Completed [Stardown] To Know is Bliss/Alone I walk: Part I

[Delani Denusk]

Timestamp-Spring 19, 512

Eyris was gone.

Delani was gone.

Ahanu was gone.

Her rations were gone.

It had been eighteen days since the biggest storm she had ever seen had stripped it all from her, leaving the drykas with nothing but a badly burned hand and shoulder (the smell of their puss-filled blisters and charred flesh nauseating), severely singed yvas, and a now dry waterskin. All the other supplies they'd had had been on that now long dead pony first struck by the lightning. And here she was wandering, lost, in the wind and rain-rippled grasses the Drykas called home.

As she walked, she found herself often looking upon the strange mark left by the goddess upon her unburned hand. Its golden color strange, the soft glow it emitted even stranger. She'd not had many an opportunity to use it since the goddess came to her eight days prior, nor what she might test it upon. The great matron of Knowledge had simply told her she would Know. But all Delani wished to know now was where the clans were and how she could get to them again. She had no idea her proximity to a place that could set her feet to a proper course.

Great One, show me where to go...

She thought, a silent prayer and forced her feet onwards. Already, the woman had lost a good amount of weight, having tried to spread the remaining rations she'd had as long as possible after consuming nearly half of it the first night in a vain attempt at regaining some of her strength. She had tried to negate her loss of energy by sleeping another day as well, but even that did not do when she heard the nearby roars of a hunting lion pride. Remaining by the cave further would only risk getting herself killed; what honor would that be to her deceased friends or to Eyris even?

"None..." Delani told herself, pushing through a thick swath of grass then and emerging on a most unexpected sight. She had been climbing a slightly unstable area for almost three hours before reaching this threshold, certainly not anticipating coming upon Stardown. Had she wandered so far? Had they been this close to the immense crater all along?

Looking out from the room across the enormous pit, the woman could not help but be in awe of the sight just as she had the first time she'd visited it with her uncle Eachann almost fifteen years ago. It had been beyond breathtaking, and not just for the beauty of the landscape. Its rocky rim rose out of the Sea like a giant volcano with the core far below where the woman knew many ceremonies were held by the horse clans in reverance of the gods. It would probably take a day or more to get down there, it was markedly safer to rest in than up here might be. Most of the super-predators in the Sea wouldn't be able to get back out; she might worry of snarlwings or other, smaller creatures that posed as lethal a thread as the big ones, but right now the promise of a relatively peaceful rest would not be denied. Besides, there was game down there that wouldn't try to kill her. She might be able to rig a trap or two to catch something edible.

"Just got to get down there first."

She was lucky that from this side, the old trail the Drykas took to reach the craters bottom far below was only half a bell from here, marked subtly by stones. The sacredness of this location was well known, which meant maintaining its privacy from outsiders key. Markings had to remain subtle or the wrong sort may come...

This thought made her wonder the last time Endrykas had come to the crater. They had not come last year, but that did not mean an outlying pavilion did not visit it to pay homage. As the chimes went by, she considered the lormar again and the words of the goddess. It was a means to Know. Perhaps she could use it to know if any had come this way and which way they might have gone. This seemed a good idea as the lip appeared nearby again, Delani spying the stones Eachann had long ago showed her.

Stopping before the pile of rocks, the drykas stared upon them in silence, glancing occasionally to her marked hand. "Perhaps I just touch it? Or does it require thought?" She tried the latter, extending the so marked hand and laying it upon the topmost stone while concentrating on her clanmates.

The image that flashed through her mind, however, was not what she wanted at all...

A newly fledged copperin perched on the stone, preening its feathers and leaving a dropping on the rough surface before flying off.

That didn't help in the slightest. Why show her a bird? Was it a pet to some drykas? How long ago did it land there? Dela shook her head a little and frowned, laying her hand on the stone again as sshe tried to draw an image again. A memory, a shadow of a presence, anything that might help her.

A cyphrus hawk eating a sharptooth while perched upon the stone, the blood absorbed into the pores. It was this blood that she had the impression of presence.

"Gah, this is useless!" She grabbed a fallen fern blade from the ground before her and reached over her shoulder in an effort to throw it. The motion spiked pain from the burn upon her shoulder and burst several of the moderately infected blisters, making her whimper and lower her hand and body to a crouch upon the ground. She hunger her head and let her forehead rest upon both knees as her hands lay over her feet.

