
At that, he laughed again.
"I never knew another Duhjari acquainted with the mashed potatoes."
Jayari laughed. "A traveler came through my tribe's lands once, and tried to run when they saw us, and lost half their load as they went. Apparently, that's what the vegetable they were carrying was called. You look like what those potatoes looked like when our horses ran them over. Lumpy and bruised."
At least he was well enough to laugh, though! That probably meant he wouldn't be dying...anytime soon. With a small groan, she stretched out a little, and winced as she felt the bruises on her ribs.
"Ugh. Alright. While this teasing is fun, we really need to get the fuck out of here. We're alive now, but I don't think they mean to keep us that way. Not after what we did."
"Yeah, they'll probably want to execute us in public. By hanging, most likely. Or.. by throwing rocks. Lots of rocks."
Jayari bit her lip to keep from laughing. If she could have pinched his cheek, she would have.
"Yes. Rocks. Lots of rocks. All the rocks," she said with a tired smile and a slow nod that she regretted, for the way her head swam. "Very good. Now, do you think you can roll and turn your back to me? I want to get a look at those knots."
"Eh?" Struggling against the rough rope, he gave a sigh. "Right ... those knots." And turning around with a few grunts, he went on with his best foreign gentlemen impression, "There you go... my lady."
Jayari snorted at his impression, and wriggled closer to him, wincing as it jarred her own injuries.
"Thank you, good sir," she said, happy that he was in a joking mood despite all this, because it was levity that kept her from not panicking. Curling against him until she was practically spooning him, she squinted against the poor light to examine the knots.
"I could probably pick these," she murmured, and rolled over so that her back was to his. Wriggling a little to scoot up until her hands brushed his, she grunted and found the knots, and started trying to loosen them without looking at them.
"Just hold still. And while you're at it, tell me your name. I'd like to know the name of my partner in crime and potential partner in death."
Perhaps if the situation were different, he might appreciation getting good and close to Jayari, but as it were, they were in a rather complicated pickle. But her inquiry of his name perked him up as he tried to peer back at her.
"Katoma- last from the tribe of the Red Fox." And then he paused to add with a cheeky grin, "Or if you're an Adelan, you'd probably know me as your enemy, and under the name The Masked Tribesman." He laughed, "So original, right? They see some paint on my face and immediately felt the need to be quirky with giving me some sort of title."
But even as he seemed to complain, he was also rather fond of gaining such a reputation. The Adelans destroyed his people, after all.
"...The Red Fox tribe?" Jayari repeated, and froze, her hands on his knots.
She twisted a little so she could look at him from over her shoulder, her voice taking on a different, sadder tone. "The one that...the one the Adelans...?"
Who hadn't heard that story? It had swept through her own tribe like wildfire, and was sung to children as a cautionary tale.
Katoma sensed her tension, which could mean only one thing. And her comment confirmed it.
He simply nodded in response.
"Yeah, that one." And he gave a soft chuckle. "Bet they wished they killed us all. They see me as a damn cockroach, but eh, I think I'm worse. I give them hell where I can."
And at this, he paused and tried to look at her.
"Er.. sorry about that, by the way. I.. guess this predicament is kinda my fault."
"Don't worry about it," Jayari said with a crooked smile that stretched and reopened the cut in her lip. She winced, and licked at the fresh blood that beaded there. "It was bad timing all around. At least we took out some of them. Heh, at least we're getting an adventure out of this. You have to admit, if this is how we go out, it's not a bad way to go."
And she started to work on the knots again, the braveness of her words at odds with the fear clutching at her throat and pounding in her ears. She did not want to die here. Not today.
"Not that I'm in a rush to go anywhere but out of this damned place!" she said with a snort. "Has this ever happened to you before?"
Katoma just remained still as he let her work at the knots, and simply replied, "Yes?"
"You've been captured before? By the Adelans?" Jayari asked, eyebrows rising, though he couldn't see it.
He sounded so nonchalant!
"Yeah, but I normally have some creative way to get out. I'm surprised they even bothered to capture me this time. They could have just beheaded us on the spot!"
"Whiiiich if they kept us alive, must mean they have something else in store for us," Jayari said, and gritted her teeth as she worked the knot harder--before, with a sigh of relief, she felt it start to loosen.
She could do this! They were one step closer!
"I'm not really keen to find out what that is. How'd you escape the last...this time? You've done this multiple times?!"
