The enemy of my enemy (Bones)

[Nyahna Sasin]

23rd of Winter, 511 AV

Dhani of all types are bloodthirsty hunters. They are deadly, quick, and strong, with great cunning and intelligence, all which make them perfect killing machines.

Of course, you'd never know it watching Sasin.

"Keep on moving." Sasin rolled his eyes, and winced as he was prodded with a spear. He had gone out for a meal, and ended up captured by slavers. He had only managed to kill one. One! Now he had five slavers marching him back to their camp.

His hands were tied behind his back, he had one guard with a sword drawn besides him, one man was up in front, and the others were in single file behind him.

This was not his finest moment.

"I hate slavers." Sasin muttered to himself. "I really, really hate slavers."
"Less talking, more moving." Sasin turned to fix the thug with a glare.
"I will eat your family. Swallow them live. Feet first. Maybe they can tell you what me digesting them feels like." The others simply laughed, but the one behind him growled.
"You already killed my brother." Sasin smiled grimly.
"So you won't mind if we turn back so I can eat him? I feel like having a light snack." The thug lunged at him, and was pulled back by his companions. Taking advantage of the distraction, Sasin swept his tail at his guard, knocking the man off balance, and ran like a maniac.

He could hear them cursing and chasing after him. Normally, Sasin would have been able to escape with no problems, but he was cut in several places, ached everywhere, and was frozen half to death.

He stumbled, nearly crashing into a tree, and stopped to catch his breath.

"Petch."

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones had been minding his own business, climbing a tree, trying to get a bird he had seen... But as he climbed, he was distracted by a commotion nearby. Next thing he knew a Dhani nearly came crashing into his tree, scaring off the bird Bones had been after. Bones looked down at the dhani to see its hands were bound by rope behind its back, and there were several humans chasing close behind, one with a spear, and another with a sword. The rest had not caught up yet, as they had assumed that two guys with weapons could catch a unarmed dhani that was tied up. As the two men neared them, Bones thought for a few seconds. True by the fact of how small the the snake man was it was not a constrictor, but he was certainly not going to let a bunch of humans make off with or kill his fellow dhani... As the first one neared, the one with the spear, Bones dropped out of the tree feet first, landing both right on the humans head. Luckily for him he had caught both off guard, as they were so concentrated on there prey. He hit so hard the man was knocked out, and dropped to the ground with his chin smacking the dirt. The second man was so surprised by this happening, he froze for a second in shock, giving Bones time to pull his gladius out of his back sheath. He sliced his blade down at the humans sword so hard, it knocked it right out of his grip. Realizing he was in trouble, and unarmed, he turned around and raced back to his fellow slavers as fast as he could. Looking over at the dhani, Bones took out a dagger, and walked over behind him, speaking in snake tongue, which only the two of them could understand here. It was not quite as clear as if he had used it in dhani or snake form, but Bones was practiced enough that it was pretty clear. "Don't worry... I have your back... We can easily take care of these humansss if we work together..." With a slice from the dagger, he cut the ropes binding the dhani's hands behind its back, and handed the dagger for him to use. Bones after all had his gladius to use, so did not need to use it. Turning back, he saw the other men were regrouping, and all four of them were fast coming to fight them, each with weapons a gleaming in the sun. Hopefully though the two of them would be able to handle them....

[Nyahna Sasin]

Sasin was about to start running again (slithering didn't quite have the same ring to it) when he heard a crash, and the rather distinctive thud of a head smacking the ground. He whirled around, ready to run if he needed to, in time to see Bones draw his gladius and disarm the other slaver.

He simply stared for a moment, wondering what kind of human appeared out of nowhere and attacked two slavers. Sasin drew back as the man turned to face him, dagger in hand, well aware of how little his race was liked. He had just seen this man take down two slavers in the time it took him to turn around. His chances did not look...

Oh. He looked over his rescuer again. Tall, broad, muscled. One of his constrictor cousins, most likely. He turned to allow the constrictor better access to his bonds, and winced as the blood rushed back into his fingers. Nodding gratefully, he took the offered dagger.