"You gave me this so that I may find my way...." She whispered. "Help me find it now. Help me see where they have gone, I beg you. I am so tired, my lady. Help me find my way."

A moment of silence following this verbal prayer and Delani raised her head, turning it slightly to the side to look upon the ridge that led down into the crater. "It isn't up here, is it..." She murmured, not expecting any kind of answer. The woman rose, slowly and stiffly, and approached the rough trail that descended the mile-wide pit. She could almost feel the pull of generations of the horse people there within, the call of a nation as they raised their voices up to the heavens in praise of the gods that watched over them. Real or delusional, Delani cared not. It was down there she would find her answers that might lead her in the right direction.

x

[Delani Denusk]

The woman began her descent upon the road leading into the crater, gently massaging her wounded hand with a paste she'd made from some of the plants on the ridge. They looked similar to a few Shasis Lilywalker had shown her some years ago during her stint of medicinal plant interest. His words drifted back to her from memories long passed...

~"Now, Delani, watch. We take the stems from the cyphrus bundleflower and the flowers from the barbed coneflower and mix it with four spoons of water and crush it all together. If you haven't any water, simply chew it. You can rub the mix over a burn, rash, or bug bite. It will help with any itching and inflamation, see?" He'd been showing her how with the pestel and then gently rubbing the mix over one of the various patients that came to the pavilion for aid and succor. "Your saliva can help when you can't crush it properly, but be sure to wash the plants. Sometimes, the cornflowers may have nettles or sharp hairs on the stems."

It was part of this which Dela rubbed upon her charred hand, the chewed leaves of the cornflower helping to sooth the swollen pain of the far from healed damage. The trail was exhausting, several swaths of the roadway having been damaged during the storm and making traversing it even harder. By the time dusk fell, casting the crater in deep shadow, she was spent and had only made it half way down. There was no way she was going to risk further, but she needed to find a safe point in case some predator did happen to get down here and sniff her back-trail.

It was another hours walk before she found a spot that looked usable, an alcove in the hillside next to the road. It was rocky and rough and stank of copper, but it would do incase it rained. Delani settled in for the night, her back to the wall and her eyes cast up to the sky seen across the great pit.

It was beautiful and haunting, an entrancing nightscape that absolutely mesmerized her. She could remember laying beneath the stars often among the pavilions of Endrykas, far too enchanted to work sometimes. It was breathtaking. She could almost hear her father telling her of the various forms seen in the sky, of the magnificence and the stories each constellation held, how they were unified under Akajia's dark shroud to whisper their legends to those who looked upon them.

But the names escaped her, only a few of the most obvious standing out to her seeking eyes. Instead, it was a childhood rhyme that found its way to her lips.

"In the whisper of the night,
Akajia calls with rumored fright.
Will she let me see the light?
Or shall I fade beneath her might..."

A childhood rhyme sometimes sung as the kids settled into their bedrolls each evening, sheltered beneath the tents and guarded from all around by the people of the horse. She sighed and lowered her gaze to the far horizon where the moon could just be seen peeking over the rim of Stardown. "How appropriate that you should come a-smiling now, Leth. But I don't dare travel at night here. I'd fear a broken leg more than a burned hand. At least you'll keep me company for a time; for that, I give my thanks...Will you wake me before the morning? I would love to see syna rise here; it must be very beautiful."

And so she sat, staring across the pit, counting stars and talking to the moon, if only to not feel so alone and keep her mind from that discouraging thought. She remained so until, slowly, exhaustion let her lay to one side, right hand on left hip before slowly drifting off to sleep...

x

[Delani Denusk]

It was the gruesome sensation of something nibbling on her that roused Dela from her too-deep slumber, that feeling that something was quite literally eating her. Her eyes fluttered open to spy the hairy body of a rather large vole like creature. She wanted to call it nutria-something, but the true name of the ugly thing escaped her. All the drykas knew was that it was chewing on a chunk of peeled skin from her right hand, its rat-like paws holding it delicately, an the fat, beaver-like head gnawing away.

The ugly thing raised its head to look at her and gave the long, rattish tail a hard thump on the ground, as if proclaiming its lack of fear of the one it decided to nibble on in the night. Disgusted, the woman gave a shout and shoved the ugly creature away with foot, sitting up afterwards to watch it waddle-hop away, chittering loudly across the roadway and to the otherside. The fat backside of the rat-thing hovered for a moment before it launched itself off the cliff as if in suicide for being denied its meal, the black and brown hairs standing on end. Before it fell out of sight, however, the fat thing stretched its front legs to either side and proceeded to glide away, down into the crater farther along. There was a large fold of skin between its front and hind legs that caught the air coming up from the pit below and helped to carry the creature down.