"Well, each time was different," he assured her. "And come to think of it.. hrmm.. we're probably only alive for now. I've seen what some of these Adelans can do. If you piss them off enough, they tend to like to draw these things out. You know, slow and excruciatingly painful sorta death. Oh.. And it'll probably be public. The Adelans are pretty gung ho about any forms of violence, especially at the behest against their enemy."
"Fabulous! So we'll be publicly eviscerated. I mean, I guess that's better than being privately eviscerated...go out with style, make it a big show...AH! THERE!"
The knot came undone then, and Jayari pulled the ropes free. "Gotcha! Okay, now hurry up and do me!" she said, rolling over.
"Do you, eh?" a rough voice said with a chuckle in Adelan, and Jayari felt ice slide down her spine. Not because she understood a lick of what was being said, but because she knew it meant they were caught. And sure enough, there came the sound of heavy boots, before a grizzled, scarred face appeared at the bars.
"Always knew you Duhjari were a kinky bunch."
Not that 'the masked tribesman' was thinking of the kinky consequences of what his captive partner had said, the hairs on the back of his own neck stood on end as he froze in place, even after his bindings were free. By quick deduction, it was evident this Adelan spoke their language, and more or less knew what they were up to. But how much had he heard? Playing it low key, and pretending to still be tied up, seemed to be his best option at the time, and while Jayari was probably terrified of what this could mean, Katoma simply rolled over to the scary looking, grizzled man and gave him a big grin.
"Oh, you know us savages!" he spoke, first in Duhjari, then in Adelan, testing the waters here to see what sort of shit they might be in for now. "We do it in the dirt, the mud... like animals really..."
Yes, a good plan- just keep on talking while the hands behind him idly wriggled around, hoping to let Jayari know he wanted her close. She was still bound after all, and he wasn't about to let her deal with this new situation completely bond when she had taken the time already to free him.
Jayari caught Katoma's hint, and she wriggled nearer to put their hands close together, while pretending she was merely cowering back against him in fear of the soldier. Which wasn't entirely inaccurate! She was afraid, and she wasn't ashamed that she was afraid. Fear was healthy; it was what kept you alive, it was what kept you from doing stupid things.
She had no idea what Katoma was saying once he switched to Adelan, but it seemed the soldier understood him just fine. Because with a smirk at them both, he let his hand come to rest atop the pommel of his sword, fingers sliding over the polished surface.
"You think I'm stupid, don't you?" And that had Jayari's heart freezing, her body going rigid as her fear took on a new sharpness.
Because he spoke the words in perfectly accented Duhjari.
He knew.
"Move apart now," he said, voice harder now. "I know what you're doing."
Katoma feigned embarrassment.
"You know? But if you do, shouldn't you feel ashamed?" He even gave a pretty batting of his lashes, which only made the man at the bars sneer. But it seemed Katoma just kept going on with his act, and soon the man was pissed.
"I said get away from your savage princess, Masked Tribesman! I ain't no fool. You think I'm here outta luxury? You're lucky you haven't hanged already! But the Adelan's want blood. So hangin' is too good a death for you. They want to cut off that head of yours and put it on a pike for all the other savages to see! Now keep that yap of yours shut as well! You grate me enough your death will be here and now!"
The distraction was enough for him to get the ropes started, loosened anyhow. And boy did these Adelans sure love to rub it in his face every time they promised him death! But really.. not one of these remarks was any more clever than the last ones he'd heard. And he simply gave a shrug at this point and scooted away from Jayari- who would feel the loosened rope easily. He just hoped she could keep playing along.
"You know, if I had a Adelan copper for each time one of you said such sweet swords to me..."
"I told you silence!" the man snarled, slamming his sheathed sword across the bars to make them rattle. Katoma was taken back, but part of the plan was to stoke the fires, and Adelans.. if there was one thing about them, it was that they clearly had fire in their bellies!
"But you also told me to get away from my savage princess.."
"Don't talk back to me, Tribesman! You might not have ever ran into me, but you owe my brother a left eye, and if you keep this up I aim on takin' that debt now!"
"But I can't help myself, us savages have such simple brains. And to ask of me to just leave my lover when she clearly needs comfort in this dismal cell..."
"That tears it!" The man was mad enough to eat his hat, which he now tore off his head and slammed onto the ground and grabbed a fistful of the keys hanging on a large ring at his side.
