• Closed • [The Great Parhn Gate]An arrival full of shame.

[Gangui]

Zi'da 55
Evening

The sky melted away from gray into a golden-red hue. For the first time all day, color filled the landscape. It was a great escape from the depressing gray and white hue of Zi'da. The uncouth Gangui slouched over his saddle too weak to sit up straight and proud. Towing behind him were five horses that had been captured earlier from Aukari Defilers. Hanging from his saddle were seven severed heads that leaked a wake of blood. All sensation was gone from his injured leg now. It was cold, lifeless, and heavy. The dried up blood had turned into a dirty, smelly, black paint all over his furry clothing.

A turgid crawl of two dozen hooves clattering on The Southwood Bridge marked the last stretch of a grueling expedition that was an entire year in the making. Looming tall and proud ahead of him was the majestic state of Etzos, the City of Stone. It was the literal manifestation of mortal man's justice, a proverbial beacon of hope in the mind of the barbarian.

Despite his disgraceful condition, there was an ear to ear grin on his face, "... I am finally here..." He laughed weakly and coughed.

Gangui's life seemed to fade in and out of existence. Every time unconsciousness consumed him, the wild-man fought hard to open his eyes again. A deep burning sensation in his heart seemed to drag him out of the muddy trap of death. Something otherworldly and indescribable kept him going. The barbarian knew that his body would give out before his mind. Each time his eyes opened up again, the walled fortress loomed bigger and bigger in front of him.

Eventually, all the strength was zapped from him. A mere fifty yard before reaching the threshold of the Great Pahrn Gate, Gangui slumped over and fell off his horse. The mentally beaten animal didn't even notice her master had fallen and continued pushing forward at a snails pace.

One foot in the stirrup, the once proud barbarian was dragged into Etzos a beaten man.

[Nightshade Eld]

Eventually Night was slowly growing tired of waiting for the wild man. She figured she'd wait since she promised to help him with his wound. Her patience however was starting to run rather thing while she say. All she could do was sit with the guards and look for jobs. It was getting easier and easier to see a potential job walking past. Most of the time it was the people that looked like something was troubling them. Heads down and looks of true misery, it was all too familiar a sight for the half breed.

Then something odd came tromping towards the gate. A horse leading many other horses. The horse seemed for a moment like it didn't have any kind of master. That was until you looked down to the stirrup where the foot of a "man" was caught. One could call him a man but honestly he was more like that of a child. His wound in the time since Night had seen him last only seemed to get worse. It was puffy and caked with blood. "The moron. You don't leave it in that long. You go and get medical help! It must be infected by now," Night said looking at the man most would assume to be an idiot.

"What should we do with him?" One of the guards asked.

"I'll deal with him. I promise he won't cause trouble. I'll bring him back here once I'm sure he's not dead," the half breed offered. The last sentence turned into a snap, a bitter bite of anger as she looked down at the man. "Complete fool, a total unabashed fool. Just because he got pissy over one thing I said!" After she'd walked away from the conversation she'd realized exactly what she might of said wrong. She'd thought over his reaction and she realized it might be the fact he thought she had compared him to immortal. She'd done nothing of the sort though.

"Since I'm dealing with him can one of you stable the horse...s?" Night asked turning to the pair of guards.

They glanced at each other in silence for a moment, neither one offering until Night pulled out a small bag of roughly 5 gold nels. "A pleasure," one of the guards smirked grabbing the bag out of the air after she'd tossed it.

Night was able to unhook the man from his precarious position on the horse. He was heavier than he originally looked. Of course she was able to deal with the weight well enough. Sweet immortals, the looks she was about to get. "Up we go," she growled to herself as she hefted the man onto her back. She carried him somewhat in a piggy back style while she struggled to just keep a hold of him. "Dear lord, why?" She hissed to her herself trying to even out the weight while also trying not to touch the wound. Hopefully he wouldn't wake up until they got to the doctor, or else this was going to have to take a lot of explaining.

[Gangui]

In darkness the wild-man fought off death. A swirling emptiness engulfed him until he noticed a tread of light pierce through the void. The barbarian's mind was too simple to have any deeply profound thoughts of what was occurring. All that he knew was that he needed to grab the string and to never let go. The only barring he had to go off was his father's maxims; the hammering notion of self-reliance even in the face of death was carved into his heart.