"Never seen th- WHOA!"

No sooner had the rat-thing took off before something fell upon it from the sky. It looked like some kind of eagle so much as she could tell, but birds were not her specialty. Either way, whatever that thing had been was now lunch for something else. And Dela had survived.

She took a breath to settle her nerves and then got to her feet, looking at the damage that may have been done by the critter. It wasn't nearly as horrible as she anticipated. The nutria-thing had torn a good chunk of the dead flesh free, exposing more of the raw and ruined skin beneath it, some of the musculature now on the surface. She could barely bend her fingers now without the whole thing igniting in sheer agony. "I hope there are some supplies left from the last time the clans came...I need to get it bandaged and seen to properly."

Cradling her hand against her belly once more, the woman set off down the trail once again, her eyes on the lookout for anything that might either be of use, or be a threat. Thankfully, cutting things would not be a problem; the matron had managed to keep her falx through all of this, the long-handled scythe-like sword bouncing gently against her left hip as she walked. It would have been devastating to her to lose such a priceless piece; it was far too valuable to her, though not nearly so much as her lost companions.

"Ahanu, you'd know the route to take..." She murmured warily, squinting against Syna's light as she at last rose over the distant horizon of the crater. "Which bend to row. If there is nay a thing down there but dust and bones, I'm not sure what I'll be able to do. There's water, aye, but food? Shelter? Unlikely. And I cannot live here and hope the clans come this way again before I die."

The drykas walked on in silence for a time longer before coming to a marker on the road. It was modest, dyed a faded blue that reminded her of all the shades of the Clan. Delani approached the stone-pile without mind to the rest and almost absently layed her left hand upon the middle most stone.

An Elder etching on the stones flat underside.

The image was brief, but intense. She could not See who the woman had been, but knew by her hunched posture and weathered hands she must have been a woman of great importance in some when long gone. What did she etch, though? Delani ran her fingers carefully over the stone, searching for any kind of groove. Where would it have been? She tried to bring the image back to her mind, but what she saw was too fuzzy and faded to solidify. Not wishing to disturb the marker, she focused on the stone once again, the Lormar pulsing softly from the back of her left hand.

"...and by Qalaya, may you always find your way."

The voice of an elder, that was cor sure; it seemed to synchronize with the original image, but she couldn't be sure. The voice could belong to anybody from any when in Drykas history; or to anybody from anywhere else for that matter! She did find it curious that the Matron of Memories would be named. But Delani refused to disturb the marker to investigate what the etching might have been, removing her hand and casting a forlorn look to it. "You'll keep your secrets hence, I suppose..." And so, moved on while Syna climbed higher still, warming her against the early spring chill and lighting the crater in her golden glow.

It was a comforting warmth, one that told of better times and carressed her into a state of quiet thoughtfulness. The path remained mostly even, the woman avoiding the patches of damage from the storm, and sometimes stopping to check rocks and crevices for anything to eat. No berries grew along the pathway. She did manage to rustle out a handful of fat wood-grub from a log that'd fallen over the edge now high overhead and into the roadway leading down to the craters bottom.

Their cream-colored bodies were bloated and soft, their black jaws itching to pinch her for disturbing and removing them from their home. She grimaced displeasingly at the squishy larva and looked around. The next closest meal would probably be down in the bottom, a far hike still; by then, it'd be dusk again since she'd slept far too long in the crevice further up. "Ugh, not particularly interested in eating you but...bottoms up I guess." Grubs were nutritious, but far from delicious. And sometimes, you had to do what you had to do. Delani twisted off the crunchy head to avoid getting her tongue bit and then tossed the first strawberry-sized bug into her mouth with another grimace. Not daring to see how it tasted squished, she swallowed it whole and shuddered.

"Blech...Kavala would never believe I ate bugs...but better to be alive than dead." She repeated the process with several more of the grubs then tossed the remaining two aside, too queasy by now to even want to eat anymore. Her shoulder throbbed against the cool air, her hand sent shards of liquid fire all through her arm with every step, and she was sure she would lose her lunch before reaching the bottom. Dela hoped there would be an untainted source of water at the bottom. Of all things, she needed that most now.

x

[Delani Denusk]

It took another two hours of stumbling along for her to reach the bottom, Syna now two bells from the western ridge of Stardown. By that time, Delani felt like complete shyke. The grubs had looked edible enough, but her knowledge of insects was fairly limited, no study in her life having been spent on them other than an in-passing knowledge that some were edible out here in the Sea.

