As The Raven Flies (Sahashkalila/Closed)

[Creeper]

Timestamp: Spring 80, 512 AV Time: Midday Location: The Injury Ward Who: Sahashkalila Kalila had just arrived at the Injury Ward, one of the busiest areas in the Base Camp. There had been a fever running rampant through the night, and a couple of Jamoura succumbed to it, slipping into comas. But there was only so much anyone could do in these trying times. There simply weren't enough healers to go around. Jorg was having one of his episodes, not knowing where he was, and was of no use to anyone right now. One of the novices decided to pull back the sheet covering the open window, to allow fresh air and sun to come in. What she didn't expect to come in, was a rather large raven. The ebony bird was nearly twice the size of the average raven. It was squawking loudly, disturbing and waking many of the patients resting here. Feathers were falling all around, when the bird began a dive bomb toward Kalila. In its frightened state, claws and beak just managed to miss her face, though she did get swatted in the face by a wing. The claws did manage to hook onto one thing though. The bird had a tight hold on the jade necklace and managed to remove it from her neck, and fly around the ward and out the door at the opposite end of Kalila. Kalila was not about to lose that part of Nasim, and she gave chase. She ran after the bird, leaving the safety of Base Camp behind, shouting curses. After several chimes, the bird would disappear behind a small hill. Reaching the top of the hill, Kalila saw a horrifying sight. There was a large group of people in various states of death and dying strewn over a small clearing. There were at least a dozen dead, and three with a foot in the grave. One was a blonde Konti woman with a vicious bite wound in her side. Another was a Jamoura that was bleeding out fast from an artery in his arm. The last was a man, who had apparently had his scalp ripped from the top of his head. They were all fading fast, and all were still a bit conscious, but time was running out.

[Sahashkalila]

It had been two days since she had arrived at the base camp with Crimson Edge and already she hated it there. It was cold, terribly cold, and her body was protesting her even being there. She felt slow and sluggish, as if she wasn't really moving at all and felt like she was completely useless. She had just arrived at the injury ward and quickly found out that things were dire. There were simply not enough healers to be had and the one Jamoura with the most experience seemed to have problems of his own. He would fade in and out, sometimes knowing where he was and recalling his vast knowledge, and other times he would fade away, leaving her and the novices to try and make the best of whatever came their way. Today however she was having to deal with a nasty bout of fever that had seemed to run rampant through the night, and the Jamoura, Jorg was his name, was experiencing one of his episodes.

Her stress level was high and she moved about the room replacing rags with cool ones on top of each of the patients' brows, trying to ease their fevers as a novice pulled back a sheet to let cool air flow through the window. A loud disturbance caused her to look up at the window and a large raven had flown in, screeching in panic. Kalila's eyes widened in surprise and she stepped forward, trying to ease the bird out....but it was having none of that. It dived towards her and she gasped in surprise, she wouldn't get out of the way in time to prevent some sort of injury to herself....but at the last minute the bird missed her, his wing clipping her face. She stumbled backwards in surprise and felt a slight tugging at her neck, the bird had managed to latch onto her brother's necklace and she felt the cord snap, causing her to fall back on her rump. No...not that. Anything but that. The raven was getting away and she quickly got up and raced after it, her cloak flying behind her as she followed it out of the base camp. That necklace was all she had left of her family, and she wasn't about to let the bird get away with it.

A few minutes later the bird flew over a hill and disappeared and Kalila huffed after it, her heart racing as she reached the top. The sight that greeted her however made bile rise in her throat, and she stood there in shock, not registering what she was saying. There were people strewn across the clearing, all of them dead....except for a few feeble stirrings from three forms. SHe raced down the hill, the necklace forgotten as she reached the fallen Jamoura, her eyes darting quickly to the wound and then too the other two that were near him. The Jamoura was bleeding heavily from his right arm, the artery having been severed, while the blonde woman had savage bite marks in her left side. The man however was a different story, his scalp having been ripped clean off, the bone from his skull easily showing. She was too far away to call for help, and she couldn't leave there in fear that they would die before she made it back....but she couldn't save them all. She quickly stripped off her cloak and began to rip it, kneeling next to the Jamoura who was stirring weakly, beginning to wrap his arm with strips of her cloak in hopes that she could cut off his bleeding long enough for help to be given. "Shhhh, shhh it iss alright,"she said soothingly, petting his brow and murmuring more comforting words to him before she got up and went to check on the woman.

