Old Wounds, New Strengths [Archive]

[DragonSong]

She stepped back. "What does it matter? He's an evil son of a bitch, and I'm going to kill him."

[Marakai Trin]

Marakai chuckled a little bit. "Well, I can understand evil. Now we're getting somewhere." He straightened upagain. "I've no problem with putting down evil, but why are you so against telling me this?"

[DragonSong]

Tara huffed and looked away. "Because it's none of your business." She shrugged. "If you need more of a reason to kill him, I'm sure he'll give you one within five minutes or so of meeting him."

[Marakai Trin]

Marakai sighed, and shook his head. "Now look. I shared my secrets with you. I shared my identity, the secret of my lineage. And you won't even tell me this. That's a little unfair, don't you think?"

[DragonSong]

She quirked an eyebrow. "I never asked for your life story- I just asked who you were. And for all I know you could be lying."

She didn't think he was, but it was a possibility.

[Marakai Trin]

Marakai threw his hands into the air. "You know what? Whatever. I don't care. You think what you want, and you can spend the next couple months walking to Essyrn while you do. I'll be around if you change your mind." He huffed, and mumbled obscenities under his breath. Two long strides took him to the door.

A shove took it off its hinges to fall into the street, as the fuming dragon stepped out into the storm.

[DragonSong]

Tara huffed and rolled her eyes, turning on her heel to slip out of the back of the house.

She made it about fifteen feet before Camyn started screaming again- and a few uniforms that looked an awful lot like town guards came rushing past.

Shit.

Ducking into an alley, she started making her way carefully back in Marakai's direction until she saw the rather broad expanse of his back.

"Hey!" she hissed. "Look, you've gotta get out of here. Like, now."

[Marakai Trin]

Marakai just stopped walking, but he didn't turn around. He did, however, bring his sword down to allow it's tip to pierce the earth, holding lightly onto its hilt.

He just stood there, in the rain, completely soaking wet. He didn't care.

"I hear them. I smell them, too. But...I'm not the one that hurt the guy. All I did was put a hole in the wall of an abandoned building."

Then he turned around, staring down at her with hard eyes.

"I committed no crime, and certainly not one they can prove. This is on you.... unless you changed your mind, anyway." He shoved the sword into the ground, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"There's not a damn thing they can do to stop me anyway."

[DragonSong]

She snorted, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder like a hunted animal. "Well, forgive me for trying to help," she snapped, eyes narrowed.

"Why are my motives so damned important to you anyway?"

[Marakai Trin]

"They weren't, until you insulted me. You refute me when I tell you everything, and then when I bring it up again you have the gall to call me a liar. My life story is who I am, and I didn't even tell you half of what really matters."

His glare continued. "And you're one to talk about trying to help. That's all I've tried to do. Yet when I try and find out what ends I'm helping you towards - well. Here we are. Imagine that."

[DragonSong]

Tara's stomach gave a guilty lurch, but she forced it away. Her eyes narrowed.

"Look, you don't get to pass judgement on me like that, I don't give a fuck who or what you are. You lead the kind of life I do, and you just expect people to lie, all the time."

She folded her arms and jerked her head back toward the house. "Camyn thinks you're some kind of demon. Guards won't let that slide, they'll hunt you down."

[Marakai Trin]

Marakai gave an almost feral-sounding snarl, turning his head to the side.

"We'll deal with this later, then. And I mean deal with it. Let's go." Almost angrily, he ripped his crystalline blade from the ground, and turned away.

"...I'll take you to the desert. But if we don't come to an agreement by then, you're on your own."

He hefted his blade onto his shoulder, and began walking again, away from the sounds of approaching feet.

[DragonSong]

She glared at his back. "I never asked for that," she muttered, but started following him.

[Marakai Trin]

Marakai said nothing, offering only a grunt in reply.

Using his nose and his ears, he was able to evade the coming footsoldiers. Ducking into convenient alcoves or behind crates, it was simplicity. He supposed the uniforms were too stupid to just trace tracks in the mud - there seemed to be plenty of them.

When they reached and exited the gate of the town, Marakai turned to Tara. "Let's get some distance from town, first. Then we fly."

[DragonSong]

She nodded, though her face paled a bit at the word "fly".

She hated heights. "After you." She gestured forward.

[Marakai Trin]

Marakai gave a nod in response, and turned to look at the sharp, broken topped mountains around them. It'd be easy enough to get up one, and fly from there. He wondered how well his irksome companion could handle the climb, though.

He'd find out soon enough, though. He started walking in a seemingly random direction, picking the peak that appeared highest.

[DragonSong]

"We're heading into the mountains?" Tara piped up behind him as she started following him.

[Marakai Trin]

"Mm-hmm. Be easier to take off from there. Otherwise, I'll have to fly over them, and that's much harder than it sounds, especially in the rain."

He looked up, shielding his eyes with his free hand.

"Which doesn't seem like it's going to let up anytime soon. This might be a hard climb... are you up for it?"

[DragonSong]

She narrowed her eyes and snipped back, "Are you?"

She kept walking, squinting her eyes against the rain.

[Marakai Trin]

The dragon turned to look at her, a brow raised. "... I'm serious, Tara. Slick rocks are hard to climb. I admit, the thought hadn't crossed my mind until just now. I'll have no problem climbing - if need be, I'll simply transform and scale it with claws. But you have no such luxury."

He turned back to the mountain. "...if you need help, let me know."

He continued walking forward.