The Tower

[Chezak D'Maroe]

His chest stung, and sweat beaded on his forehead. The fight had only lasted a few short seconds, but combining the run, the force with which his opponent hit, and the pain from his chest, Chezak was already tired. Not even close enough to quitting yet, but more tired than he should be considering what had happened.

His thoughts turned from the opponent in front of him to the claw marks on his chest, even as the elf continued to circle quietly. Had there been some sort of poison on the tip of the shadowy creatures claws? He shouldn't normally feel this tired.

Suddenly, the girl stood up from behind a wall, still relatively close by, and shouted.

"Hey, big meanie!"

The creature whipped around to face towards her, but instead of moving, simply stood there looking at her. Chezak immediately leaped forward, taking advantage of the creature's confusion and limited sight. Both hands gripped the hilt of the falchion, turning it until the blade was parallel to the ground. With all of his strength, Chezak drove the falchion tip first through what he hoped would be the spine of the creature. It was nearly neck height on Chezak, which would put the blade somewhere between the shoulder blades of the shadowy creature.

The creature convulsed as the blade entered, nearly pulling the falchion from Chezak's grip. Chezak reacted by turning with the creature as it spun, continuing to drive the falchion through it.

Sudden fatigue flowing through him in waves. His heart was beating fast at the exertion and the excitement of the battle, and whatever poison had been on the tips of the creature's claws raced through his body. As if that wasn't enough, numbness began to move slowly up his hands until he couldn't feel them holding the hilt of his falchion. Not one to panic, Chezak simply let go of the falchion and dove backwards, barely avoiding another swipe from the creature as it spun to get at him.

Chezak hit the ground hard and threw his legs back, curling into a ball and using his backward momentum to carry him back. He landed on one knee, with the other foot on the ground and ready to move. But the creature didn't come after him, instead flailing and convulsing within the circle drawn by the elf's feet.

As it turned out, it was a good thing the creature didn't come after him. A wave of dizziness hit him, followed by a narrowing of his sight. The tunnel turned until it was focused on the girl still hidden behind the broken wall, before narrowing to nothingness.

Whatever poison that was in his body was taking full effect now, and Chezak slumped to the ground, unconscious.

[Asiona & Lateus]

The monster couldn't stand up well to a full-blown piercing of whatever guts it had, and crumbled. However, it was merely injured, and not dead. She watched in horror as both combatants fell to the ground. The elf didn't move, but the monster was growling and trying to slink away on all fours. Out of nowhere Lateus walked from behind a wall and pounced on the first figure he came to, which was the monster. As he bent over, Asiona thought she was going to throw up and turned away while still leaning on the wall. Then all of the sudden a huge explosion ripped through her gut, but it was over before she could blink. She stood stunned from the pain and looked up to see a black pile of something like ash lying where the shadowy creature had been.

Lateus had stood, something black smeared on his face. Greedily his orange eyes took in [Chezak]'s prone form. He stalked over toward him. Asiona burst from behind the wall and ran full tilt at the pair. "GET AWAY FROM HIM RIGHT NOW!" she shrieked. Lateus glanced at her, anger flashing in his eyes. She could feel how hungry he still was, always was, and how he wanted to smash her in her little baby face.

"I do not have a baby face, you freak!" she shrieked at him again as she stood in front of him towering over her. She pushed him, but he resisted her efforts. "You're a big meanie freak! I hate you!" she continued, hysterical. She hated the feeling of hunger, confusing it with her own feelings, acting as if she was looking at Chezak like food when it was Lateus instead. In addition to everything, it was driving her up the wall until she was on the ceiling.

"NOW GO AWAY!" she shouted in his face. She darted around him and pushed his back. He went along, but grudgingly. It took all her waning strength to get him a few feet away. There he glumly stayed, looking over his shoulder while she bent down beside [Chezak]. Asiona looked at him up close for the first time. His weakness...was alluring...She could almost smell it, no, see it, as plain as day...

Carefully she poked at the edges of the giant claw marks on the stranger's chest. Something black seemed to be mixed with his blood, which was poring out freely. In the next moment she found herself licking up a batch of blood without the black infusion. She jerked up when she realized what she had done. Panicked, she spit on the ground beside them, but she had already swallowed most of it. She felt dizzy and scared. Then her breath rattled with a sob, and then more and more, as she knelt beside the elf.

Knowing her crazy desperate crying wouldn't help, she tried to pull herself together and calm down the tears. "Elfy...hey, wake up!" she sniffed, and shook him.

She didn't know what to do. There weren't any healers nearby, and if she did take him to one they'd ask what she was doing in the ruins. There'd be all sorts of trouble. He was blurry through her vision, but she could still see the black gunk in his wound. Not knowing if it would help, she used her nails and fingers to scoop out all she could. It was coming out with his blood, but there would be more in his body she couldn't reach. Probably much more, since there was hardly any by his wound. She wondered what it could be and racked her brain for a spell, any spell, that would help. All she had learned was how to fight...

