| abstract
| - Akindi crouched beside the albino tiger, staring out from a thicket of rotten, greasy foliage at the four Scarlet Crusaders occupying the rise. Two monks scanned the horizons warily while the priestess chatted with a hunter. "Choo know what, Claw? Ahm too durn noble fo' me own good," she whispered. "Diss mishun be trouble." Claw growled a low response, staring at the hunter's pet scorpion ahead of them. The day was grey, the air foul. The problem with the plaguelands, Akindi reflected, is that it's impossible to smell the undead coming. The whole damn place is rotten. The huntress was strategically located (not "hiding") in a small, smelly, rotten stand of bushes just below the rise. It wasn't the best strategic location she'd ever seen, but hunters are used to making do with what they have. She was plotting her attack on the group of scarlets ahead of her, but didn't fancy the odds. "Hrrrmmmmk. I cood wait fer one or two of 'em to leave, Puss-puss… but…." she trailed off. But that would mean waiting in the bushes even longer. Already the oils from the diseased leaves coated her armour and hair. Claw was no better off, and growled again at the prospect of waiting. "A'ight, choo go dat way. Choo can have dah scorp, howsat fer a fair deal? Ahm too good to yah." Akindi knew that Claw hated scorpions - part of his jungle heritage - but her main concern was the poison. She wanted the scorpion far away from her. Claw, she could fix. Herself… "Get busy, mon." Claw's tail abruptly stopped twitching. His ears lay flat against his head, which was low to the ground, pointing directly at his prey. Akindi watched as the giant cat faded into the foliage, losing the sharp contrast of white-on-brown. Her friend stalked off, circling towards the scorpid on barely sheathed claws - claws that were longer than the troll's own fingers. Working fast, Akindi grabbed a trap from her pouch and shoved it under a few twigs and what looked like a half-eaten squirrel. Speaking softly, she read the rune engraved into the wrought iron, nodding to herself as she felt the sudden cold emanating from the dirt patch. Backing up a few steps, she grabbed her old bow and nocked an arrow, staring at the priestess. Akindi concentrated. Sounds grew fainter, smells faded away - and the healer was there, chuckling at her friend, standing in front of Akindi close enough to touch, close enough to see there where the mageweave robes parted, the lacework pattern of veins that marked a heart... Akindi held her breath. And released. The arrow flashed through the air, piercing the human's skin like a needle through silk. As the humans shouted in alarm the priestess stagered backwards, falling to her knees, her robes awash with crimson blood, already losing consciousness. The monks spun to see where the arrow had come from as the hunter bent over his fallen comrade, screaming in Common. Akindi stood, smoothly nocking an arrow, and fired at the fist monk just as Claw roared onto the hill. The giant white cat fell on the scorpion, tearing into its scaly hide, growling in defiance at the deadly stinger. His movements were swift and agile, avoiding the scorpion's clumsy pincers with ease. By the time the wrathful hunter had made it to his pet's side, the scorpid was dead, and Claw, barely touched, had turned to face his new enemy. The two monks had charged towards the bushes. Akindi stood resolute, shooting until the last possible moment, delaying one of the monks with poisoned tipped arrows. The first monk, still untouched, crashed into the bushes, already swinging his staff - and froze, encased completely in magical ice. Akindi bounded past the trapped monk and grabbed her twin daggers. Spinning easily around the wounded monk's swings she stepped in and swung twice - once across the arm, then down low, cutting the tendons at the back of his knee. The monk bellowed and fell to the side as she moved in quickly, wanting to finish him off before his friend was free. In the back of her mind she could feel Claw's hatred of the human hunter, feel his agony as the hunter's own blades bit into the cat's hide. Roaring, the troll stabbed at the monk, only to miss as he swivled around, kicking out her legs from his prone position. She twisted as she fell so she landed on top of him, her simian grace granting her the control she needed. The monk tried to fight her off, but her weight and strength, together with his wounds, meant it took only a few extra seconds to land the killing blow - but it was time she didn't have right now. "DIE!" she ordered the man, finally stabbing her right dagger up through his jawbone, into his skull. Wrenching it free, she quickly looked to the hill where Claw was gradually losing ground - before pitching forward helplessly, her skull ringing, stunned by the swing of the freshly-thawed monk. Akindi rolled, desperately trying to ward off the blows of the red-faced human, losing one of her knives as she scrambled to her feet. Desperately trying to buy enough time to shake of the blow, she threw her remaining dagger at his face. He ducked, sucesfully dodging it - as she had anticipated. She kicked him in the face. Akindi was a hunter. Hunters are natural runners. As the monk looked up, thousands of miles and years of traveling slammed into his face. He flew backwards off his feet, rolling as he hit the ground, clutching at his smashed nose. Akindi fell too, thrown off balance by the desperate kick. She shook her head and staggered to her feet, panting and shaking. The monk slowly got to his feet, his eyes suddenly vacant, his broken nose streaming blood, unheeded, down his face. He faced her and slowly, deliberately, adopted a formal martial arts pose. Akindi scowled at the human, hating monks and their stupid trances. Having