Though she really loved the day, hot, burnings sand underneath, blue sky stretching on for miles, Arta could not deny that night on the Moriaki Desert had a special, unreal beauty the even the fabled tndra of the north had to compete with. Sure, it was cold. That was why they buried under the sands at night. But, tonight, she was going to enjoy it. And she was proud to have the leonine eyes to see it. The sky, almost a milky white with stars, bathed the sands silver with a light more delicate than the sun, and more alien than the moon. The dunes were like the teats of the earth, pale, lonely, stately.
Arta sighed. This was beautiful.
Her red wings, hair, draconian tail, furred haunches, and back and tail spines were washed out in the star's milky light, but were still rather stark against her surroundings. She was quite conspicious, with her bag of jewels at her side. At least, tha's how the bandits saw her.
Arta's head snapped around, red mane flashing behind her. The men rose out of the sands, as if they were made of sand themselves. She was surrounded, but she laughed.
"You know, those jewels look nice. Can we have them?" The man was cowled and wrapped, in cloth the same color of the sands. The only part of his— and his cronies' body left uncovered was their eyes; their glowing eyes, which looked like facetted jewels set into their skulls. This man's were as red as her mane.
Arta laughed. "You think I'm going to give them to you? Fat chance, ruby eyes!" With that, she lashed her tail at him. The sharp scales alone were enough to cut a man, but as she whipped her tail at him, spines flew aout from her skin, like a porcupine's quills, and imbedded themselves in the bellies of the bandits. The leader had three in his belly, as well as torn cloth on his face, showing a face that would be tanned in the day, and a dark goatee. His eyes were wide in shock...
Until they crinkled in laughter and the gang dissolved into sand, only to reappear, behind her, completely unhurt. The leader fixed his cowl, which had still been torn. "That was fun, now wasn't it? Now, we'll be taking those, now." The gang simultaneously raised their hands, and a wall of sand rose around her. Arta grabbed at the bag, which she had dropped to free her hands, but it sank through the sands as if it was sitting on quicksand. The wall rose around her, encompassing her, capturing her in a giant ball of sand. She screamed, banging her clawed hands against the hard apcked sand. It made nono difference. The sand was so compact, not even air could come in. As the night wore on, she began to fatigue, body weakening until she was just sitting, struggling to breathe. Then she was laying down, too tired to even keep her eyes open...
[Sorry this took so long but I finally found some inspiration!]
Jehu knew he'd like the desert. It was hot enough for him a wild, natural heat that didn't feel stuffy or clouded like it could in the cities. He was a Red Elf and inclined to places of heat, no matter what, and while he was not the particular type, he liked open spaces compared to packed buildings. But there was one downside to such consequences that he didn't really think through this time. There weren't many people out here in the emptiness of the desert to keep him company and he ditched his escort a long time ago. The poor bastard could only go on and on and on about some magic cart that transported people to different parts of the world. Such ridiculousness.
Jehu rested in the middle of the desert as night fell and wrapped himself in the blankets he'd stored. Normally it was not very bright to bring blankets out in the middle of the desert, but Jehu found he did not adapt so easily to the cold of desert night than other creatures. He like the heat the sun offered and though it wasn't nearly as warm as the island of Holmund, he was content to deal with the remains of daylight as the last rays vanished behind the horizon.
He felt like he was nodding off and would have if he had not been suddenly awakened by the sounds of a ruckus not too far away. Darkness had readily fallen and he looked around him before standing up hastily and began to run towards the sounds. It wasn't pleasant and there seemed to be a lot of trouble that he either would get caught up in or throw himself into headfirst.
Jehu reached the crest of a dune, leaving his meager remains of a camp far behind him and looked over to view something he just was not expecting. A giant ball of sand had just appeared out of nowhere and he had no idea what to do with it. He gazed around him, trying to find somebody, anybody that could have seen this, seen those responsible for it and while he found none, he decided it was best to still approach with caution.
He slid down the sandy hill and reached the sand cairn before long. He touched it carefully and curiously. He heard sounds inside of it, as muffled as they were and his ears twitched. "Hel....hello?" he said loudly, hoping that whatever was inside would hear him too.
Just when she was at the border between between to far gone and...not, she heard a voice. It was muffled; in fact, had she been more awake, she would have been surprised to hear it at all. She summoned up the remaining dregse of her straingth to move closer to the voice and yell, as loud as her torn throat would let her, "GET ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE!" She started banging her fists on the sand again, although she was so weak, even she couldn't hear her fists hitting sand. Hope? Was there hope, after all?