Keeping his eyes on the fast approaching humans, he smiled grimly. "Here's hoping they don't know much about our kind."

Sasin wasn't the type to go head to head with an enemy. He was, first and foremost, a thief and occasional assassin. He would rather use a knife to the back or poison in a cup than stand in a fair fight. No, Sasin wasn't a fighter. What he was though, was small (relatively), fast, and cunning. And growing up in a world where torture was entertainment gave him a very good understanding of the human body. At least, the sensitive parts of it.

He dodged under the spear thrust at him, his tail wrapping around the hand holding it as the dagger slashed the thug's Achilles tendon. Shoving the man back against his companions, Sasin bared his teeth in a toothy grin. "Who's next?"

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones prepared for the onslaught, as the four men came rushing at them. As soon as he had cut the man loose, he had turned to face the men, and dropped his robes. Kicking off his sandals, beginning his change into dhani form. As he began to change, elongating and his legs melding into a tail, his face become more smooth, his nose flattening, he dropped the rest of his clothes. As the men came rushing in, two of them froze, surprised at what they saw, as he kept on growing and getting bigger even than the other dhani. He was only part way through transforming when the first to reached him and his fellow dhani. When he was full grown he was easily twice as long as his smaller brethren. But first he met the first one, a sword coming down to slash at him, as he blocked it with his gladius. Pushing back, the man skipped a step landing even further away, being caught off guard by the force he had brought forth. One thing was for sure, as faster as the viper was than a human, the constrictor was stronger. He could easily over force a normal man with one hand, than a human with two. Finally he was done with his transformation, and he brought his gladius down to smash into the mans sword. He struck it with such force he barely managed to hold on, and was caught off guard as Bones brought out his other hand to grasp the mans throat. With his immense force he began to squeeze, and the man made several vain attempts to swipe at Bones, which he blocked with his gladius, the blade harmlessly bouncing off. Finally the man began to turn blue from needing air, but Bones kept on holding... Kept on until the sword fell from the mans limp hand, and he slumped being supported by Bones... With one more twitch of his hand there was a loud crack, as his neck broke, and Bones lazily tossed him to the side as the last two slavers neared, looking rather worried at the feat of strength they had seen. He assumed his fellow had taken care of the one that had reached him, though he could take care of these two remaining.

[Nyahna Sasin]

He had to admit, that was impressive. He had never seen a Constrictor shift before, and he was suddenly glad that they were not enemies. For now, at least.

The man he had crippled had dropped his spear in favor of clutching his foot and screaming. Whether it was in anger, pain, or terror, Sasin couldn't tell, although he was hoping for terror. Lunging forward, he flared his hood and hissed threateningly, eliciting a yelp of surprise from one of the remaining two slavers, and plucked the spear off the ground. His mastery of the spear was limited to knowing that the pointy metal bit poking into you petching hurt, but their swords had a much longer range than the dagger, and, as it turned out, the pointy bits on swords hurt just as much as the ones on spears.

Both slavers started at the snap of their former comrades neck, and Sasin seized the opportunity, jabbing the spear in his left hand at one of the slavers, the point sinking deeply into his stomach.

Having been aiming at the throat of the other man, he decided to petch using the spear the way it was meant to be used. Giving the spear a vicious twist before pulling it out, he swiped it sideways at the other man, who batted it out of Sasin's grip easily.

"Oh for Siku's sake." He hissed. Bringing the dagger up as the slaver lunged at him, sword outstretched, Sasin parried the blow clumsily, allowed the man's momentum to bring him forward, and seized the man's arm, bitting into the slavers shoulder, fangs pumping venom into his bloodstream. A stab between the ribs to make doubly sure, and then Sasin stepped back, surveying the scene.

One slaver was crippled, trying to crawl away. One had a crushed neck, and was obviously dead. One had a spear in his stomach, and another was dying either of both blood loss and poison.

The one who had been knocked out, the man who's brother Sasin had previously killed, was nowhere to be… no, there he was, just coming around. Slamming his head against the ground with his tail quickly remedied that. Bending down, Sasin retrieved his angle knife and belt from the man, and handed Bones' dagger back to him.

