Devastation

[KoriStronghammer]

Kori sighed.

How he hated people sometimes. Life was much easier when you were an animal in a cage. In the world, you had to be something to someone. You had to have friends, you had to have loyalty. He didn't want Ran's help, not because he thought him as weak as he was making him out to be, but because if something did happen, he didn't want to have to kill him. If they got so far and the man lost his resolve, Kori would do it. There would be no question. But if he wanted to come along, then he did. He just wouldn't know what he was agreeing to by coming.

"Come along then. Let's go."

[Ran Azshmatha]

There was no surge of triumph. Ran wasn't happy. He didn't feel accomplished. Even so, he dredged up an expression that was pleasant for the man who had just accepted him, and he even managed a lukewarm, "Thank you."

He turned towards the door, conscious of some boundary he couldn't quite put his finger on but nonetheless knew he'd be wiser not to cross. Ran had his limits. Kori had his limits. One of the two would be lethal when those limits were reached, and it wasn't Ran. "What do you want me to do?"

[KoriStronghammer]

Kori grabbed a great black cloak from a trunk, throwing it over himself. He hunched his shoulders, drawing the power of his body inward, and hunched his back, making him appear deformed. He limped towards the wall, getting used to the new way of walking. This way, anyone that seen them wouldn't recognize him. They probably didn't even think he was smart enough to come up with a disguise. But he was, and he was sure that it would work. Everyone that knew him thought him so proud, they thought he would be above slitting throats in the dark from a disguise. But he wasn't. And that would get the job done.

"If anyone sees us on the way into Shim, I'm a mute. Born strong or something, and you're going to be walking beside me. We're going to put supplies in the wheelbarrow, and then fill it up with firewood. Then we go into the city." Kori held up a hand, "Before you say anything, this is a good plan. The guards at the gates, they aren't vigilant enough to think anything of it. We get past, then we go hide in the ruins until night time. Then we work out the next part of the plan from there. If you don't want to do it this way, then I'll go it alone."

[Ran Azshmatha]

Ran was uneasy, but he knew he'd used up his last trump card. "You're the boss," he said instead, and immediately felt sick as the words left his lips. He'd said that all too frequently, and that hadn't ended so well the last time. It was almost like a premonition, the memory of bodies spread over the sands. This isn't the same. If only convincing himself was as easy as thinking the words.

They filled up the wheelbarrow as Kori had said they would, and then they were off. The walk to Marn seemed to take forever, compounded by the fact that they had nothing to talk about. Every step sealed Ran's certainty that he had made a very bad mistake, that he should have let Kori go alone, that he had done what he needed to by advising Kori to be careful. Kori was being careful, surely Ran had discharged his duty. Especially because they made it into the city past the guards just as Kori said, turning immediately to the road that lead to the crumbling part of the city. Ran did not like the look of it, but he'd seen worse, had stayed in worse.

He looked to Kori for direction.

[KoriStronghammer]

Kori hunkered down in the house, his back already screaming from the pain of being hunched like that. He hated moving like that, it made him sore and stiff. But if it was what you had to do, it was what you had to do. His cloak and shirt felt stuck to him, but he didn't think it was sweat. It felt more like blood that had turned tacky and started to dry the clothes to his body. He took off the cloak, wincing in pain as it pulled at him. Yes. That was what it was.

"Ran. I need you to do me a favor. There's a bottle of water in the pack, I need to wash this blood off. Try to make the wounds stop bleeding, there's some bandages in the pack as well."

He finally wiggled out of his shirt, biting down harsh breaths and a curse as it pulled away, opening some of the scabbing.

"Please. Help me."

[Ran Azshmatha]

Ran didn't waste breath or time: he moved to get the water and bandages, unstoppering it as he then walked around Kori to look at what would cause blood. Even then, he didn't say anything, only offering up a neutral and thoughtful noise as he looked at the back. He started picking at the wounds with delicate fingers, not giving Kori any warning or implicating his thoughts in any way. He picked out clumps of fabric or dirt, using a careful application of water and a corner of the bandage for parts that were deeply embedded. He knew some of what caused those sorts of wounds, and while some of the edges were not what he was used to seeing in the time he'd been psuedo-slave, he was more than capable of guessing. There were no words that should or could be said for something like that, and he knew better than to try to make conversation about it. He worked, and he gave Kori the best his meager skills could offer. For some things, there was simply nothing speech could do. For some things, there was nothing that could make it better. When he saw those wounds, he understood part of Kori that he hadn't seen before, connecting the wild behavior in the tavern to the tantrum in Kori's shop. The aggression, the sudden shifts in mood -- yes. Yes, he had seen men who hadn't been able to cope, like that. They were long dead, and Ran had walked past them long ago.