The flesh was shredded and torn on her side, but not necessarily as deep as Kalila had first though. She would need stitches, but Kalila did not have the means to perform any of that here and she began to panic a bit, not knowing what she needed to do as she bound up the woman's torso, murmuring softly to her in comfort while her mind raced. Once she finished bandaging her up she hurried over to the man, his injury quite possibly the worst. She had never dealt with this sort of injury before and she didn't know what to do, her knowledge limited on that aspect. The best she could do for him was take what remained of her cloak and wrap it gently around his head, her hands touching the skin gingerly. What had caused them to get hurt like this? There was no sound of a battle that could be heard from the camp...unless they had died from a disease? But their wounds were to severe to be from disease....she bit her bottom lip in distress and looked around cautiously, wondering if there was something else out there that she has missed entirely.

[Creeper]

Kalila would hear the Jamoura, that was bleeding out, though much slower after her assistance, calling weakly. When she came to his side, she would find his voice was struggling to come forth. The loss of blood was making him incredibly weak, but she managed to hear, "Sa... Sav... Save her... save... S'Van... S'Vanka." He then passed out, though his heart was still beating. She could see that his face had come to rest, looking over at the Konti woman with the bite wounds. The woman was the most alert of the three survivors, and she was trying to push herself up. Kalila could see a winged serpent tattoo on the back of her hand, but likely wouldn't know what that meant. In a voice of beauty, "I'm coming Hethe... Just hold on..." The Konti woman was struggling heavily, her breath ragged, often falling, and forcing herself back up. Kalila could see a determination in the woman's eyes, a determination powered by one, unalienable fact. This woman was going to do everything she could to not lose the one she loved. A loud gurgling was heard from where the scalped man had lain. A flash of movement, a hint of blue as something disappeared into the foliage. S'Vanka looked back, her eyes widening in fear, now struggling even more to get to Hethe, her fallen Jamoura companion. "Hide yourself! He's back!"

[Sahashkalila]

Kalila could hear garbled words coming from one of them behind her and she turned to see the Jamoura trying to speak, so she hurried over to him, her hand checking to find his pulse as she caught his uttered words before he passed out. His head was turned towards the beautiful blonde woman.....who was trying to force herself to get up to be by his side. The determination was obvious in the woman's eyes, but Kalila did not think she needed to move in her condition and so she got up and tried to calm the woman down.

She caught a glimpse of a strange tattoo on the back of the woman's hand, a winged serpent, but she did not dwell on that, instead focusing on trying to prevent the woman from moving too much. "Calm down, calm down. You do not need to move in thiss condition, you might damage ssomething even more,"she said fretfully, trying to ease the woman back down, but she was having none of that. She batted Kalila's hands away and continued to try and move towards the fallen Jamoura. Kalila did not get the chance to say anything else, for a gurgling noise could be heard coming from the scalped man and Kalila turned to see him moving in panic, a flash of movement could be seen out of the corner of her eye.

The woman seemed to be thrown into a full panic, struggling even more to get to the Jamoura's side, her words sending a wave of uneasiness over Kalila. "What are you ssaying, there iss no one here. You are in sshock and need to resst,"she said to the woman, once again trying to ease her back down. Something was very wrong here, and Kalila looked around anxiously once more, realizing that her position was rather dire. Something had shaken these three, but she tried to remain calm as she turned her attention back to the woman and the Jamoura.

[Creeper]

The scalped man's gurgle stopped, and he slumped, his body rolling over so that Kalila could see his face. But even more than that, she could see, even from her distance, she could see the crimson splash that was coating his front, flowing from a crimson moon slash on his throat. He had bled out in seconds, there was nothing Kalila could have done. The Konti woman, S'Vanka, finally made her way over to the fallen Jamoura, Hethe. Despite her own wounds, she managed to cradle his head, a hand on his cheek. In rapid whisper, "Hethe, Hethe, we have to go! He's back!" The Jamoura was weak from his wound, he looked at Kalila, "Find the man with... with the red hair. He had a pack... get it... There are several... punch signals inside... punch them into the ground in... a circle around us... it might keep him away from... us until help arrives." S'Vanka also spoke, "I lost my med pack... it's white, it can't be too far away." Would she find the red headed man first? Or search for the med pack? Their time was running out, and the threat was surely to be back soon. Hethe finally lost his grip on his consciousness, passed out in S'Vanka's lap. The Konti looked at Kalila, "HURRY!"

[Sahashkalila]

The confusion was clear on her face as she processed the events before her. The scalped man had died, bleeding out from two slashes that he had received from who knows what, while the scene around her reminded her too much of the slaughter she had seen so many years ago in her own home. The panic that she had so carefully tried to keep under tight control slowly began to slip through the cracks of her calm facade, causing her eyes to widen slightly and she bit her bottom lip in distress. The enormity of the situation was beginning to weigh her down and she tried to pay attention to what the Jamoura, Hethe, was saying.

