Jake "Honō no ko"'s Story

Ka'Wa's face burned and she merely nodded at Skullivan's words. Of course that was the answer, she thoughts as she bit her lip, Of course he would glare at me for that. Her eyes looked up from the sands, awaiting the input of the others. She was taken aback by Bohdana's reaction and couldn't help but laugh, covering her mouth and trying to keep it quiet. However, she didn't answer, fearing Bohdana's wrath since she wasn't too sure of how to use the north star.

"Okay," Jake said, standing up and brushing the ashes of what had once been the tavern from his hands. "I think I got it." He watched the airship flying away from the city. "Thanks Peidric."

The man behind him nodded, his expression grim. "What are you going to do Jake?"

"Find the people responsible for killing my friend," Jake said firmly. "And make them pay."

***24 hours later***

Jake's eyes surveyed the scene from a distance, the vision enhancing device coated in sand to reduce the glare from the glass lens. The group he'd been tracking was there, but they seemed to be... prisoners? Jake slowly lowered the object in his hand, and considered his options. Carefully.

Jake had been carefully making his approach from the camp's blind side when the shot was fired. The explosion's flash took Jake by surprise, but not enough that he didn't see the man who'd fired the shot ducking behind a wagon, hiding from the rest of the group. Unfortunately, he was not hidden from Jake, who had happened to be approaching from that direction.

Panic struck the rest of the camp, and Jake moved like lightning, his long legs eating up the sand as his right hand pulled his revolver from its holster. Whoever this sniper was, Jake needed the camp alive, to question them on what had happened at the inn. This man was clearly attacking them, perhaps in a foolhardy attempt to surprise the woman who'd been threatening the others with that improvised flamethrower.

Thessir saw Jake coming a little too late, but still managed to swing his weapon up. Jake dove as the man fired again, the shot knocking Thessir backwards into the wagon. Jake felt a few pieces of shrapnel graze his right shoulder, although it didn't penetrate his armor, before he was up again.

The time had cost him however. Thessir dodged back around the wagon, heading back to the group. Jake vaulted over the wagon, chasing after the man but soon skidding to a stop with a light curse.

Pistol out, Jake slowly drew his sword, perusing the situation as the others became aware of him. The woman who had been threatening the others was bleeding badly from a cut on her leg and side, but most of the others only seemed shaken. With a start, Jake recognized several of them from the group he had met in town, including the man wanted by the Wetlanders.

"Well now," Jake said, "this is interesting. This is very interesting indeed."

The sudden BOOM followed by an equally surprising THUD and WHAM took Dustin both by surprise and off his feet. His ears rang, his vision spun, and the weight of what he discerned to be Skullivan the Wetlander sat atop his back as he struggled to bring himself up to his feet. Dustin quickly shook his head to clear the fog in his mind and rose up as sand ran off his clothing and Skullivan tipped over with an awkward "Oof."

The Kassellander did a quick scan of his surroundings, noting the black hole in the sand, the bodies strewn everywhere, and some weird Cowboy-Ninja with a gun in one hand and sword in the other. He shook his head once more to be sure he wasn't hallucinating. Nope, that was a real Cowboy-Ninja.

Mirova squinted across the way at Jake, though she still lay by Bohdana's side - bleeding. "My friends don't want what you're selling," She called out to the man. "I'd be on my way if I were you."

Skullivan glanced over at Mirova distrustingly, but compared to Jake she seemed the much less capable threat. "On your way," He repeated to the man...

"Alright, this situation clearly isn't gonna get better anytime soon..." Uluru frowned as he witnessed the bounty hunter he'd come across in Dol-Duna arriving on the scene. "Yanyan!" He called out as his beast emerged from the ground directly underneath Jake, undermining his balance as it flew upward into the sky before quickly diving back beneath the sands.

Uluru then quickly popped a fresh crystal in each of his gloves, as they charged up with yellow ebergy.

"Uh, why are you attacking me?" Jake asked, standing back up. "I just want information, you see. About an inn that burned down back in Dol-Duna. A friend of mine died in the fire there, and several people were badly burned. I was told that the persons responsible had traveled this way."

He gestured at Mirova. "But when I caught up to you, I found the group apprehended by this woman. And this man," Jake said, pointing at Thessir, "fired the bullet that caused that explosion."

Jake lowered his hand. "What exactly do you have to hide here?"

"He fired the bullet?" Uluru questioned, raising an eyebrow at their pale companion. "Maybe so. I didn't see it, however. All I saw as you roll up and attack. But of you're here to talk, let's talk. No more weapons, no more attacking, got it?"

"As for the bar.." Uluru began slowly. "I've heard something about the incident but no substantial details."

Jake's hands tightened on his weapons for a brief second before he slid his sword home and holstered his pistol.

"Heard... something?" Jake asked, his eyes glinting with a dangerous light. "What, exactly, did you... hear."