"You're losing that left eye, and your tongue!"
And it took only a few seconds for the man to fish out the cell key, insert it into the bars and-
BOOM!
The sudden energy of the swinging iron door had enough power it was like a canon going off, and the force sent the Adelan sailing and smashing into the stone wall of the prison hall. And Katoma stood there, simply posed and concentrated before lowering his hand and turning to face Jayari with a smirk.
"I think this is our cue to escape," he said, making quick work at the ropes remaining on his ankles and wrist, and he helped Jayari with her own and offered her a hand to help her to her feet.
"Now I'm going to need you to trust me, Jayari," he told her, eyes calculating the prison as he loosened the rope and chains that were around his throat. Tossing them to the floor, he gestured for her to follow him out of the cell.
"We need to move. Think light, like a cat. You can't hear them coming, but they move swift as the wind. That's what we're going to do to get outta here."
Play along, Jayari did. As risky as it was, after a few startled moments, Jayari picked up on his intent: piss off the Adelan enough that he opened the cell! It was risky, and might not work, but she tested her own loose bonds and worked at them a little more so she could be ready to toss them off as soon as she needed her hands. All the while she prayed the brute would be too dumb and pissed to call for backup, and that he would open the cell--rather than try to stab them through the bars!
And just when she was poised to break free and lunge for the man when he entered--
BOOM!
Jayari just about jumped out of her skin, a small yelp escaping as her heart tried to burst from her chest, and for a moment she just sat there, stunned as the now unconscious guard. Only conscious. But Katoma was already moving, helping unbind her and acting oh so casual, like...
Well, duh. Like he had something to do with that!
Hauled to her feet, she quickly composed herself and drew in a deep breath. Questions later, action now! "Like a cat, got it," she said, thinking he was just being figurative, that it just meant she should move swift and quiet and nimble. "I can do that."
For hadn't she practiced that enough as a child in games of hide and seek, and then later when hunting game? Predatory animals were patient and stealthy and light on their feet. Prey was quiet, too, but they were not prey; they had to be the hunters here.
She followed him out of the cell, walking lightly on the balls of her feet like a hunter, but paused beside the downed guard and checked him quickly for weapons. His sword was obvious, but she found a hunting blade sheathed at his belt, and she grabbed that and left the sword. Too big.
And if all went well, they wouldn't need to fight, anyway.
Katoma pulled Jayari along. They hadn't much time, and he wouldn't waste a single second. By the time they reached the end of the hall, he hesitated not to turn left, then right down another winding path that soon lead them up a series of stairs. Thankfully, they had met with no resistance, but he could hear the barking of Adelan soldiers at their heel.
By the time they made it to the top, they were at the upper tower of the fortress wall of the great Adelan fort that towered near the serha plains. It took only moments for Katoma to get his barrings, but that's only how long it took for the pair to get spotted. And soon arrows were being let loose and Katoma dragged Jayari along until they reached an opening on the side.
Turning to Jayari, he looked her dead in the eyes.
"Like a cat, think graceful...able to ascend anything in their way. Because Jayari, we're going to fly."
And before she'd have a chance to even register that, he grabbed onto her hand so tight and threw himself off the edge of the wall. But instead of falling, he was walking, legs moving briskly as he appeared to simply be bicycling his legs in a way that tapped into the unseen energies all around them-
And as true to his words before he took the jump...
The pair were doing it.
They were flying.
She had to be dreaming.
This was a dream. This was a crazy, crazy dream. Jayari had those dreams often, dreams of flying. Who didn't? They were some of her favorite dreams and they always felt so delightfully real so that she woke up feeling like the wind was still rushing through her hair and her stomach was still lurching from the thrill and the height.
This, though?
This felt realer. And she'd been pretty certain up until this moment that this was all real; the pain felt real, the fear and adrenaline pumping through her veins, but...but people didn't fly!
Well played, dream self! You really had me going there! Haaa...
She stared down at the ground they soared over, clutching Katoma's hand in a death grip even as her face went ghost pale, but she didn't scream. She'd been taken too off guard to even cry out when he'd thrown them both off the edge, and her breath was still trapped in her throat until her lungs ached. Her legs moved on instinct, treading air like water--less gracefully than him and far more flaily!--because it was a weird feeling, being suspended in open space like that with no sense of balance.