She had to keep her left hand on the handle of the falx to keep it from bouncing too hard against her unsteady gait, soft murmurs escaping from chapped lips. Her skin had gone a light green, ashy shade since eating the larvae and her own jade eyes were now severely bloodshot. Vaguely, the drykas wondered if they hadn't been poisonous afterall. Such a foolish mistake! She should have cooked them! But how? With what? The timber they'd been found in was too rotted to make a fire from and she'd not seen any other usable wood-source on the way down. Or was it her imagination? Dela could not be sure.

Tripping over a stone at the bottom of the pathway, the woman fell face first into the dirt. The fog that had fallen over her mind briefly burned away when she'd landed as her compressed hand flared anew. Delani could not help shrieking as she rolled onto her back, clutching her right wrist.

"AAGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!"

The sound of the wail echoed across the crater and bounced back quickly, that horrible, pain-filled noise sounding more like a monster on its return. Still clutching the wrist, she rolled onto her right side and doubled herself up, her whole body trembling against the jabbing pain of it. All she could see through her tear-filled and cringing eyes was a quavering world and for the briefest moments, Delani wondered if she mightn't black out. It'd happened before since leaving the cave nigh three weeks ago. She'd been following the path of some game, hoping to catch up to it and maybe get a kill in (whatever fools thought she had from that had long passed; big prey would be impossible without a bow or proper trapping tools). She remember slipping then too, so badly dehydrated she'd barely been able to keep her feet steady. What water she'd found had been all sludge, and even filtering it through her shirt had left her with severe diarrhea.

The black spots of impending unconsciousness soared across her vision.

"...No..."

"...Get up..."

Could she? She tried, a shadow from above falling across her vision.

"You have to get up..."

She groaned, fingers unlocking from her wrist and placed on the ground to try and gain leverage.

"Almost..."

She pushed herself into a sitting position as the shadow passed over her a second time. Dela managed to get her feet under her nearly a full chime later and then pushed, whimpering softly as her weight was put into legs to get herself standing. "A little more..."

The shadow was getting bigger. She squinted and turned her head upwards, finally finding her balance long enough for terror to fill her. That eagle-like thing that'd grabbed the rat thing this morning was back...

She'd never seen a Wind Eagle before, and though this one was not one of those fantastical birds from far off Kalea, it sure looked like one. Perhaps a djed-morph from the storm? She didn't care, it was diving for her! The echoing shriek of the bird as it fell from the sky towards her was near deafening as it filled the crater with its call. The enormous wings were folded close to its massive body and a pair of long taloned legs reached forth for her. The only problem was its tail: the tail looked more like a serpents than the feathery wedge of a birds. Mizahar was filled with amazing and horrifying beasts, but she'd never seen such a thing as the crow-beaked monster all but plummeting towards the ground for her.

Delani forced her feet into a run, yelling as she went, and throwing only one more look up and over shoulder as she fled. There had to be a place she could reach that this thing wouldn't be able to! There had to be! The bird must have levelled out behind her for she felt a whoosh of wind strike her back along with dirt and stones. It made her stumble, and she nearly fell again, but luck saved her steps and she ran on. The bird was chattering from behind, its head lancing down in an effort to grab her. However, whatever had happened to it, it could not bend its neck properly to make the jab effective. Neither did it appear capable of walking on land, the joints in the leg stiff and crusty.

She didn't care, she wanted only to get away before IT made HER its dinner. Dela spotted a crack in the flattened ground, brush having grown up around it and a weathered old tree hanging from above. She lunged for it, glad to have lost such weight since the storm now as she wiggled into the crack. The birds beak was far too large to fit, thankfully, but damned if it wasn't going to try for her anyways!

Yelping again when that inky bill stabbed into the crevice, the drykas beat at it with her left fist, eyes wide, sweat running down her face. The adrenaline was keeping the grub toxins at bay, at least, allowing her to see what may well be her end clearly. "GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!!" She pounded at the beak tip. "GO AWAY!!!" The beak got ahold of the waterskin then and tore it free, rising and tossing its stiffened head upwards to swallow the pouch as if it were a juicy part of her and not some leathery, empty bag.