As Dustin listened to the conversation from where he stood, he couldn't help but look warily at the armored man. He was in search of the culprits of the bar fire, apparently.

Sören's sand-mud hut had collapsed upon him at some point in the night, but he'd been too tired, and too sore, to do anything more then shake his head enough to get some fresh air in through a hole in the sand. All throughout his task his arms had been going from chilled by the frost he was creating with his runes, to warm from the sand, and when he was done both arms were raw and red, but he couldn't really feel them. It was sort of like the pins and needles sensation of a limb falling asleep, but that was all. A glance told him he had overdone it, but he'd ignored all of this and collapsed into a fitful sleep under his improvised hut. Without his knowing it, Duneyrr had wandered off in the night, heading back home to the Dead Forest. Like Sören himself, the northern creature had adapted surprising well to the desert lands during their treks south, and so he had no reason to believe the stag would not make it home safe.

At some point the sun had begun to rise, and the sand around Sören heated and dried as it did so. He was still mostly covered as the winds blew the sands to and fro, which, as it turned out, was a good thing, because at some point he began smelling smoke.Raising his head just enough to look around but remain hidden by the sands, the northman watched as the events unfolded before him. A stranger with a weapon that threw fire attacked, then seemed to try and negotiate, and while this happened a strange, pale man with what Sören took to be, and later found out was, a firearm snuck off on his own. Soon there was an explosion, followed by a burst of flame, and people were sent flying, as a few seconds later a stranger arrived carrying a small firearm and a sword.

Someone was able to diffuse the situation somewhat, and Sören took this opportunity to rise up out of the sand, immediately standing up to his full height. He clutched his spear in one hand, and without his cloak and helm he did not look quiet as intimidating, but it must still have been an odd sight. Especially given the fact that his arms looked as though they had been scoured by sandpaper, and the edges of his rune tattoos were bleeding slightly.

He had no idea what was going on, but he did notice the woman lying in the sand, blackened from the explosion and bleeding out. And so, without a word, he stepped out of the sand and walked through the chaos, passing by the men with the firearms without a second glance, to make it to the woman. Once at her side he kneels down, lays the spear in the sand, then places a hand on her side.

"This is going to hurt a bit." Sören says to the strange woman as he places his hand flat against her wound. With a wince the runes on his arms begin to glow, slightly, and ice begins to form over her wound, stopping the bleeding and numbing it. Once a decent layer of ice has formed over the wound, he sighs and sits back in the sand, breathing a little harder than he normally would after exerting his magics. "What is going on out here?" He asks, looking to the woman, then around at all the others.

Mirova exhaled deeply as Sören began to tend her wounds, the ice layer covering the bloodied marks along her side. "What's going on?" She breathed, a large smile coming over her face as her head rolled back. "You lot-" She placed a fingernail on Sören's chest weakly. "Have gotten yourself into something bigger than you can imagine." She rolled her head to face the cowboy ninja in the distance. "And he is hunting us- but so was I, so you can't hold it against him."

Skullivan frowned as Jake spoke. A bounty-hunter of some kind - searching among them for criminals. Skullivan breathed. He didn't know who the criminals were, and he didn't really care right now.

"Hey- we really aren't responsible for your fire," The Wetland Traitor called. "This group is not a bunch of criminals trying to escape the law... we're-" Skullivan swallowed, glancing back at the team - all eyes were on him, Boh staring up, Sören and Mirova beside her, Dustin, Elise and Uluru at the forefront ready to confront the bounty-hunter, Thessir in the no-man's land between them, Ka'Wa and Musa in the back dealing with their wounds, and behind them Aisha, Xaverius, and Whisper had gathered to observe the scene. "We're searching for the Change. Together," Skullivan's words were lost as he looked over the faces - many of whom he did not yet know their name. "So please: leave us alone." The Traitor turned to Jake, appearing almost in tears. "I'm so tired. Just leave us alone."

Mirova shifted by Sören, her injuries stinging her as she moved. "Bounty-hunter," She called. "Escort us to the nearest town, I will assist your investigation there. We need medicine and food - and to get out of the sea." Mirova squinted to the man. "What say you?"

"Don't think this is over yet," Uluru whispered threateningly near inaudibly to Mirova, though making it appear as if he nodded gratefully, as he looked to face Jake. "I know about as much as you do, kid. But listen to this woman," he nodded to Mirova. "We've been in some harrowing circumstances. We have one dead a few wounded. Help us get to the next settlement and we can peace together what happened at the bar and to your friend."

Elise sheathed her blades, flashing a wary smile. Se winced a little at the pain in her ribs. Standing on the uneven sand hadn't done much for her sore body from jumping from the airship the night before. "It's for the best," she began, nodding owards Jake. "We shold all sit down and discuss this while some get the medical attention they need, and we can all get rehydrated. Please, at least give us that much leeway."