The wounds were wrapped. It was not as neat and secure as it could have been, but it was good enough to stay put for all but strenuous activity. Once he was done, Ran stepped away from Kori's back, moving towards where Kori could see him. Calm. Placid. Then he returned the water and what remained of the bandages, tilting his chin up to look at Kori even while he crouched by the other man's pack. He waited.

[KoriStronghammer]

Kori watched Ran, and he thought about things. Who was this man? He was so reluctant to follow, but he had followed. Why had he followed? He had not contributed anything that would be considered helpful to getting Kori in. Except anxiety that they were going to get caught because he was going to mess up or break. Kori had never seen a more weasel looking man in his life. What was his game? Could he be... could he be a traitor to Saruna's cause? Someone who was going to run to the guard and report her, or report Kori? It did seem strange that this man that Kori had never met had left Saruna's side to come see how the barbarian was holding up. Was he trying to help, or had he been trying to get information? See what another side of the rebellion was doing?

Kori's fist clenched as he looked at the little man. Was he going to betray Saruna? Kori couldn't allow that. There was no way in the seven hells that he was going to allow this little weasel of a man betray that woman. They all had their own parts to play, and she had a vision of rebelling against this place. He couldn't allow this weasel to stop her from reaching her goal. Even if he wasn't traveling with her anymore, he could still protect her in that way. He felt a rising tide of anger coming up, cutting off as a hard lump in his throat. He reached for a water skin, taking a long drink to attempt to calm himself down.

"Why are you helping me?" Kori stared at him, looking for any lie in his eyes. "You have no reason to. You don't know me. Why didn't you stay with Saruna?"

[Ran Azshmatha]

"I am oath-bound to Saruna, and when she watches you, she watches you with the eyes of a wounded mother. I see you from a different perspective, that of a man who has been wounded in a different way. I. . .have my own story. She has hers. She saved my life. Maybe that holds no meaning to you but to me -- to me it is everything. Until I have seen her through her revolution, until the city has fallen -- maybe even beyond that -- I have placed my life in her hands.

"But you, northman, in you is part of her story, and mine. It is in honor that I told her I would speak to you, and she encouraged me to tell you to leave. She worries about you. What happened yesterday -- it pained her. Deeply. I told her I would return to her side once I had talked to you, and I suppose that you have had your fill of my talking. There is nothing more I might do for you but encourage you to seek her out. She is innocent, despite her age and circumstances. I would not want to see that changed by what is to come.

"In the end, we can each only do what is within our means. I would make a poor protector, but still I have placed my faith and my life in her hands, and she has placed her trust in me -- and part of that trust was to do whatever small thing I could do for you."

Ran grimaced out a half smile as he talked to Kori, his own eyes meeting the other man's and wandering away as he struggled to find the right words. He didn't like speaking them, but in his squared shoulders and proud manner of speech, there was a belief in the sentiments he expressed. He had made his choice in life, long ago, and now he could only survive with what hope and honor he had left.

[KoriStronghammer]

Ran's eyes kept wandering away. Wasn't that the sign of a liar? When a man couldn't speak his convictions without meeting your eyes, how strong were they? This didn't make sense. The part about Saruna worrying, that he understood. But if she worried so much, why hadn't she came and saw him herself? She was the type of person to handle it like that. But she had sent him? A thought struck him, and a half growl rose up in his throat. Unless this man had volunteered. And taken that away from Saruna, and snuck away.

Why did he follow him into the city? He had left Saruna's side, even with this little speech, to follow Kori. He had followed Kori into the city. Where the government was. Where a government and a guard who would want to know about what Saruna was doing lived. Where they would want to capture Kori again. This man... was it possible he was lying? Was it possible he was here to turn them in? How strong were his convictions?


Kori remembered how easily he had been swayed in the village by his words. His convictions were weak. Just like him. And he was a loose end. And loose ends needed to be taken care of.

"Do you have a family, Ran?"

[Ran Azshmatha]

"I did. Until Eyropa took them away from me. The same thing happened to Saruna. Such governments. . ." he shook his head. "I could not fight against the Emperor, but this? Yes. This can happen. I may only be an alchemist, but I can help, here. The Empire thought my abilities were worth tearing apart my village for, so surely they will be worthwhile here." His expression looked sick, but underneath was the steel of a man who had been through the crucible and survived intact.