That sudden burst of energy had a just as sudden cost. Arta could literally feel the life out of her as the air fell to an endangered quantity, and she fell to the sand...
The ball of sand... How in the hell did she expect him to break through it. He couldn't imagine just what could have happened to a person to have them get trapped inside it. It must have been awful, but he didn't bother thinking just how in the world she got in it. What really mattered now was getting her out. Without a doubt, the person he heard inside was running out of air and fast.
Jehu pulled the sword from his back, a claymore that he had strength enough to wield with just one hand and with a mighty below, he cut through the hard sand with a great deal of effort. The sword was large enough and sharp that it managed to crash through the sand until a hole was made. Just then the whole structure fell away and the sand melted back into the ground below it, and there on the ground was one of the strangest looking creatures he'd ever had the misfortune to lay an eye on. His good eye that was.
Jehu peered at her with a narrow gaze and after putting the sword back he stared at her. "What the hell were you doing stuck in there, kid?"
...she fell to the soft desert sand, and was welcomed by a feast of air. She sat up and spent several minutes gasping air like a fish in air, and coughing like a silly child who wants to discover grass smoking for himself. When finally she could breathe, Arta looked up at the man who had rescued her.
"Thank you," she said to the red-skinned man, bosom heaving. "I was robbed! Robbedby a gang of mages, and they took my jewels and locked me in that ball of sand!" She began to cry, but it was obvious that they were tears of anger, and not sorrow. "When I find them, I'll rip them to shreds! I'll tear them to pieces! Grrrr, I loathe when people use their evil magic on me; I have no resistance!
Her draconian tail lashed savagely from side to side, and her spine quivered.. she was downright livid. "I've heard of them. The villages are all terrified of them. They're called the Sand Men." She stopped raging and bowed to her rescuer. "Thank you, sir. My name is Arta. I am indebted to you. But right now I must exact my revenge on those worthless desert toads, and so I must leave you. Goodbye."
Arta set off purposely in one direction, paused, turned in another, before stopping and turning again. She held her nosed to the sand and sniffed, finding her way with smell. And then she stopped again. "How the hell am I supposed to fight them?"
Jehu watched her with his only good curiously confused and clearly amused eye. The other had long since been cut away by an accident that he wouldn't forget himself and he crossed his arms patiently over his chest. Which never happened. This creature, this woman, whatever she was, it seemed she was awfully determined to get these guys that robbed her.
Sand Men huh? There was a slight familiarity to the phrase, but Jehu was hardly the kind of guy to remember any ole bandit group. He'd done his fair share to throw some apart back in his day. Now he just did what he got paid to do. And as he thought more and more about it, he saw a vast opportunity to make more coin here and it showed in the grin on his face.
On the outside, it might have just been that he found this whole situation to be startlingly amusing, and that was not far from the truth. Jehu didn't often cut people out of spheres of magic sand in the middle of a desert he didn't often traverse. He balanced the claymore on his back, clutching the handle a little and offered her a raised brow when she deiced it was time to stalk off. Only to be thwarted by a lack of a specific direction.
"You owe me nothing, girl," he said. "I'm Jehu, by the way. You know...maybe I can make finding these dumb fucks easier. That is, if you make it worth my while. I'm pretty good at tracking myself. What d'ya say?"
Arta looked at him. She saw his scars, she saw his strength. "I can trak... I'm just not use to using my scent of smell...and they are far, though..." She eyed him like a prize, before leaning forward. "Can you fight them? I can't beat them by myself. They use malicious magics. And I have no resistance against magic.
"And I'm sure to make it worth your while. They have my jewels, remember? I'll give you... a quarter. Maybe even more." Her tail lashed excitedly. If you help me track them, beat them, and retrieve my jewels, I'll give you a quarter. The sack was...this big," she opened her arms to a size that was very large, "full, and filled with rubies, emerald, lapis lazuli and topaz from about this size" her pinky finger in height and width "to this size" her hand from the tip of her middle finger to the base of her palm.
"A quarter of that, to help me extract vengence and retrieve what's mine. Deal?"