Its beady eyes returned to her afterwards, that snaking tail swishing and swaying behind it. "Demon of Eywaat, let me be!" Surely the creature could not have understood her; yet, she felt contradicted when the crow/eagle/snake thing suddenly stopped prying for her and turned away. Whatever the djed had done to it, that thing was definitely no longer meant for land; for as it turned, the stiffened legs tripped upon themselves, toes entangling, and it fell to the side with a righteous thud and raising of dust.

This monster of the sky had fallen and was now caw-shrieking its own defeat for its own ruined form. It would surely die for its wings could no more than get it onto its belly. Those legs had no capacity for hoisting the thick bulk upwards. It would surely die...And for now, Delani would live.

x

[Delani Denusk]

For nearly four bells, Dela watched the thing shriek and craa and flail, slowly suffocating beneath its own mass even after she climbed stiffly from the crack to sit nearby and stare at it, afraid it might be some sort of ruse the beast was making in order to lure her closer. And then..down the hatch she'd go, a forgotten face on the histories of Mizahar.

But Syna had set upon the western ridge now and slowly the crater was filling with shadow. The thing would die one way or another, but it was mercy that came a-knocking upon its door. Delani could no longer let herself sit by and watch this bird-thing suffer. It would be far kinder to put it out of its misery. Perhaps there was even something edible on its feathery mass that she could cook and consume now that the grubs toxin was out of her system at last.

For another ten chimes, the woman watched, slowly building her courage up to approach the creature from behind, avoiding the thrashing snake-tail to get near the head. Her left hand had found its way to the falx and it was with a great effort that she managed to draw it from its sheath, holding the unique handle tightly in case the monster flailed hard enough to hit her away. But it did not. It had exhausted so much energy in its thrashing that now, four bells and ten chimes later, it simply lay there craa'ing miserably.

She reached the head of the predator and stopped, staring into its red-pupil eye and considering it.

"You were going to eat me and now you can't even get up..." The drykas muttered, the tip of the falx pointed at the ground.

"It would be justice to do the same. I need to eat too, see, and if I don't, I will die as well. And then we'll both be food for something else instead of just one of us. So...it's nothing really personal; the weak die so the strong will live. It's only logical." She raised the falx up, not trusting herself to try and chop through the birds neck, and aimed the tip for the eye. With a righteous grunt, she stabbed it straight down and through that awful eye, stumbling away quickly before the final death-throes of the monster could catch her unawares.

Within ticks, it ceased thrashing and simply lay there, dark blood oozing from around the wound in its head. Its chest did not rise or fall any further and the reptillian tail did not twitch. It was dead. And she would be the better for it.

Dela approached it more confidenly this time, stopping by the creatures head to extend her left hand and touch the brow, ready to give it a final prayer, of sorts, before she butc-

Caught in the jaws of a velispar, it was sure it was going to die! A humble crow foolish enough to rest upon a branch near the sleeping wyrm. But then the storm had struck and instead of death, it lived. It should be dead, though, for all the difference it now made, the djed having morphed it into this...monster that could barely fly and certainly not walk. A savage hunger still grew in its belly, far fiercer than anything it had ever experienced. It must hunt and it must kill and it must live. The sky would be its kingdom more than the land ever had. This evil fusion would make it stronger!

Delani jumped back again, rubbing at her eyes at the vision in an effort to wipe it from them, no matter how vain the attempt was. She'd now understood how the thing had become what it was, a freakish fusion caused by the storm three weeks ago. It was wholly unnatural, and as such, the thing probably wouldn't have survived that much longer no matter how many times it killed.

In this, she felt grateful to have put it out of its misery, whatever suffering it had endured by the unnatural joining of velispar and crow now over. Delani gathered her falx from its eye socket now and began plucking it of its feathers upon one of the giant, malformed legs. The feathers were set aside to be used as kindling (and some as make-shift blankets to stave off the bite of the spring air at night; she might be able to weave them and if not, she could stuff them into the empty saddlebags. She might even be able to use its gullet as a new waterskin! Or that snaketail...whichever proved sturdier); once she got the meat butchered and skewered, she'd be able to use some of the bones as logs. Bird bones were a lot softer and if she could get it hot enough, they should burn easily...but it really depended on how well she could get the feathers to light.

"Only one way to find out, I guess."