[Chezak D'Maroe]

He knew he should be looking out for something. There was something close by that would hurt him if it could... but he couldn't ... quite ...

And then he drifted, through darkness and memory. Arrows thudded into targets in a line, his father inspecting that line. His uncle waving over his shoulder as he rode his large roan, Cloud-stepper, away from the town of Guang Wan. Darkness again, interrupted by ...

"GET AWAY FROM HIM RIGHT NOW!"

and ...

"I do not have a baby face, you freak!" ...
"You're a big meanie freak! I hate you!" ...
"NOW GO AWAY!"

His heart raced as he recognized the voice, but he couldn't place where or when he had heard it. He tried to force himself back to consciousness, but something held him back, dragged him down, deeper into the darkness...

[Asiona & Lateus]

Asiona and Lateus worked together to carry the stranger back to the tower. There, she laid him down in the least dusty spot. Out of the sunlight and hopefully hiding from whatever monsters were around, she thought it was safe enough to send Lateus to fetch some blankets. As she waited she watched the unconscious elf. The deep scratches on his chest were still bleeding, especially from the move. The girl looked down at her dress and pondered. Her parents would be pissed, since this was a new dress. Yet, without this man, she would be dead, or at least poisoned in his place. She tugged at her sleeves and the bottom of her dress and unsuccessfully tried to rip away a portion. It was tougher to do than she thought.

She stopped, feeling foolish, and sat down beside him, legs out to the side. She leaned on the arm closest to his unmoving body and continued to watch him for any sign of reawakening.

Sooner than she expected--though she found herself thinking quite hard about various things so it probably wasn't soon--Lateus came back carrying a pillow, a woven blanket, and scraps of cloth. She didn't ask where he got it; she didn't try to read his mind or follow his movements to find out. It was better not to know whom they were stealing from. She shooed Lateus away, afraid to leave him nearby. She took the pillow and put it under his head. It looked lumpy and old and wasn't something she would want her head on, necessarily, but it would do. This was an emergency, after all. She laid the blanket over his legs. It smelled like pine trees, which was completely puzzling. However, she was glad they smelled at least decent. Lateus usually had horrible taste.

After he was 'comfy' she carefully pulled away the tattered cloth on his chest. Then she pulled the ruined shirt up and carefully worked it over his wounds and a little bit farther without touching more blood. It ended up resting on his collarbone. Without meaning to she blushed, unfamiliar with being so intimate with someone's body, especially when they were so helpless. It was a little disturbing.

Asiona worked diligently to wrap the pieces of cloth that stood in as bandages around his chest and pressed them down to stop the bleeding. It took her a long time, because he was very heavy and she didn't want Lateus' help.

Finally when she was done and the bleeding had subsided, she wondered if she was supposed to stitch the wounds closed. Her next thought cursed her for her ignorance of true battle: the dance with an opponent, the bloodshed, the healing or death afterwards. In storybooks and tales and the rare duel that happened in the street, there was no recovery after the fight, or poison, or disgraceful tactics. Or monsters that could really harm you.

The girl sat down beside him as she had before, legs out to the side while she watched his face. She was terrified he wouldn't wake up, but there was nothing she could do. The terror was consuming, eating away at her vitality and trust and past. Suddenly she realized that she wasn't thinking about Mr. Elf at all, but herself. She closed her eyes, looking as tired as she felt, and five times older than she was.

[Chezak D'Maroe]

The darkness relinquished its hold on the elf slowly. He had the vague feeling of being moved, but it was lost in the dreaming of his past. Nothing fully reached him in this place but memory, and even that was faulty.

He relived the previous week, when he had been just outside of Marn. Highway bandits surrounded him, although this time there were far more than the dozen that had actually attacked him. He tried his bow, but with the first pull on the bowstring, it snapped in his hand, rendering the bow useless. He dropped it in favor of his falchion, which, once clear of the scabbard, was heavier than he had ever felt it. The weight of bearing the magical falchion, as described by his uncle.

The highwaymen swarmed towards him, stabbing and slashing at him as he tried to push through them. As they finally dragged him down to the ground, and the world began to go black again, the words that had haunted him for months resurfaced from the depths of his memories, where he had been keeping them buried.

"I am dead to Kyrth D'Maroe. I am dead to Guang Wan. I am dead to Tian Xia."

Chezak awoke with a gasp and tried to sit up. He was too weak to push himself up, but his eyes darted around the surroundings as his chest heaved. It looked like it was beginning to get dark outside... He paused as the implication hit him. He was inside now.

Where am I? he wondered, only slightly worried. Should death be coming to claim him, he would not face it with fear in his heart.

[Asiona & Lateus]

As he awoke, a young girl's face appeared above him. She had curly, bouncy hair to her chin, dark blonde in the bad lighting, and her nose had little freckles. Her eyes looked into his, green shiny orbs in the night, flecked with gold. "Hey," she said gently, pushing his shoulders down just as gently as he tried to sit up. "Take it easy. It was just a dream." She smiled at him then looked down to lift the blankets to see if he had messed up his bandages. When the bloodsoaked linen seemed to be in place, she put the blanket back down and tucked it underneath him. It was becoming chilly, though they were sheltered from the constant wind outside.