Gangui was truly born to be a hero, long ago fate decided that he could never be broken. Little did he know that he would have an tough relationship with darkness, betrayal, and deceit; this was just the beginning of the trial and tribulations to follow. All things evil would assail him until he was intimate with it. This single trial was merely the welcoming embrace of the netherworld and his endurance run through it.

Despite the horrid sensation, his calmness prevailed. The slow burning furnace that was his soul smoldered on undaunted by what was going on. No one would deny him the liberty of enacting revenge on the one who killed his father, not even death itself. Grasping at a tread of light he slowly began to hoist himself up. Hand over fist, he trudged back up into the land of the living.

[Nightshade Eld]

Even in the darkness of hate and betrayal there would always be someone with an outstretched hand. Another hero with as much determination and spirit. Even if the beginning of the relationship was rocky there were some people who didn't care for such personal matters when it came to the impersonal decision to save every life they could. That included the lives of criminals and those these hero's weren't very fond of. Any life could be changed, saved, made good. Night was that kind of hero, the foolishly brave and stubborn kind of hero that walked through the darkness. It didn't touch her, it couldn't touch her. Not for long. The darkness did not linger in her heart because it soon became smoldered by the bright and powerful lights of nobility, honor, and perseverance. True there were times when it claimed her bringing her to moments of doubt and sadness, but even those moments didn't last forever. Her actions weren't driven by selfish reasons, not for revenge or for the sake of power. Her mind was focused on one singular idea. The thought that she could make the world better. Truly when someone like her put their mind to it, perhaps they could.

"Don't you die on me yet, jerk," she muttered hefting the man on her back up a little higher. Even if Gangui decided, even after all of this, he wanted to hate the half breed she would be there with a hand outstretched when he needed it. Even if he didn't want it, even if he didn't need it, she was the kind of person who was always willing to help no matter the risk to herself. "We're almost to the doctor so don't you die on me..."

She moved down city streets continuing to bare the weight of the wild man. Though she was struggling with the task she kept on an appearance of power, the kind that said the effort was nothing at all. Her personal exertion meant nothing if she could save a life. "I wonder what kind of person you are, we didn't get much of a chance to talk. You seemed to end up hating me by the end of it. I know you most likely can't hear me so I'll say it again when you actually wake up, but I need to say it now just so someone will hear it. I wasn't comparing you or me or any mortal being to the immortals when I spoke. I was instead putting them on our level. Taking away their "grandness" and their "power" over us. To me the immortals are like mortals because they aren't any more powerful than we. There are horrible ones that I honestly wish would disappear, like Faldrun, and then there are ones that to the best of my judgement I think are good. Though those much like people in a city are usually overshadowed by the evil actions of their fellow kind. When you think someone is a good leader, you want to follow them right?" Night said talking to what for the moment was the equivalent of a corpse. "I must sound like a idiot right now," she said with a slight laugh.

Luckily there weren't many people on the streets. There was no one in fact to hear her crazy rambling. That at least was a touch of luck. It was a long walk into the inner walls where the doctor was. She was certain that at least an hour or two had passed by the time she got there. "Sweet Immortals, it's already dark out. I mean, it is Zi'da. But still!" The half breed said with a slight click of her tongue. The weather had gotten even colder and she could feel the bitter nip at her skin.

"Excuse me? Could you please take a look at this man?" She said walking into the doctor's office.

[Gangui]

Lying on the cold stone floor of the healer's domain, Gangui fell into a fever. Sweat dripped from his brow as he laid sprawled out. Through foolishness he had brought this plague upon himself. The good doctor wasted not a single word in making preparations. The sticky, caked on blood ripped his skin when the legging was cut open. As a testament of how much he had bleed, the wild-man's boot was completely black from a build up of blood. There was a tourniquet on his leg, but it wasn't very tight and easily removed

Despite the tantalizing situation, the doctor remained calm, "My good lady, please remove his boot with a knife. I am afraid that the build up of blood would prevent otherwise,"

Removing the arrow came next. The Aukari had not used barbed arrows so the procedure was relatively simple. With a firm grip on the calf, the doctor yanked it out in a fluid motion. Blood immediately flowed from wound opening up. Swiftly, he swabbed away blood with a clean rag and doused the wound with a medical mixture, most likely alcohol from the smell of it. Next, he stuffed the wound with an ointment that was sludgy and resembling animal lard.