"Your timely rescue is greatly appreciated, cousin." He hissed. Indicating towards the dead, dying, and incapacitated humans, he said "Scouts, for a slaver camp. They've likely only been here a day or two. I've been hunting in this area before, and I've never seen any sign of them until today."

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones saw his temporary partner, watched as he danced around with the normal swiftness of a viper dhani, which was small but moved much faster than a normal human could... He would have moved, but he seemed to have things under control, and was enjoying himself. As the last man fell to the ground, he watched, making a motion with his snake snout oddly reminiscent of a smile... Though showing a lot more fang... Taking back his father, he reveled in the battle, enjoying himself thoroughly... Watching the puny humans die for having dared to try to enslave one of his brethren... As the dhani tried to explain the situation to him, he listened, lazily moving his long tail over to the man who was trying to crawl away. Wrapping it around one of his feet, he turned his body at the waist, yanking the man closer. As he let out a scream, Bones continued to snake his tail up his length, closing around his chest. Finally he lifted him up, as the man weakly tried to use his hands to pull the tight coils off his tail off of him... With one swift motion he snapped his snout down and his mouth on the mans neck, ripping out the mans throat meat, blood squirting out... Swallowing the bit of flesh, he twisted once more, opening his tail, tossing the mans carcass to the side... "Well it was fortunate for you we met... Humansss can be ssso meddlesssome at timesss... I have hunted near here many a time, and never before met ssem..." Bones looked off in the direction the men had been leading the dhani before he had made a run for it, and Bones had interceded... He assumed that had been were they were going, were there camp was... "I am Ssafirsotibones... And you are?... It Wasss enjoyable hunting wiss you... Or would you like to finish off the ressst of ssessse verminsss kin once and for all? Sseir ilk do not deserve to grace ssese lands...."

[Nyahna Sasin]

He watched, interested as the constrictor ripped out the slaver's throat before tossing the body away. A vicious display, one that made him aware of just how large the constrictor was. Bone was easily twice his length, and much broader. Sasin had little doubt that if he wanted to, Bone could have crushed the man like a twig.

He mentally revised Bones' comment: It was fortunate for him that they met when Sasin was in trouble. Had they met under less threatening circumstances, Bones likely would have ripped him to pieces. Oh, the irony. He let none of this show on his face though, not wanting to antagonize the constrictor.

He raised a nonexistent eyebrow at Bones. "Are you suggesting we go kill the rest of the slavers? The likely heavily armed men who are here to subdue as many people as they can? The men who have likely spent their entire adult lives running from the law, and are likely hardened warriors?" He paused for a second. "Sure, why not." Best nip this problem in the bud, while he had an ally. He had no desire to get caught again.

Besides, if Bones intended to kill him after they were done, it would be for the best if he was weakened already. Just in case.

Turning to the one on the floor, Sasin frowned. "I think I hit him a little too…" He jerked back as the man kicked out at him and scrambled to his feet. Before the man could take a single step, Sasin reached out and grabbed his collar, yanking him back down to the ground. "Too slow." He said in common. "Now, you heard the big guy. Start talking." He hissed, flaring his hood for emphasis.

After a few seconds of nothing but useless babbling and pleading, Sasin sighed. "Let's make this simpler. How many other slavers were with you?"He pulled out his knife. "If I hear nonsense babbling I take off a hand. You answer all my questions, I let you live."
"S-seven."
"All human."
"Lars is a kelvic. Fox oh gods please don't kill me."
"How many captives?"
"None we just got here today we already sold them all to another group going to sunberth the camp is up north we're just here to restock on supplies please let me go I'll-" Sasin silenced him with a hiss.
"That's enough." The pommel of his knife connected with the man's temple, knocking him unconscious.

"Think he'll survive that one?"He asked Bones "It's his third knockout in the last few chimes."