"That monster had some nasty poison on its claws, you know." She looked into his eyes again. Suddenly they seemed teary-eyed. "Thank you for saving me like that. And after I thought so badly of you..." She sniffed. "I've had awhile to think about it while you slept, and if there's any way I can repay you, just name it."

[Chezak D'Maroe]

Hands pressed down on his shoulders, even though he hadn't been able to lift more than an inch. A face appeared above him, and he blinked, clearing his sight as he tried to focus on the face. The blurriness left her face, and everything flooded back to him.

It was the young girl he had fought the shadow creature in order to save her. Panic filled him for the moment it took him to realize that she wouldn't speak so unconcernedly, if emotionally, about the creature if it was still around. She was safe.

Chezak lay his head back on something soft. He didn't think on it too much, assuming she had put something under him, and a blanket on top. His mouth was dry, and he licked his lips before croaking, "Can I get some water please?"

He felt weak, but his body was swiftly regaining it's strength. However, he needed the water to speak further.

[Asiona & Lateus]

"Water?" she said uncertainly, and looked back at the broader room. Lateus had left when [Chezak] awoke, however. She felt him obey her wordless, thoughtless order before it was commanded. She turned back to the wounded elf and smiled so he could see her. "It's coming. Just hold on a minute."

The minutes went by very slowly. It felt like forever. She watched him breathe, worried that now he was awake he could fall back under the poison's spell. Really, she didn't know what to expect. It was all new to her; she had no concept of helping someone in so dire a situation. She internally kicked herself for not getting water and food beforehand. How could she be so inept?

"It will be best to get you to a healer..." she mumbled, trailing off. Was it possible? What would the healer say?

Lateus was close, so she ran outside and grabbed the skin of water from him. Again, she didn't ask where he got it. She did open it and sip it herself to check; it didn't taste very well, but it was water, and fairly clean tasting. Not as good as the water available at her house, however.

She hurried back inside, leaving Lateus with a load of bread and salted meats stolen off a vendor's table in plain view. He stood there, wondering about the man's reaction to his appearance. Now that he was clean, he knew it wasn't the stink he had been giving off before. He really must look a monster. The aversion of the people he encountered was...frustrating, painful, hideous. What good was this world, after all? He had never felt these things before.

Meanwhile, Asiona struggled to contain the images flashing through Lateus' mind. The scorn of an angel, of the holiest of men, of the commoner in the streets...All of them hated her... She hated all of them...

The girl struggled to help the warrior sit up enough so that he wouldn't choke on the water, wincing in sympathy from the pain he probably felt. She held the cup to his lips and helped him drink, slowly and carefully. Then she waited, to see if he was better. And all the while was the image of Railtus and the angel on that fateful day.

[Chezak D'Maroe]

He closed his eyes, barely listening when the young girl spoke. After he asked for water, she sat around for a few moments, seemingly waiting for something. When she vanished, his elf ears heard the sound of feet on stairs. His first thought was that he was in the tower... but the slip of a girl couldn't get him up here.

The thought slipped from his mind when the girl got back with the water. Chezak struggled to sit up, and was aided by the young woman. His chest felt tight and itchy, the freshly ripped skin moving painfully, and pulling against the bandages above. Fresh blood seeped out, and Chezak felt a droplet of blood run from the edge of the bandage down his ribs.

All of that was lost as the water trickled down his throat, almost making him cough as it slipped into his windpipe. He pushed the skin away after a few moments, content with the small amount that he had swallowed, and knowing that too much more might make him throw up. He didn't think his torn chest could handle vomiting.

Able to work his own saliva in his mouth so that he could talk again, he lay back slowly, allowing the girl to help him down. He felt less weak, but he didn't know if he'd be able to walk for a little while.

Eyes closed, he smiled towards the young woman, or where he remembered her being before his eyes closed.

"I think repayment is unnecessary," he whispered, his slightly elven accent making the words sound nearly musical. "This is repayment enough .... my name is Chezak."
His name came out "Shea-zack" through his accent.

[Xyon_of_Calhoun]

Xyon patrolled the area, sniffing in the fresh air and revelling somewhat in his surroundings. Inohen lay in her scabbard, on his back, unheeded.

The sunlight assaulted his delicate purple eyes, forcing him to half-close them, bring a hand up to his face for their protection. As he did so, the glare dropped, and he was able to fully visualise the tower standing before him.

Always a keen interest in architecture, although the ruined type usually carried with it painful memories, he wandered closer to the building, and froze suddenly, tense. For the briefest instant, he though he saw... no. Just a trick of the light, surely.

His highly polished Marnian guard armour reflected the sun's glare as he wandered around the tower, looking for a door.