"It doesn't look like there will be any permanent damage, the arrow pierced only flesh," the doctor told Nightshade, "He has lost a lot of blood though, so now the fight is totally in his hands now,"

The rest of the procedure involved cleaning his leg and foot of all blood. The fur boot was no longer useful so it was discarded. Linen bandages dipped in a strange fluid were applied to bind the wound and protect it from outside forces. After a few minutes, the bandages hardened into a brownish tint that smelled strange and repulsive. Requesting Nightshade's help, the doctor removed Gangui's outer fur clothing and dragged the man onto a cot on the far side of the room.

"Now we wait," The doctor said with a grim look towards Nightshade.

An hour later...

The soft glow of a brazier started off as a soft pink presence and slowly began to engulf Gangui's vision. The wild-man could tell that he waking up from the claws of death, however he was having a difficult time becoming fully lucid. Two black figures stood above him speaking words that sounded like mumbled jargon. Grunting he tried to sit up and grasp around him, he felt the touch of another as they pushed him back down.

"..." He tried to speak, but nothing came out. The darkness began to overtake him again and he felt very tired.

Another hour passes...

Unambiguously vision and sensation came back to him all at once, "HUWAAH!"

Jolting up into a sitting position, the barbarian was drenched in sweat. The first thing he saw was the face of Nightshade, "Woman, what is going on?"

Anxiety searched for answers as his blood-shot, pale eyes looked deep into Nightshade's dark blue ones.

[Nightshade Eld]

Night flinched when she saw the state of his appendage. How could it get this bad in a couple of hours? It was always impossible to say how badly someone would be hit by a weapon. She sighed heavily looking away from the mess quietly. The blood was still unnerving to the half breed even after so many years of fighting. There was something about the nature of the injury, the disgusting way the blood congealed turning black and brown. It was something she didn't see as often as other warriors might. Her kills were as clean as she could possibly make them, it was the only mercy she could offer to those who would soon be left without their lives. She didn't like the idea of making others suffer for the simple mistake of picking a fight with her.

"Right," the half breed said following the doctor's orders. She didn't have any sort of easy to use knife on her so she took the one the doctor offered. The covering didn't seem like it wanted to leave its master. Night however wasn't going to be shamed by a boot of all things. A gentle yank after a couple cuts and it provided little resistance. It helped that despite the slickness as well as the stickiness the half breed was able to get a good grip using her claws. Formidable weapons and useful tools. She became more glad each and every day that she hadn't cut them.

Night made sure to pay careful attention to the doctor. She had few actual medical skills, the most Alex ever taught her was how to stitch a wound. She didn't dare take her attention off the doctor or what he was doing to the poor conked out man, less she miss something important. The alcohol smelling mixture made sense, she'd heard a long time ago that rubbing alcohol was good for cleaning a wound and killing the bacteria trying to take up residence. Though she also knew from more person experience it stung. She watched the ointment get applied, wondering what exactly it was made of.

"You did the most that you could do, at least in the eyes of someone like me who knows very little about medicine. Let's hope he's not another tally added to the list of people I wasn't fast enough to save..." she murmured the second sentence quietly almost like she was speaking to herself. Her eyes trailed the man before them was a kind of intensity. There was a glint of worry mixed with a small spark of anger. There was a hint of curiosity but generally there was just void reflected in her cloudy eyes. "Right, before I forget. This should be enough to cover the costs. Sorry to barge in so late into the night," the woman said with a sheepish smile pulling out some nels that would hopefully cover the cost. Yes she had a large stockpile at home, but the expenses were starting to pile up and there was a slight burn of annoyance at the back of her mind.

The talons of her right foot curled inwards as she crushed that annoyance, reminding herself that money was nothing compared to a mortal life.

Nightshade watched how the doctor applied the bandages and then watched them harden. "So much to learn," she huffed to herself quietly. The doctor seemed to question the odd sentence turning to her for a split second. "I'm trying to learn how to heal myself so I don't start piling up fees for wounds and infections. The life of a sell sword. Perhaps I should stop taking jobs from the guards, they tend to be more dangerous," she mused laughing lightly when it came to her small joke about the city Black Guard. Of course the jobs would be more dangerous, that was a given. Her cringed realizing her attempt to ease the tension of the situation was mostly a failure.