"Malicious magic? Exactly what kind of magic were these Sand Men using?" He didn't tell many people of his affiliation with magic and what he'd done before. He never spoke of it, would never speak of it even if he didn't have to. Jehu's face turned a little grim but he was still as curious as ever. He didn't need to slay more mages, but a job was a job and he was never one to question his good fortune.
He perked up immediately at the prospect of getting paid in jewels. This Arta better not be kidding with the size of her loot though she more than likely was. But he didn't care. He nodded and extended one hand to her for her to shake on it. "I think I can manage that."
"They can control sand," Arta said. "I know that's not malacious in itself, but... you saw what they did to me. That's maliscious. Magic isn't bad in itself — or good. It depends on how you shape it." She had no way of knowing that the man she was speaking to knew more about that than she did.
"Alright," she said, holding out a clawed hand. "Deal." She shook his hand. "Now, you don't mind if I burrow under the sands and sleep, do you? Tonight's been tiring. Being near death and all.Unless you'll find ithharder to track them?"
Jehu did not speak of the kinds of things he'd seen magic do to people. And he wasn't the type to do go boasting about it either, but that didn't change the fact that he knew some spells could tear the heart right out of a person while they were still alive, and it was a rather gruesome thing to witness. The kind of magic practiced on Holmund was quite different than here, but he knew all the same that it was the user and not the magic itself that made all the difference. However, that did not stop the frown from spreading across his scarred, ugly face when she described the what they could do.
Jehu uncrossed his arms and knew that it was probably best to get started on the tracking as early as possible. "With the way the winds blow in this place, we'd be much better off finding those tracks before they're scattered by sand," he said solemnly. "If you can sleep and search at the same time, I suggest you get to it!" And started to walk in the direction he think they went. The winds hadn't started up yet so there was still time.
Arta brought her nose to the ground and tried to smell their scent. It was incredibly faint, what with the time that passed, the ever changing nature of the desert, and the fact that they likely went through the sand, rather than over it, with their magic, all made it more difficulgt to smell their scents. So, she tried to smell their magic.
Her father was a dragon, and her mother was a Lioness. By all rights, she should have impressive magical gifts. But, alas, she did not. She had no protection against it. However, she could smell magic, if she tried. If she wasn't actively trying to search out magic, then she was open to attack, as was recently proved. But...when she was smelling for magic, then no one, no matter how stealthy, could attack her with magic.
She now subtly changed her mindset: she changed her "nose filter" from personal pheremones and other body smells to magical signatures. And there they were. A group of smells heading in the same direction...along a ley line. Was it coincidence that they were following this magical road? Or was there a more subtle, deeper reason?
The traces of magic would not be easy to follow and Jehu had trained himself for years to find the smallest of clues in the broadest places. Seven hundred years and counting was a long time to live and he'd seen much. But never a sand mage, that he had to admit. And perhaps it was even unique enough that it was limited to this large desert. But even that idea was a bit of a stretch in itself.
He turned to see Arta sniffing and raised a brow quizically. "What are you doing?"
"Following the magic," she said. "Can't you smell it?" She asked him quizzically. Humans had a bad sense of smell, but he wasn't human. Some... she didn't know. Or cared. What she did care about was if he could fight, when the time came. It seems his tracking ability wasn't as good as she'd thought; she was going to do most of the work, wasn't she? Arta mentally shrugged. It was her jewels, so that was right and just.
"They are following the lay line... smell deep. They didn't move over the sand...ghey moved through it. Smell through the sand." Poor Arta did not have the foresight to realize that, others, not born from a goddess and a dragon, might not have the same sense of smell she had, or even the same way of sensing magic as she did.
"Oh," he remarked and abruptly turned on his heel. He was a Red Elf, adapted to heat and energy and that kind of volcanic fluctuation. The way she was sensing magic was different than how he was trained to. Apart of him didn't want to tap into that kind of ability. It haunted him and the more he thought about it, the more it bothered him. The powers of a holy ward...the way it stripped the essence out of a person so violently. He could feel the dregs of sand magic that remained, in fact could see the traces the aura left and saw the directions in which they meant.
"You go ahead and smell your sand," he said a little mockingly, but motioned for her to follow. He didn't need to tap into his dormant powers to find the trail. His eyes could see traces of colors, faint even, that didn't belong to the night or the sand itself. It was the discoloration of magic that seemed out of place. While his vision was normal under normal circumstances, his eyes had been trained to seek out the usage of magic, especially powerful magic that was thrown about in an abused fashion.