Chopping the legs off at what should have been the knee, the drykas butchered the rest by cutting the foot off (and saving two of the talons; they might come in handy later) and separating the toes. The shin-part of the leg was then cut (after much chopping with the falx; she'd have to sharpen that somehow before she moved on) into manageable sized pieces and these set into a chimney before handfuls of the feathers were stuffed around it. She didn't remove the scales, hoping that these would allow the fire to heat faster and set the bones alight.

She fetched her flint from the frayed yvas bags (how these had managed to stay with her this entire time, Dela could only guess; she put it to luck and told herself to send a prayer up for that). Settling down beside the chimney, she struck the flint five times, sparks showering the feathers easily. At first, the did not appear to want to light, the hot sparks simply drawing smoke from the inky plumes. But then, on the sixth strike, they caught, almost making Delani fall back in surprise at the swiftness that the feathers ignited. It was as though each feather had been doused in oil, and yet the tiny fibers of the plumes did not burn away. They held enough heat long enough to be proper kindling as the scales burned and slowly caught, readying to roast the bones that provided the main loggage.

"Huh, surprised that actually worked. Won't be able to salvage the marrow, though...ah well. Time to find some water." Like she'd meant to do from the start!

Turning from the now pleasantly burning fire, Delani left the area to search the outer parts of the glow to see if any water was around, hoping if nothing else a divet might provide some; she couldn't wait until morning again to search, knowing by then it would probably be too late. It took another full bell from the two it took to kill the bird, butcher the leg she was burning, and start the fire before she found water that looked drinkable enough to NOT give her the runs. Dysentery was hard to handle with company, let alone by yourself...No way would she have been able to manage that in this state. Having to work one handed through all of this was hard enough!

Drinking deeply from the little streamlet she'd found (she'd need to investigate its source in the morning), Dela had her fill before returning to the carcass and setting to the arduous task of cutting an edible amount of flank off (the only part of the creature she thought might be truly edible). Hacking and pulling alternately, Delani finally managed to pull free enough meet to satisfy her tonight and cook through the rest of the night. It would be used as a base-supply when she resumed searching in the morning, as well as enough to get her through at least three more days of travel. She'd still keep an eye out for something more familiar and palatable once she resumed searching outside of Stardown, but for now it would have to do.

"At least it looks tastier than those grubs. Don't think I could stand to think what sort of bug it was born from..." She shuddered in memory of the awful hours that'd followed their consumption. They would definitely be remembered as an inedible source of protein.

x

[Delani Denusk]

The warm glow of the bone-built fire provided a pleasant enough backdrop, even if it made seeing the night sky harder. She could still imagine the stars overhead, Zintila watching over from above though they were blotted by the firelight.

Are you up there, Ahanu? Are you watching me with the other spirits? Or does yours remain beyond my senses? Perhaps you've returned to the Web as mother and father did...

Delani thought of this as she studied the stars, the constellations almost alien to her tonight, though the crater provided the perfect backdrop to view them from. Yet, the sense of solitude remained, an unnatural feeling to one who'd rather be surrounded by her kinsmen than by this infinite Sea.

It is more poetic to think you've joined Delani on the Web in your passing, that what remained of your essence races along the gossamer threads we are so wound upon...Do you know how much I miss you and her? Gods, I was a fool. What a horrible time to want to know...look at what it cost.

Her thoughts trailed off when she heard the spine-quaking screech of a glassbeak echoing through the canyon. She did not know if the killer was down here, but the concavity of the crater made the reverberating calls all the more horrifying. "Let it be on the rim, and not down here..." She thought, sickened. "Please, for all that I am worth now, let it not be down here..."

The cry faded away and did not come again.

As the fire burned on, Delani took the time to study some of the damage her hand had endured that day. With all the excitement earlier, she'd not had the chance to see how much more it may have been injured. Not able to clearly see it in the darkness and wavering glow of the fire, she did the best she could in the examination, careful fingers of left hand exploring the ruin exterior of her right. The most gruesome part of it was the visibility of the tendons in the top of her hand where she guessed the lightning must have exited all those nights ago. They stood out like white lines against the black, yellow, and red of the remainder of that side. The visible muscle-sinew was no less gruesome, vessels throbbing achingly in it and viewable from the surface as they beat with her lifes essence.

Thick, pus-filled blobs of blisters clung to the remaining skin, charred wretch that it was. They had taken on a sickly shade, bordering green, and she wondered if it might be flesh-rot. That was almost as bad as being eaten alive by something. Being completely aware that you were going to die, were dying in fact, and yet wholly incapable of preventing it. Maybe this is what would happen. She would have to investigate it further in the morning, find the source of that streamlet and wash it. It would hurt, but it would be better than contracting anything else that might hasten her demise.