Night with the help of a second person had a much easier time lifting up the man. "He'll be okay. He's stubborn," Night said. When the doctor turned to her and spoke there was a strange flicker in her eyes, like some quickly lit and blew out a candle. "He's stubborn," she repeated a second time. This time it was to convince herself.

Two hours ended up passing with Night just sitting and waiting. Waiting and sitting. More sitting and waiting. She didn't remember two hours ever passing this slow. Of course if she actually said that out loud it would be a lie, but she preferred to ignore any days spent under the Master's roof. As far as she cared they didn't exist. The woman was just about to doze off when suddenly the wild man screamed and sat up. Night nearly jumped out of her skin, the entire time having been quiet before he jolted back to life.

For a moment she was both shell shocked from her fright and insulted from the fact he called her woman instead of by her name. The fear quickly passed and she reminded herself that she never told him her name. At least she didn't remember doing it, apparently neither did her. "I'm not sure what happened before this but your horse brought you to the Etzos gates. You were already out cold, judging by the scuff marks on you it happened a while before you actually got to Etzos. Your foot was caught in the stirrup, you can thank your luck for that because you were walking the line between life and death by the time the horse got here. I figured I'd wait for you to show up since I promised I'd help you with that wound. Good thing I did too because who knows what the guards would have done with you. I bribed them to let you in and take care of the many horses if I brought you back out to the gate for the routine check after I made sure you were still alive. Thank goodness you are. Considering the fact you were dying I carried you here. We are currently sitting in the doctors office thanks to the wound you never let me treat," Night said calmly trying to recount everything that had happened.

After letting him have whatever response he might she stood up. "Can you stand? I'd like to get out of the kind doctor's hair who treated you without question. So if you can stand I'll take you to the inn for tonight. If you can't then I'll carry you again. It certainly can't be anymore degrading than the first time," she said meaning the last sentence as a joke. Her tone became lighter and friendly. The fact he'd woken up was already a weight off her shoulders.

[Gangui]

Gangui's eyes remained plastered to the soft glow of light upon the stone wall as Nightshade's words entered his mind. Focusing on each and every sentence, the barbarian tried to process the information in a logical format so that he could make the best decision on the next course of action. The bitter entrance into Etzos was a terrible one indeed. It was supposed to be a moment of glory not failure, he would have to make due though. Turning his head up in a slow drawl, he licked his teeth and wiped the sweat on his brow with a dirty hand. The expression on his face was solemn and no words needed to be uttered.

Touching the bandaged wound, he tried to move his heavy leg to no avail. Looking at Night shade, he shook his head, "It's no good... I need a crutch..."

Picking up his leg he swung it on the floor and tried to get up with his own momentum, but quickly fell back down on his ass. Reaching out he grasped the half-avriel's arm to hoisted himself up. Immediately, he head swirled and vision blurred. He could feel his pumping heart in his brain. Hopping around on his good leg for a minute, he finally gained stability. Deep breathing ensued for awhile, though he was not in pain.

"My sword?" Gangui uttered in a raspy and soft voice. Looking around the room he glazed over every object in the room, then he locked eyes with the pensive healer who merely stared in quiet reflection giving no input. Finally he spotted his winter clothing and weapon bundled up in the corner.

Pointing a grubby finger at it, his raspy voice spoke louder, "Give me my blade,"

The doctor walked over casually and handled Gangui the bundle. Tucking it under his arm, he turned to Nightshade again, "Take me to my horse, I must explain to them--"

Biting his own words, he gasped for air as a bolt of pain shot up his leg after accidentally putting pressure on it. Breathing hard for awhile he closed his eyes and uttered no more words for awhile, regardless of Nightshade's potential protests.

Gangui swallowed his pride, despite his will for action, "Okay, take me to rest. We can sort out business later, but I need you to tell the guards..." Pain shot through his leg again, " Hrm... Tell, tell the guards, I need my gear... hrm... Tell them the horses are my tribute... I need to get my rewards..."

[Nightshade Eld]

Night could feel an empathetic smile start to reach across her features after watching that sad display that Gangui provided. "The horses and the heads will not be touched until you're better. I've already instructed and paid the guards to take care of them, it's going to be okay. Let me take you to an inn," Night said. Her voice was gentle and she was careful as she offered her shoulder as something to lean on. They were able to get the man on some crutches and the pair set out at the speed of a turtle to try and find the closest place where sleep was an option.