"Find the man with... with the red hair. He had a pack... get it... There are several... punch signals inside... punch them into the ground in... a circle around us... it might keep him away from... us until help arrives."

Punch signals? Kalila had never heard of such a thing before and thought that perhaps it was something that was only used here in the Spires. How could something that was stuck in the ground offer them any sort of protection from whatever it was the two were afraid of? She didn't have the time to ponder it any more, S'Vanka was asking her to find her white medicine pack as well, and so Kalila nodded quickly and got up to go search for the requested items.

The urgency in their voices fueled her adrenaline to search even faster, moving quickly to the spot that she had found the blonde woman and searching for the white bag. It did not seem to be anywhere close by and so she moved in between some of the nearby bodies, something white catching her eye that was sticking out slightly from underneath a dark headed woman. Kalila hurried over to her and pushed her off the bag, apologizing silently to her and hoping that she had at least found peace where ever she may be now. There was blood on the bag, but Kalila slung it over her shoulder and hurried once more to find the red headed man, spotting him finally over on the far side of the clearing. She raced over to him, hoping that she still had time and frantically searched for the bag. She began to panic once again as she realized the bag wasn't with him, and looked around once more, finally seeing a bag that was several feet away. She hurried over to it, the fabric ripped with slashes, but the contents seemed to be fine, the wooden tubes inside she assumed to be the signals.

Gathering the bag to her chest, she raced back to the odd pairing, dropping her prize and quickly shoving S'Vanka the white bag into her hands. She then pulled out the tubes and began to slam them into the ground around them until she ran out, dropping into a heap inside the circle. The red colored smoke that rose from each tube she assumed to be some sort of signal, the air smelling slightly of sulfer as they began to burn. Her hands were shaking and she clasped them in her lap, turning to look at Hethe and S'Vanka in confusion. "I do not undersstand what iss going on. You are too injured Sss'Vanka to try and heal him right now, you need help ass well. I...what happened here? Why are you sso afraid?"she asked breathlessly, coming closer to the other two inside the circle as she glanced around nervously, the smell of blood and decay beginning to get to her.

[Creeper]

S'Vanka looked at the Dhani women, true fear in her eyes, "So afraid? Look around you! There were fifteen of us!" Her face paled from the exasperation mingled with the pain. She peeled back the bandages, looking at the shallow, shredded wounds, "I never realized how sharp their teeth are, for a vegetarian. Came from that pond... We just stopped for water..." She pointed back over her shoulder, and soon began struggling to lean over Hethe, "I have to heal him... Keep an eye out." Kalila would hear something carried over the wind. It sounded like singing, rapid, harsh singing. The sound brought shivers to her bones, a haunting sound, followed by some strange clicks and whistles. Then the forest would go dead quiet, not a bird chirping, or the wind blowing. S'Vanka was fighting through her own pain as she began the divine Healing process, and Kalila would feel the need to protect one so endangered, so exposed. Shhhk A single bone knife stuck into one of the punch signals, tipping it inward, red smoke blowing directly at Kalila, forcing her backwards and out of the protection of the circle. After she recovered, she would hear rapid footsteps coming closer. A glint of white, a flash of blue, and there was a spear thrusting at her midsection, held in the hands of a scarred up and bloody Charoda. A male, strong looking, but more flexible and lithe, rows of sharp teeth dripping with S'Vanka's blood. He was naked save for a belt holding several knives, and had face of pure vengeance, a loud whistle escaping his maw.

[Sahashkalila]

Kalila had no idea what the woman was talking about, and worried that she was beginning to suffer from delirium from the pain that she seemed to be in. Kalila glanced over at the murky pond that S'Vanka pointed at and could see nothing, nothing that was suspicious anyway. But things were not...right. What kind of man or beast could do such a thing to a party? She did not have long to ponder the thought, for a harsh sound filled the air, raising the hairs on the nape of her neck.

A series of whistles and clicks filled the air and Kalila stood up slowly, her unease growing into panic as she looked around the clearing. The forest had grown silent, as if it was anticipating what was to happen, and Kalila could feel unseen eyes on them. She did not know who these two were, or why their party had gotten attacked, and frankly she felt that she had failed them because she could do nothing for them. She could however, provide some kind of distraction for whatever was out there, at least until some help could come. That would require her to shift....not something that she wanted to do, but the situation was dire and perhaps the only way.