Gingerly, she traced her fingers around one of the pustules, shuddering at the rubbery feel and softness, the skin at the edges swelling as if fit to burst should she press it further. Delani did not want to risk it; if it was truly infected, bursting it could cause more harm than good. Or so she thought.

Reclining against the tree trunk that had overlooked the crack she'd dove into when the bird-thing had attacked, the woman hummed warily. It had been an exceedingly exhausting two nights already, moreso than she'd experienced yet since the storm, and yet for it, the young woman felt energized! She had a full belly finally with water nearby. If she cooked some more of the bird to get her through another handful of days, she might be able to remain down here in Stardown long enough to recooperate. But of the burn was infected, staying would kill her. It made no sense, then, to remain. She would do her search in the morning, and then move on. With that in mind, Delani settled in with the warmth of the fire keeping her cozy and drifted off to sleep.

---------------------------------

The next morning, the Drykas woke groggily, this time with nothing eating on her hand. The dead bird-thing nearby had, however, been chewed on by some things. Delani discovered large chunks missing from the creature in random places around the body along with bits of feathers that had been pulled laying on the ground near each spot. "Snarlwings, I bet..." Whatever had been eating on it, though, was gone now. For that, the matron was grateful.

Stretching carefully, she headed for the streamlet she'd found the previous night. It was time to refresh, and that included a good wash. Maybe that would relieve some of the pain; if nothing else, being rid of the grit would be nice.

At the streamlets edge, Delani undressed, leaving her falx at the edge (and within reach) and folded her clothes. These were layed atop them before the more careful task of undoing the braid came. This took a great deal longer than undressing had (which alone had taken nearly half a bell as she struggled not to over-exert the ruined hand), absorbing a full bell and a half of time. Syna now rode midway up from the eastern ridge line of the crater, a crisp glow given to the bowl beneath. Once it was done, though, the woman was relieved and slid into the shallow water with a shiver.

"Brr!" She proclaimed, teeth chattering. Her right hand was more carefully introduced to the cold flow, but the relief that crossed it overwhelmed even her numbing body. "Wouldn't have believed a little cold water could be so refreshing." Her mind went to one of the work songs she'd learned a decade ago, something sung when the tents were washed every fortnight. Dela hummed it now as she began scrubbing, hastening the tempo so that she wouldn't stick in the water for longer than needed lest she catch pneumonia.

It was absolutely freezing! Her whole body was covered in goosepimples now and her teeth could not stop chattering, but be damned if she'd not be clean when she was done.

"T-t-the f-first thi-thi-thing I w-want when I g-get home..." She stuttered, dipping her head briefly beneath the surface to get the grime from her hair with a jawlocking grunt. "-is-s-s-s a b-b-blanket!" Dela hauled herself back out, shaking like a dog to let out as much water as she could and wring her hair one-handedly (not an easy thing!). Then into her clothes she jumped and hurried back to the still-burning coals of the bones to try and get warmer more quickly. It was a good start to the day! She'd go searching the area in a little, once she'd warmed up enough, for any signs of when the clans had last visited Stardown.

x

[Delani Denusk]

The upside of having bathed in the bitterly cold water (which still left her teeth chattering a full bell after she'd dried by the fire) was it had fully numbed her pain-stricken hand and shoulder, the gruesome burns upon them now a dull throb in the back of her mind. Delani had finished drying her hair via the warmth of the bone-fire, silent amazement that the thing had burned so long. She suspected it likely had something to do with the original owner of the leg bone and the djed which had transmuted it into the freakish thing that had come a-hunting. Now, though, dried and ready to get a move on before she ran out of time again, Dela returned to the carcass with her falx hanging lightly from her left hand.

"Alright..how about some white meat this time." She set to work stripping feathers from the chest of the bird (carefully avoiding the spots where it had been chewed on by something else), until the pale skin was fully exposed. The feathers were then brought back to the firepit and set to one side in a big pile, the drykas intending to use these to start a second fire that morning as well as that evening, in case she stayed again. Then, it was back to the dead creature. Her falx was used like an ax this time, the improvisation useful since she had only one hand to work with. It took three times as long, but it got the job done in the end. The hacking that was managed had pulled a good amount of meat from the thick muscle that was the breast of the bird. Having little to actually keep it protected on, Dela simply layed it back atop the bird and resumed her butchering. This time, however, she focused on the ribs, chopping out several large pieces from the body until she had six of the hollow parts set in a pile. These, she next broke with a foot on one end and her hand on the other, slowly bending it until the whole thing snapped like a twig. Once each rib had been broken down into managable foot-length pieces, she set up half of the bones in the fire and stuffed the feather-kindling around it.