The half breed released an unruly yawn gazing up at the sky which resembled a shade similar to pitch, or better yet her wings. With that little comparison one could turn to the woman and see just how well she blended in to such an environment. And yet the porcelain tone of her skin glowed in the low light. Stray moonbeams caught on her figure, dancing along her skin. "I really need to head home and get some sleep myself! At this rate I'm almost tempted to crash at the inn and see how much the owner yells at me! Ah, but I've nearly spent most of the money I carry on my person at one time. Certainly not enough for two rooms," the last line was more or less a mutter. If Gangui had heard her whisper then he would instantly be alerted to her intents to pay for his room.

Eventually the two came across the inn, another one of her hunting grounds when it came to jobs. Some people looked at the pair and huffed before rolling their eyes. They muttered words of hate like "half breed" though it wasn't certain in regards to who. Other people when they saw Night flashed brilliant smiles. "Hey little birdy! Any good jobs today?"

"I got distracted this morning and ended up not getting anything done," she called back.

"And by distracted I suppose you mean you got dragged into more charity work?" The man who had been speaking crowed. Those sitting around him started to laugh. It was uncertain if they were making a joke about Gangui or if they were just messing around with Night. However considering the reaction of the half breed to giggle and wave a hand dismissively they seemed to be joking with her.

"Stay here for just a moment," she instructed trying to get Gangui to sit down. It didn't matter if she achieved her goal or not, either way she strode over to the owner and began to speak with him. She placed the needed amount of nels on the counter and the transaction was done before Gangui could try to pay for himself. "Alright, come on. Let me help you get up the stairs," she said turning back to the man.

[Gangui]

Gangui leaned on Nightshade as little as he possibly could. The barbarian couldn't help but feel bitter at the fact he barely could take care of himself. There was this warm little emotion occurring in him though that battled for dominance with his pride. The man did not know what was going on though, for his mind did not have the sensibility to understand just yet. The warm feeling was simply gratitude towards Nightshade, but he resisted it with all his might thinking that it was more weakness coming onto him.

Arriving at the warm tavern couldn't have came soon enough. All eyes turned onto the two for a moment, but soon dissipated as they ignored the rebuffs and jokes that came their direction. Waiting at the table for Nightshade to buy him a room felt like ages, he just wanted to fall asleep right then and there. The winged woman returned into his failing vision to lead him up the stair case. Walking up the staircase was a terrible trial in and of itself. There was a disrespectful voice behind them the whole time screaming at them to hurry.

Finally entering the room, Gangui sat on the bed as if he had been carrying a hundred pound load the entire time. The door swung closed behind them. The warm feeling that had been battling in his heart the whole journey from the doctor's office finally over came feelings of pride.

Holding Nightshade's hand with two and looking at her in the eyes, he spoke in a gravely, yet genuine tone, "Thank you for everything, I owe you my life and I vow right here and now repay you with an equal or greater favor,"

[Nightshade Eld]

While the two walked up the stairs together there was a horrible noise behind them. "Sounds like a wild monkey," she commented under her breath with a slight huff. She tried not to make too much of a show out of it though. With the quiet volume of her voice she mostly kept her comment to herself. It was painful trying to haul the wounded man up to the room she'd bought for him. The painful part came most from trying ignore the man behind them. She wasn't in the best of moods currently thanks to a lack of proper sleep, the shivering temperature, and the situation she was in. But like always she held her tongue. It was just another jeering idiot to add to the list of racist Etzori fools. what was there to be surprised about honestly? Apparently anything the half breed did was worth jeering at.

Finally they got up to the room and she was able to help Gangui sit down. He may have felt like it, but she was the one actually carrying the 100 pound load, quite literally. At least the warrior before her looked like he weighed that much, it wouldn't be an exaggeration. Heck, she was light weight for her size and shape (praise be to hollow bones) and she was at least 100 pounds. There was no telling how heavy a solid boned man was. She took a deep breath trying to force strength and oxygen back into her body and lungs.

She allowed her mind to flee her for a moment as she pondered how she'd managed to get herself into this situation. All because she thought it was a good idea to help a stranger she saw that morning. Her thoughts were wrenched back into her mind as a gentle hand took her own. She turned to Gangui and her expression as well as her demeanor softened. "It was my pleasure and my honor. There is no need to repay me," she said with a gentle look. Her voice was full of warmth.