[Ssafirsotibones]

Bones looked at the Dhani, as he asked him if he was being serious about killing the rest of the slavers. Well he certainly could not just leave them around, he spent to much time out here, and did not want to be bothered while hunting. Besides, if he left them, chances were Bones would just have to go save this Dhani once more, and that would get tiresome. But he did not have to press it further, and his snake kin agreed to go with him to take care of the rest of the men. Next Sasin picked up the last living slaver, and threatened him into giving info. Not that he had much of a choice, facing down two snake men at once, one of which had just ripped out his fellows throat... it was obvious the two of them together were quite intimidating. So... six more humans... and a fox kelvic... That did not seem like it would be to difficult... If they were lucky they would have a few guards out who they could kill first, or if no gaurds they might be able to just sneak in on them and kill some unsuspected before they knew what hit them. And then they would face the remaining ones... But they would have to be careful, and sneak up on them, and see how they were laid out... "Ssso... sssix humansss...And a kelvic... Ssey will probably have at leassst two guardsss out, which if we are lucky, I can pick off before the ressst are alerted... We will have to sssneak up and ssscope out sseir campsssite... Ssen we will have to take on the ressst... I can pick off the guardsss, and draw sseir attention, while you sssneak around to the osser ssside... Ssen we attack sse ressst of ssem at once from boss sssidesss." Bones quickly said his plan out loud for Sasin to hear, and to see what he thought of it. He would check on his input, and if he agreed, they could head off to get a look of were they had set up. Otherwise, they would have to work it out together. Though it was only a starting plan, which would depend on many things, such as if they had guards or not, if not they might be able to sneak in and just kill some, if Sasin would be able to sneak around to behind them while Bones made a distraction, and to how it all worked out...

[Nyahna Sasin]

Listening to Bones' plan, Sasin saw just one problem. "The kelvic… A fox will be able to smell us before we get too close. He might believe it's only a few snakes wandering close to the camp, but still, they won't just ignore something like that without investigating." He paused for a second, thinking. "I'll lure the fox out from the side. They won't expect Dhani, if they even know about our race. Aside from that, the plan seems sound."

Heading north, they came across the camp in a few chimes. There was one guard in sight, and Sasin could see the heat of two in the tents, who seemed to be sleeping. The kelvic was curled up by a fire, along with another man. One was sharpening a blade, and the last was walking out into the forest, presumably to answer the call of nature.

"Alright then. If we're still going with your plan, I'll get the man over there going to take a piss, and move around to the other side of the camp. The fox seems to be sleeping, which is good. Wait a chime for me to get into position before attracting their attention. Anything I missed?"

[Ssafirsotibones]

As Bones prepared, he was truly slipping fully into his snake side... All he could think of was of ripping and tearing the men apart, his reptilian brain ready to fight down to the last. He waited a minute after they parted, his breath quickening as he could almost taste there flesh... Then he looked around, for something to do to attract there attention... He was already in dhani mode, so his strength was much greater than normal... So what could he... And that is when he saw it, a downed tree, which had been cut up a bit, presumably for firewood, and to later be dragged to their camp. A long log... A idea came into mind, and he grabbed it with both hands, straining, hefting the pole in the air... He balanced it standing up, moved forward a bit, and with a loud hiss, threw it end over end through the air right toward the campsite. Bones watched as it flew through the air, end over end. Finally it landed right before the fire, and its far end slammed down into the flames, making burning logs and embers fly every which way. It was utter confusion, as the men by the fire tried to figure out were the log had come from, and the guard that had been on duty was running over to the tent, which had caught on fire and collapsed, as the men inside thrashed around to get out of the flames. To be honest, a lot more had happened than Bones had meant to... But he was not one to complain about something good happening, so he used the opening to move to the campsite as quick as possible. He let out another loud hiss, this time catching the attention of the men at the fire, and the kelvic. Though the rest of the men did not notice, they were to busy trying to stop the fire. Bones just hoped that his dhani partner had taken out the man taking a call of nature, and was sneaking around to attack them from behind. Of the men that had noticed Bones, only one was ready, taking a dagger out of a sheath on his hip, facing Bones who had drawn his gladius. The man with the kelvic was trying to find some weapon in his pack, while his kelvic watched his back. Bones moved into fight him, letting out another hiss as his blade sliced through the air to meet the mans own attack.