lost her twin blades, which she preferred for close quarter combat, she reached behind her - slowly, and deliberately, unconsciously apeing the monk's own style - and unsheathed her ancient battleaxe. The axe had been given to her father by the venerated Trollish weaponsmith, Alik'zand'ar. Her father had carried it proudly into every battle - including his last. He had died with the weapon in his hands, though - honourably, after slaying many enemies of the tribe - and the shamans said his spirit was in it, still. "Faddah, guide mah hands so dat I can keel diss monk. He be in my way. Ahm on a mission." The monks eyes narrowed at the Orcish speech. He turned his outstretched palm face up and, bending only the tips of his fingers, beckoned Akindi to him. She hissed in rage. Claw was panting hard as Akindi and the monk squared off below. The hateful human was biting him with sharp knives and Claw could smell more of his own blood than the human's. He was worried for his mistress and could feel her wounds. Again he growled at the hunter, swiping viciously at his legs and belly. "Choo gotta problem wit me, Choomba? Ahm gonna rip off yer legs an feed em to dah cat!" she roared, lunging at the monk. The monk smoothly sidestepped, spinning into a backwards roundhouse, but Akindi's rage had been partially feigned. She quickly checked her attack and ducked under the kick, swinging at his standing leg. She scored, slicing halfway through the thick calf muscle. The monk bellowed and staggered back before lashing out with a tightly controlled combo that caught Akindi off guard. His punches landed squarely, once in the plexus, two to the face, a vicious hook to the side of her head - and her control vanished. The troll roared incoherently, adrenaline pumping, ancient survival instincts taking over. Her skin darkened in rage as a sudden speed and newfound strength rushed into her aching muscles. With renewed vigour she hacked at the monk, using no finesse, no tactics now other than trying to kill him with the force of her hatred. She screamed in berserker rage, and her cries echoed out through the mist. As the knives stung him once again, Claw heard the battlesong ring out, roaring from his mistress below. An answering challenge sung out from his own throat as he felt the bloodlust run through him, carrying him away from pain and fear, narrowing his vision to a predatory circle focused on the human in front of him. Magic, too, was in the shout, and the human's eyes widened as Claw swelled in size, rising as he roared, until the hunter was staring at fangs as long as swords on a cat his equal in height. The monk lay dead at her feet. Akindi was panting. Her axe was gripped in both hands, her eyes fixed straight ahead, her whole body quaking. She gave her head a shake to clear it, feeling her limbs become weak as the aftershock set in. No time to rest, she thought desperately and grabbed a healing potion Brule had made her. Spirits, let me find him in time. Akindi downed the potion and grinned evilly as strength returned to her spent muscles and the bruises and cuts quickly mended. As her senses sharpened she felt Claw's pain more clearly and spun once more to the battle on the hill. "To me, Claw! 'Ere, 'ere!" she called, and the cat peeled away from the battle, dashing down the hill to her side. As he ran Akindi raised her hands and sent her spirit out to her pet. As she concentrated she felt his wounds begin to heal and close, his strength returning as hers had after the potion. As Claw reached her side she opened her eyes and reached for her bow - realizing too late that the hunter on the hill already had the same idea. Claw growled as an arrow hit him in the flank, and charged back up the hill. Akindi quickly nocked an arrow but couldn't get it off before a second shot hit her straight in the shoulder. She gasped in pain and barely managed to dodge the third arrow - then Claw was back on the hill and tearing at the hunter again. Akindi saw the human drop his bow and grinned a vicious, feral grin as she tore the arrow out of her left shoulder. She eyed the barb briefly, noting that the point had broken off and that she'd probably have to fish it out later. Shrugging, she tossed the missile aside and looked up to her friend. Claw was having a better time of it now that he had been healed, but she was in a hurry and couldn't let the cat play. She'd have to help finish off the human. She raised her bow and sighted along it, releasing smoothly and rapidly, letting of a burst of shots. Many found their mark and the hunter soon fell to the barrage of arrows and the giant jungle cat. Claw finished off the human, ripping out his throat before sauntering proudly back to his mistress. Akindi, however, did not feel as confident. Her left arm was becoming heavier and hard to move - she had obviously been poisoned. She looked at Claw. The cat was acting - in true cat fashion - as though nothing in the world could perturb him… but he was also favouring his left foreleg where the hunter's arrow had pierced his hide. Akindi frowned and once again sent out her spirit in a healing embrace. She purged the strange poison from Claw's system and mended his wounds, wishing (not for the first time) that her little sister was here to do the same for her. Sitting on the hill, she gave a chunk of roasted boar to Claw, silently asking him to scout the area. Claw growled in pleasure and stalked off, once more blending in with the rotting vegetation around them. Akindi made herself comfortable on the hillside and took out some stout bandages. The healing potion had helped, but she had had a rough day. She sighed as she wrapped her wounds, her thoughts drifting back to her reason for being here.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)