"They went this way, I'm sure of it," he said, and started down a path between a set of rising dunes. The sands slowed him some, but he knew that if they kept following this way, they'd more than likely end up where they wanted to go.
The man, Jehu, went in front, motioning her to follow, in the exact direction she had been heading. She was miffed, but didn't say anything. I'm hiring you to fight, not to track, she thought. I can track myself. She soon forgot about it as she smelled the ley lines. Yes... they were definately following the lay line. That was very ominous. Ley lines were powerful. Very much so. And when they crossed...
Opening her eyes after intuitively following Jehu, she smelled something up ahead. She saw nothing. But her nose told her that there was a strong gathering of magic ahead. She ran in front of Jehu quite suddenly, running fast, but with little sound, until she reached a spot in the desert that looked like any other. "Here..." she said. She looked around. There was nothing there. There was this great conjunction of ley lines, but no building sat atop it. But... what about under? She started digging. She heard a shout, then she found herself falling...
Onto a stairwell. It led down, down a dark tunnel, although she couldn't imagine what would be there. What she did know, was that this place was a crossing of the ley. This place was really, really powerful, and dangerous. But, damnit! She wanted her jewels!
Jehu had been leading, or at least he thought he had when his employer abruptly felt the need to disappear on him. It was like the sand just up and swallowed her. The ex-Holy Ward whirled around looking every which way she could have possibly went when he happened on the same hole she did. He found himself laughing suddenly. Not just at her, but the constant string of predicaments she kept finding herself in. Never had he met someone who went through so much trouble so quickly before.
"Well, it looks like the right way," he said and jumped down there with her. He landed in a crouch and took a moment to stand up himself. "Since you found this hole...feel free to lead the way," he gestured that he'd follow behind her. So far the trail had produced nothing until now. While it didn't seem like the most obvious choice in his book, it sure as hell was better than nothing.
He was laughing at her! How rude. He should at least share the joke. Arta walked cautiously down the steps, and the square of light leading to the outside got farther and farther away. She was amazed at how dark it was. Having feline eyes, she could see well in the dark. But... she found herself feeling her way. And she almost fell into a pit.
With how dark it was, she couldn't gauge the length or dephth of the pit, but it seemed likely that it was large; else, there would be no point. Though Arta may not be a scholar, she was not stupid. Why make a secret tunnel that led nowhere? There was another way, surely. She had but to find it.
Red elves did not adapt as easily to the dark as other creatures did. He was made to withstand fire and heat and though the desert provided that aspect, the shades of night did not make him want to venture further. But he wasn't afraid. Fear was stamped out of a Holy Ward at the earliest stage possible. And Jehu followed right behind Arta wherever she led.
"Do you even know where you're going?" he asked, feeling along the walls as well, but making out her shape in the shadow. "Are you sure they're down here?"
"Oh, yes." Arta said off-handedly, feeling along the walls. "They are definately down here. However, they didn't take this partivular path... but we have to go this way, unless you know a way to follow them through the sand?" Forgetting that she had even asked, Arta began to search more earnestly.
"Help me out, here. There must be a switch of some kind around here, somewhere. If we can find it... we can get through. There's a pit over here, blocking our path. So, be careful of where you step..."
Jehu couldn't say that he was rather fond of small, confined spaces like tunnels. The hole that he went through to get there seemed all the more distant when he looked behind him. And the darkness was only becoming thicker the further they went into the tunnel. He didn't like the look of this place and everything told him that they'd no doubt fall to their death if they weren't careful. And that goddamned pit didn't look all that promising either.
"Panels? This place looks like it's crafted out of solid rock. How can there be any panels?" Jehu snapped smartly right before he felt his foot compress down on something that stopped partway down. That was funny. Jehu looked down only to find that the ground had opened up underneath him and he fell through it cursing all the way down. The fall was a lot smaller than the first one and he looked up through the hole when he made it to the ground. "I found something!"
It seems that the best way to make progress on their quest would be to fall through holes. Arta hopped down to join Jehu and looked around. Huh. It was...somewhat lighter, here... Arta sniffed the air. It was going to be hard from here. Sure, magic was not easily bound by walls, but the sand and stone still made the sent very, very faint. And this crossing of the ley lines had such an intense, powerful aroma, that her nose burned. The Sand Men's scent, however powerful, could not compare to the overpowerful scent of the magic of the line. So, it was hard to pick up their scents; especially when she wasn't following their actual path. She had to strain to get even the slightest whiff.