Delani was still amazed that the transformation the bird had undergone during the storm had morphed it into an almost entirely usable source! Had she all the tools, she could almost imagine stripping the skin and wearing it with the feathers still on as a blanket, but tanning a birds hide was not the same as a cows or zibri's, if it could be done at all. Nonetheless, it had provided her with food and warmth when it had been desperately needed. Now, as Dela set up the fire that would roast the meat, she considered her options a little more. The stream would be an idea source of exploration, signs of previous visitors likely to be most obvious there. The next would be at Stardowns center, a bell or two from her, she imagined. There, she would find the most likely sources of previous visitations from the clans. The woman only hoped she might be able to make sense of the signs and that whatever the Lykata showed her would be of use.

Finished building the fire, Dela struck the flint over the feathers until it lit, then set to work preparing the meat for roasting. She'd have to make it extra tough to last as long as it could, knowing she'd leave the crater in the morning. The food would have to keep her until a more reliable source could be located. The breast meat was stuck upon a limb from the tree she'd been resting under each night for the past couple nights and then set what would be her meal for the next two days over the blaze. Once all of this was finished, Dela stood, stretched, and left the makeshift-camp. It was time to explore.

Leaving the camp, Dela returned to the stream and followed its upstream flow to the small waterfall she saw coming from the crater-side. "An aquifer maybe...no wonder it's so cold." she remarked, walking towards the source. She'd spotted something protruding from the crag around the miniature fall. It didn't look terribly interesting except that it looked to be an old skull. As she got nearer, the drykas recognized it for what it was, the strong face with long lines clearly defining it as a horse.

The skull, however, was stuck in the crack, water bulging around it and spilling down the rockface to form the stream. It looked to be blocking the majority of the flow; but how had it gotten there in the first place? It didn't look like it had been stuffed in there. The white of the bone was too weathered for that. Perhaps it had come from wherever the water originated from? Her curiosity outshone her caution this time and Dela reached forth to place her fingers on the horses brow, having learned since the walk down that with just a little bit of focus, she could summon Eyris' gift into action. The soft glow of the Lormar rose as she made contact and the first impression flashed across her mind.

He was a fine horse, whose coat shone like gold in the daylight. His willowy white-blonde mane only amplified the transition. Not a strider, but he may as well be one for the sureness of his feet. A tried and tested warrior of the roads, the stallion had ridden with his Alvadas master since he was two. They had travelled all over Mizahar together and had shared in countless adventures. So how was it the gildling could not have anticipated the kriital which took it fell upon him? Its shadow was all it saw before the acid consumed him...

Delani removed her hand slowly, a deep frown creasing her brow as she stared with saddened jades. She could only sense from the horse the shadow that overwhelmed it, corroding away its body and rider before time washed it all away. She sensed that this beast had died many generations ago, but could not measurably determine when. Her thumb traced the ridge of its once proud brow, sympathetic to the death which had been glimpsed. "And now you look upon this crater. I wonder if my brethren know you watch them." She whispered before turning away, her mind brought back to that fateful night...

-------------------------

The rest of the day was spent exploring in silence, little being found but old fire pits from previous visits by the city, scraps left over before the tents were dismantled and the whole thing trucking out back into the plains above.

In all, the experience had been enlightening, Delani thought as she settled down that night to her roasted not-raven. While it provided no useful insight to the last time the city, or even pavilion, had visited, it had helped show her the gist of how to use Eyris' gift. She would leave the next morning satisfied to resume travel in search of the migratory trails the horse clans took or even one of the monoliths which would guide her home....

x

[Praetorian]

Your Diligence Has Been Rewarded! Delani Denusk Observation +5 XP Wilderness Survival +5 XP Medicine +1 XP Bugs for Brunch? Bad Idea. The use of Lykata The Djed Monster Notes : I enjoyed reading this ^_^ Gives a good idea of how Delani is having to cope with her injuries and her resolve to find her way back to other Drykas. Have any questions, comments, or concerns? Feel free to message me.