"This is a dream," she said, eyes wide and voice breathless over the air rushing past them. "I'm dreaming. Ahahahaha. Damn. I'm lucid dreaming! Since I'm aware I'm dreaming! That's what it's called, right? Except you probably won't answer 'cause you're in my head!"
Arrows started to whir past them then, whipping past her hair, and she laughed. "Oh my gods!"
And his only reply, despite the chaos of the moment of arrows and things flying at them in hopes to bring the pair down (or you know.. kill them!), was to give her a cheeky grin as his dark eyes sparkled. And he moved to pull her in a bit closer, because hey- why not?
"You can call it whatever you want, but this trick... It's what my tribe had been known for," he told her, needing to speak the words near her ear in order for her to hear over the furious roar of the army, and the wind rushing all around them.
Still moving his legs as if walking on air,t hey began to descend a good distance away, and just before they landed, he pulled her in even closer and helped guide her into a seemingly graceful landing in the sandy grass.
But while she might still be stunned, he glanced over his shoulder to see what the army was up to- and they wasted no time in their pursuit. He took her hand and gave it a tug, running full speed into a thick grove of trees.
"So.. how fast can you run? Because now its time we rely on our feet and the ground."
Was this real? Was this actually real? Holy shit. And as her feet finally touched down again, that just confirmed it, because this felt too real to be a dream. In what dream did she ever actually sweat from nerves? In what dream was she aware of a slight discomfort in her bladder, because it had been a while since she'd last gone? Those were little details dreams just usually didn't include!
And she was still reeling by what had just happened, something that was utterly and completely possible but that Katoma had just done, when she felt herself pulled into a run.
Her mind might be stunned, but her body knew what to do, and she fell into a swift run that somehow felt even swifter.
"Fast," she panted, keeping pace with him. "I've always been fast, but--how?! You call that a TRICK? WE FLEW!"
Katoma smirked, and it was a broad one.
"Perhaps not many are familiar with my tribe's secrets, even other tribes that we had once shared these vast plains with, but don't worry, maybe if you're lucky, I can make a Red Fox out of you yet," he teased, looking at her from over his shoulder and giving her a wink.
"You mean--wait! You mean you can teach people how to do that? Fly and shit?" Jayari panted out. "Ahahaha! No, really, I've got to be dreaming!"
"Well, teaching might be difficult if my pupil doesn't think it can be done!"
"So it's just...mind over matter?" Jayari panted as she ran, and spared a quick glance over her shoulder at their pursuers before looking back to Katoma. "Really? That's it?"
He laughed.
"Not quite! It's more like seeing beyond the physical and spiritual and harvesting the connection."
"Uh..." Yeah, Jayari didn't really understand a word he said there. Sure, she understood the words, but she didn't understand the mechanics! Harvesting the connection? Wha?
An arrow whizzed by her ear, and she decided that now was probably not the time to talk spirituality!
With a small yelp, she grabbed Katoma's elbow and tugged him aside to dodge another arrow. "Think you can use your spiritual connection stuff to like...spirit us away or something?"
Katoma's eyes went wide as the arrows whisked past. But at such a statement from his companion, he simply grinned and took her by the hand. Dragging her along, he danced through the shadows of the valley trees and tall rocks- whatever he could find to give them some homeage from their enemy's eyes. When the arrows seemed to be sinking in the shadows behind them, he paused for a moment beneath an arched stone over pass and turned to her.
"If you want to fly again, looks like you're going to get your wish. It looks like the end of the line for us here!" But just as he said it, he caught a glimpse of his strange dragon bird mount and his eyes lit up. He gave a whistle, and soon his mount was over to them and before Jayari could squeak out a word, Katoma scooped her up and leaped onto his bird creature's back, and htough it seemed to caw in protest for a moment, Katoma just cried out to the thing, "RUN!"
And with a jerk, it did, it's head bobbing unimaginably fast before them as it's feet rushed across the sands as if they hardly made contact with the red sands. Turning his head around, he noticed the Adelan's halting their own attack as they went on to call the horsemen, and Katoma was laughing all the while as he howled out the yipping cry of the fox.
"Now that's how you outfox your enemy!" Katoma beamed as his eyes caught back to Jayari's. "Now just hold on tight. This bird can really fly!"
And the speed the creature could make was incredible, easily leaving a racing horse int he dust. Though Katoma knew his mount could go faster, what since it had the extra weight of Jayari now to pull, the creature was still magnificently fast and it appeared, for the moment, the army was eating their dust.