"Its hard to tell... but they're definately heading down. When we are level with them, it'll be easier to find them. If your tracking techniques work better than mine, in this situation, feel free to take the lead. Otherwise, we have to simply move down until we find a trail, and try not to be discovered.
It seemed like the atmosphere was closing in on him and he almost couldn't breathe. He never considered himself much of a claustrophobic, but these spaces were starting to get to him. He wasn't even sure if he could effectively draw his claymore if he had to! When he stood up, he brushed himself off and unsheathed his sword when he had the chance. Better to have it now and not need it than to need it and not have it, he figured before they pressed on.
While he could not see as well in the darkness, there was but one single torch that illuminated the darkness of the tunnel and he pulled it from it's clasp, holding it high overhead. He saw the reflections of magic that shimmered in front of his eyes as the light illuminated it. There was but one way to go, and even if the trail was not clear, he pressed through it, now that this strange woman gave him the opportunity.
"We're on the right path," he said simply, walking down the tunnel and holding his sword easily with one hand, despite it's weight and length. The tunnel stopped short suddenly and he saw that it diverted into three separate paths. "Shit...now which way?" He kept glancing toward the left, but something told him that it would not be the wisest path to take, yet the other two did not draw him nearly as much.
"Um... Jehu?" Arta shivered. "Do you think its curious that there was a lit torch in an abandoned corridor from a secret tunnel? Something's not right..." She walked closer to the man, worried. Fighting an enemy was not something to be feared. An ambush was. Arta hated being caught unaware. Her eyes flicked from left to right, and her spines shivered as her tail lashed. She had already headed down the left fork, until she realized that Jehu had hesitated. She turned to look at him.
Damn the gods! The girl did have one hell of a point. Jehu looked at her with his good eye and quirked a brow. What if what they were looking for had already made it's way down here? There was not only the path to consider, but the fact that they might not be alone after all. Jehu turned the torch into the direction toward the magic line he was seeing. It was quickly fading and he started down the left path that she had initially chosen. "Well, now that we know we might not be alone,"he murmured, "Be prepared for anything. And tell me if you hear or see anything out of place."
"Yes," Arta said, walking down the path. Her eyes snapped left and right, and her ears strained, struggling to make out any individual but themselves. But all she heard was their footsteps, one light, one heavy. And their breath, which had their own pitches. Hers were higher, of course. She could even hear the rustle of their clothes. No sound. No smell, either, but his musky, earthy sent. She couldn't smell her own, but hoep it smelled like sand and sunlight. No smell... but that!
"Je..." the smell like deseet cactus rose with a sickening speed to smack her in the face. No... that was the floor. Why... couldn't she move? Or think. Or....
Her eyes slid shut.
Jehu had pressed on and looked forward. The darkness here was far too thick, almost unnaturally so and the air was thick with dust and sand. He held his breath for a long time until his lungs hurt and he exhaled with reluctance. It was then that he heard a thud on the ground and he abruptly about-faced, and gasped.
Immediately he came to Arta's side. "Hey! Wake up! Wake up! What's wrong, what happened!?"
"Breathe, damnit," growled a voice from the darkness.
"It's too late; most of the gas has passed through the hallway already," said another. "We'll have to fight him ourselves. Let's try to capture him."
The two voices still had not revealed themselves, and the source of their voices could not be determined. They had to be aware that he could hear them, but they seemed not to care. The dust began to swirl around Jehu dangerously.
"No, we haven't learned that technique yet, idiot. What are you trying to do? It's pointless to do it wrong. No, we have to fight him ourselves." This was the second voice, coming from a bulge on the ground that grew, slowly becoming a man-shape. Seconds later, another bulge grew from the ground. The feminine shape was apparent, even under the ragged shrouds they both wore.
"I'm not an idiot! I figured that... it wouldn't hurt to try..."
"You'll just tire yourself, trying to do something of which you're not capable. Now. Concentrate on our foe, please. Don't get distracted." With that, the young man lifted an arm and, with an executing slash, sent a blade of sand at Jehu, followed by two more, at different heights. The woman only watched, carefully.
[[Sorry for taking so long; I plan to try to get online more often, now.]]