She did not get any further because a hissing sound filled the air, ending with a loud thunk in one of the punch signals, the smoke billowing into Kalila's face. She coughed and sputtered, forced out of the protective ring because of the smoke filling her senses. Unfortunately for her, that was all the distraction that was needed, because the sound of rapid footsteps filled her ears, and she recovered just in time to see a creature charging at her, a spear aimed at her middle. It was a creature she had never seen before in all her long life, the sound coming from it's maw hurting her ears, before she quickly dodged to the side, the spear catching a bit of the fabric of her shirt. Her hand darted out in a hit to its lower back as its momentum brought it forward and she dropped to the ground, her leg kicking out to hit its ankles. She did not think that she would be able to land a solid hit on the creature, she was not an expert at combat. But she was at least able to cause it to stumble, which gave her enough time to scramble up and back a few paces and hoped that it would follow.

oocI'm sorry if this is terrible, I'm not really great at writing fight scenes

[Creeper]

The Charoda shrilled loudly as his spear missed the mark, tearing away a gash in the woman's clothing. He anticipated the blow to the back, and spun his spear's shaft back and up, smacking the woman's forearm hard, knocking it off course. But he hadn't prepared for being tripped, as he stumbled forward, hitting the ground hard. The spear was knocked from his hands as he rolled from his position, and with a shlick, he was up and wielding one of his many knives once more. Kalila's medically trained eyes would note a long slash across his chest, two more on his left arm, and the shaft of an arrow in his calf. It was a miracle he was able to stand, let alone attack with such ferocity. There was a lot of pain and anger in those eyes, and it was being directed at the snake healer. The Charoda was whistling and hissing in that foreign language at her, while circling around to her right. When he finally stopped, Sahashkalila would see a small bit of movement beyond the blue man, a similar flash of blue, followed by a faint splash. The Charoda began to close in on her, knife raised high, the blade stark white. Sweat was forming on his forehead, his breathing growing ragged, his gait slowing. But his eyes flashed up to her as he lunged forward, his razor sharp teeth gnashing, closing the gap faster than she expected. The knife plunged down from above his head, but the arrow in his leg caused his balance to be off, and the knife stabbed downward through her breast, the tip just barely poking out the other side, beneath her clothing. The Charoda's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed from loss of blood and exhaustion. "Daddy!" From the direction the man had come, came a miniature version of him, yelling in the strange language of the Charodae people and Common. The little one was half the size of Sahashkalila, and clearly a child. Trailing behind the child was a frantic looking mother chasing after her charge, shouting, clearly annoyed. The child reached its fallen father, and began clinging to one of his legs, sobbing loudly. The mother was trying to pull the child away from the dying man, a mixture of the pain of losing her lover, and the fear of facing an enemy with her child so exposed. The man gave a cough, the color quickly fading from his face, his wounds soon to take him from the mortal realm.

[Sahashkalila]

It was almost as if everything was in slow motion for Kalila, her body moving to slow to get away from the creature in front of her. She studied him intently as he circled her, a long slash evident across his chest while two more were along his left arm, all bleeding heavily. The arrow shaft lodged in his leg should have kept him from moving properly, but she supposed shock and adrenaline were what was keeping him going. A flash of movement and splash caught her attention and she looked quickly over to the pond, catching a similar flash of blue before she movement stopped. She began to panic once again, worried that there were more of these creatures and that she wouldn't be able to stop them from attacking the two that were already wounded. She then turned back to look at the blue creature, realizing that it was slowing down. She figured the loss of blood had finally gotten to him and she relaxed slightly, stepping forward hesitantly to see if she could help him.

It suddenly moved to quick for her to follow, it's eyes meeting hers before she saw the flash of it's knife coming down at her. Her eyes widened in surprise and she tried to move back from him, but he was too quick for her. The knife plunged downward and through her flesh, her scream filling the air. She hissed in pain as she realized what happened and looked down to find the knife stuck in her left breast, the hilt touching her skin while the tip barely poked through the other side. It was a clean cut, and one that could have ended her if the creature now collapsed in front of her hadn't of missed.

A small creature got her attention though through her pain, a child running from the direction the man had come, who know clutched at him, his mother not far behind him. Kalila reached up to grasp the knife's hilt with a gasp and yanked the knife out, her other hand coming up to minimize the blood flow as she tossed the knife away with gritted teeth. She then approached the scene in front of her hesitantly, her one hand out in front of her in a gesture of peace as she knelt down to the ground beside the dying creature. "I d-do not mean any harm,"she said, her breathing heavy as she tried to speak to the two. "I can help him." She did not know if they understood her but she turned to look at S'Vanka, knowing that the creature would need the medical kit.

"Sss'Vanka! We need your kit over here!,"she called, hoping that she would be able to come and help.