Dustin had nodded his agreement, glad his head cloth obscured most of his facial expression when his mask wasn't worn. Had the bounty-hunter paid any attention to the Kassellander he would have noticed the man almost breathed a sigh of relief. It was best to keep his mouth shut. Nobody was going to get anywhere, "criminal" or not. What needed to be done was cooperation and recuperation.

"The Change?" Jake whispered to himself, a strange expression on his face. "I... see."

Jake considered his options for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, I accept your proposal. I will guide you all to Aklar. It's about forty miles east-southeast of here. It's not a large town, but nothing really is out here on the western border. It does have a doctor I know, goes by the name Razeal."

Jake approached Mirova. "The real question is, can you make it forty miles?" Jake eyed the icy coating that Soren was providing. "Is that moisture you are pulling from the air itself? If so, it should be clean enough. But we will need to keep grime out, which means clean cloth as well."

Jake pulled out a roll of linen from an inner pocket. "Apply this to the wound, and wrap it firmly but not tightly." Handing the supplies to Mirova, Jake turned back to the others, his eyes distant.

"As for the rest of you," Jake said, "we should make preparations as to the crossing. We've got meltsand inbetween us and Aklar, are all of you familiar with that?"

The northman nodded to the stranger who, apparently, was looking for a handful of the members of this group. Sören was one of the ones responsible for the burning of the bar, and would take full responsibility for it later, but for now, he thought it best to keep his mouth shut about the subject.

In truth, Sören had no idea how the frost was created, if it pulled moisture from the air, which he supposed made sense, or if it really was magic as the wisewoman had told him. He'd seen similar abilities on his journey this year, but hadn't been close enough to grasp how any of the others had wielded their abilities. Getting to his knees he turns towards the strange woman. Taking the bandages from her before she can protest he eases her up into a sitting position, then, forming just enough frost on the palm of his hand, he wipes clean the wounds before letting the desert air dry them for a moment. After that he wraps the bandages around as the man had suggested.

Although he was trained to be a warrior, even his father, the leader of the Rotgevir clan and their warriors, knew general first aid.

"I can read the stars well enough," Sören says as he slowly stands and walks back over to collect his things, "I know which direction is which, but that does me little good in such an open country that I am unfamiliar with." He looks around for a moment before settling his eyes on the stranger with the sword and gun. "I believe, unless someone else has a better solution, you are our best hope. And once we arrive at Aklar, I think the two of us have something to discuss."

Mirova glanced up at Jake handed her the linen. With a grunt she began to tie it over her torso. "Aklar is big, the gate to the south - our journey for the Change can start in ernest there. But Clan Meltsand..." She licked her lips as she adjusted her hood. "I'd avoid it if at all possible, but-" With a sigh she turned, looking over the very tired camp - desperate to move to shelter. "-they don't have much of a choice."

***

The sun shone high above as the team marched above the dunes - Jake leading the pack, Skullivan bundled in his cloak following. The path out the camp had been dune after dune, no more a sign of civilization in one direction than another - but Jake seemed to know where to go. Skullivan squinted as ahead Jake had stopped at the peak of a dune, looking over the sands before marching forward again. He didn't trust Mirova or Jake, but as Mirova said, they didn't have much of a choice.

Skullivan glanced behind him, as Mirova's self-moving wagon chugged forward unevenly on the sand - the Nomad Mir herself and several of the injured positioned on it. "So what exactly is this Clan Meltsand?" Skullivan commented, more to the whole group than anyone in particular, as he stumbled in the sand behind Jake. "Why is Aklar so much better?"

Uluru leaned his head back against the wall of the carriage, watching over Mirova as she lay injured from their scuffle in the sands a day ago. Despite their efforts to get a move on, everyone seemed largely tired from yesterday's events and Uluru couldn't blame them. Nary a word had been spoken since then, but his impatience had grown and now he felt was the time to ask. ..."Nomad...nomad, wake up," he state, nudging the sleeping Mirova in the arm with his foot as she drooled on the floor of her own wagon.

Mirova shuffled awake at Uluru's nudge, her eyes rolling open beneath her hood - masking her from the harsh desert heat. Since the camp they'd not said much of anything to each other, the group instead opting to focus on survival as much as they could. Mirova turned to him, pouting slightly. "Can I help you?" She questioned, glaring at Uluru across the row of bodies in the wagon.

Skullivan squinted under the sun at Bohdana. "Oh great. Clan warfare, what your desert is famous for," He huffed. "Yeah, well let's hope the Leviathan hasn't burnt these places to the ground by the time we get there. After we get stitched up we can..." He sighed. "Figure out what we even are. What we'll do next."

Skullivan continued to march forward on the sand, before pausing and turning to Boh. "Sorry, that sounded - I don't know, mean. I appreciate the help. I do."