[KoriStronghammer]

Good. Then you can join them soon. Ran was a frightened man. Kori could see it in his face, see it in his eyes. He was afraid of living. He wasn't going to fight for Saruna. He wasn't going to be able ot keep the secrets. Kori felt it in his bones, knew it was true. He would only damage the cause. He would betray Saruna. Kori could practically see it in his minds eye. The battlemages dragging her out into the streets. Pushing her into the dark, down there where her father died. Where Kori almost died. Where some part of him did die.He could not let that happen to her. Not when he could stop the one man he felt, no in his heart he knew, would betray her. He couldn't stand living in fear, and he had only lived like that for a short period of time. This 'man' seemed to live in fear constantly. So at least with saving Saruna, Kori was helping Ran get away from the fear. It was a good thing.

He sighed slowly, placing his hands on his knees before he stood up. He moved to stand in front of Ran, putting his hands on his shoulders. He looked Ran in the eyes. It was the least he could do. He searched them, but found nothing that changed his mind. Ran needed to die. Loose ends needed to be taken care of, needed to be tied away. He shook his head, more of a nervous twitch, his lower eyelid jumping. This coward was going to tell on them all to the government. They would kill Kori this time, kill him for what he was planning. And it would be Ran's fault. The anger supplied the last bit of push Kori needed to do what must be done.

"Thank you for everything you have done for me Ran Azshmatha." His hands moved quickly from the little mans shoulders to wrap around his throat, squeezing tightly. "But I must do this. For Saruna, to protect her." For myself. Because you saw my fear. You saw my pain. How close I was to ending my own life. And even if you never told anyone, you saw my shame and cannot be allowed to live because of that.

[Ran Azshmatha]

Ran Azshmatha died.

But there was more to it than that. There always was. There were physical things, like the way his lungs and throat burned, the way his legs kicked, the way his hands scrabbled at Kori's. There were tears that fell from his eyes, expressions of anguish, fear, hate: Ran Azshmatha was a human, and his mind and instincts both lashed his body with instructions to live.

There was no second chance for him, no miraculous deus ex machina. His life did not flash in front of his eyes, only the blurred image of Kori's face, resolute in its betrayal of him. Kori's betrayal, never to be understood. It would be a lie to say that he thought of Saruna at that moment, for beyond the pain and the fear, that sudden awful knowledge of his fate, his mind had turned to the south and the east. He thought of his home, his first home, and the tattered memories of that blue sky and golden sand, of dry heat and scouring wind. People whose faces he could no longer remember taunted him with the knowledge that he would never see them again, never know of their fates. At the least, he did not have long to think of them as his fight for life weakened and his lungs spasmed.

His lips moved at the end, phrasing a word in a language not spoken outside of his family home. He asked a question, though by then he was too far gone to even really know what he asked for. No one would ever know that last phrase, that last conscious spark.

Ran died.

He was the first victim of Kori Stronghammer's unraveling sanity.

[KoriStronghammer]

Kori watched. He looked the man in the eyes as life drained from them. That phrase. What was it? No one would ever know. It wasn't a language that Kori had ever heard, and one that he doubted anyone from Marn knew for him to ask. It was well enough then. Ran had scrabbled and pulled at his hands, but at least he hadn't begged. Not that the Northman could tell. And then... it was done. Could Kori be sure? Was the man really dead? He had stopped breathing, his eyes were filled with red from being strangled, but Kori was nothing if not thorough. So with a simple twist from his powerful hands, he made sure that Ran was gone. He picked up the body, taking it to the corner.

He took far greater care laying Ran's corpse down than he had taken to strangle him, covering him with sackcloth almost tenderly. Kori rested on his haunches staring at the body. The first person he had killed in a very long time. Since coming to the town of Shim, the city of Marn. He looked at the body, feeling the urge to explain. To let him know why. But he squashed that urge under anger. Explaining would bring the event back. The reason that Ran had to die. And hadn't that been why he had killed Ran? So that there would be no one to remember that except for Kori, who could cleanse himself of it by fighting? By dying fighting? He shrugged, reaching into the bag that he had packed and pulling out a corked earthenware bottle. Popping it and taking a deep swig, he shivered. Ran's eyes were closed, but he could still see them. Still feel them looking at him. He stood, grabbing the supplies he had brought. How had Ran not questioned that Kori only brought enough things for one man? Because he hadn't needed more, because Ran would have got more from the people he had planned to betray the rebellion to. Kori nodded, reaffirming the 'reason' he had killed Ran. He was a traitor. He had to be. If he wasn't, he was going to be one soon enough.

Kori left the small building, shivering again before taking a drink. Every time he blinked, he saw Ran's face as he died. Heard his last sentence. What had that meant? Kori mouthed the words as best as they sounded to him as he started to walk away. What had they meant? What had those words meant? He ran over them again and again in his head, muttering them under his breath as he drank. What had Ran said to him? What had the dead man said? He shivered again, still feeling Ran's eyes on him. Still seeing his tears as he died. Heard the words that even now Kori was muttering. He took another drink. What had the dead man said?