Elise Seaver's Story

Mirova squinted at Boh. The woman before them looked not much like the magic figure they'd seen in Dol-Duna. She looked rough, raider-esque now that the mysticism of her tent was replaced by the harsh desert sun. Mirova stepped forward, casually aiming her weapon at Dustin causing the man to back off on her stride toward Bohdana. She stopped in front of the fire, aiming her fire-launcher at her face. "Here's the thing... about the change, Every year hundreds and hundreds of people go out looking for it, they go out searching... and the truth is most of those people die..." Mirova raised her weapon up to Bohdana's face - the heat of the fire inside felt against her skin. Red eyes stared the girl down. "...We- all died, oooh - what a great reveal, right?" She hissed. "But I'm alive... because I know what it takes."

Mirova's hand tightened on the trigger.

"WAIT!" Mirova paused, turning. It was a familiar sound to anyone in the camp - Skullivan screaming. "Wait," The wetland traitor repeated, his messy hairs flying over his face as he pointed forward. The sand where he'd dropped the water had begun to shift and turn brown. Skullivan fell to his knees as from the shifting earth something popped out gently, like a child wriggling out an egg - a small, green-plant bloomed - it transparent and minuscule, a few millimetres high at most, but still there - sprouted out the earth before them.

Skullivan's finger pointed forward at the leaf. "Proof," He breathed, turning to his companions...

Elise nodded in agreement with Dustin, they were in this together now. Boh was next to try and convince Mirova to stop her twisted game. She felt her body tense when the nomad raised her weapon in the young girl's face and was about to react when Skullivan managed to get their attention. There, in the spot where he'd spilled water from the idol's body grew a small plant. "Proof." was all he said. She couldn't help but stare, they really had a lead.

Bohdana didn't realize how scared she was until she felt her knees trembling under her, stiff like lead as Mirova held the flamethrower to her face. Her mouth was dry. Between the sudden bloom of proof from the idol Skullivan held and her near-death experience, her heart did flips in her chest, unsure whether to be frightened or glad.

"Y-you see..." Boh breathed, glancing toward Uluru or Dustin or Elise or anyone to help her out here while her words almost echoed in the barrel of the gun, "We...we're on the same side here."

Uluru carefully, slowly stepped up to the Nomad, and stood next to Bohdana. "You see it just like we do, eh, Naima Clan? Your proof. Want to reconsider our...'negotiations' yet?"

Thessir stared at the attacker past the barrel of his gun, his eye fixed like an eagle locked onto a mouse. The attacker, the only real moniker he was going to be calling the stranger whom had quite simply attacked them out of the blue. He had an answer for those who shot at him. It was to shoot back. It was the only answer which made sense.

He hadn't fired yet however. He wanted to make sure his shot was on target to make his shot count. With a weapon not renown for it's long ranged accuracy he had to hope that with proper aim he could make up the difference by filling the general area with enough shot to ensure a ball would hit it's mark. Even when she started flaunting her weapon with threatening shots he bade his time.


She spoke of others, speaking as though she hadn't come alone. That was a possibility, not a good one according to his dictionary. He had to consider that the moment he fired his position would be given away by the enormous bang that was to result from it. He'd be open to retaliation lest he found better cover. Where would sufficient cover be located? He pondered before looking up at the wagon next to him. Sufficient.

The wagon's metal sides surrounded three out of for directions he could be fired upon from on ground level and there were also crates for food as well, an additional layer of cover to help conceal him from assault. Looking around he couldn't see any other attackers however. Wherever she had them tucked it was well hidden indeed. It only meant he needed to be even more concentrated for when they pop out. This whole scenario was quite demanding for someone as unsteady and whacked out as he.


Just as she was about to fire he nearly squeezed the trigger when Skullivan made even more of a fuss, drawing both the attacker's and his attention away to what he was pointing at. Thessir squinted to try and get a glimpse at what he was trying to prove but with the light being as hard as it was on his eyes he couldn't really make out whatever he wanted everyone to see. The drugs probably didn't help either.

He did consider the fact however that the attacker spoke of someone who could speak Yemar, the language written on the idol. Without this attacker it would mean they'd have no idea where this person supposedly was. On the other hand it didn't mean they couldn't find this person themselves either. Whether the attacker lived or died was irrelevant in regards to his search for the change. He'd continue the search all on his own if needed. He had enough to go on right now. That mean't there wasn't any reason for him to hold back any longer.

BANG!

He fired his shrapnel pipe at her. The sound of the explosion from the mouth of the pipe rang out for miles. The sand all around Thessir billowed out in a wave from the force of the shot. The force of the shrapnel pipe's recoil bruised his shoulder as it drove him a foot back into the sand. Thankfully as he was laying in a sniper's shooting position which allowed his body to absorb the brunt of the considerable recoil through the stock.

The target: The generator. Whatever shot continued through into the attacker was welcome but the generator was the primary target. His aim had been centered on the generator.


Regardless of the result he proceeded to leap into the wagon, ducking behind the metal walls so as to avoid the oncoming gunfire he expected to follow.

Mirova turned at Skullivan's fingers, a few grey hairs slipping out her hood as she cocked her head. In a mosaic of beige and white and red bokeh of scattered flames was something she'd never expect to see bloom. Green. Life. She squinted, disbelief on her face. Mirova let the fire-launcher go loose in her hand. Mirova turned back toward the injured camp she'd all but taken hostage.

"I'm not a liar," Skullivan said, a stern look on his face.

"And you lot... were planning on chasing after the Change?" Mirova questioned. "Alone?"

Suddenly the generator at her feet was struck with a bullet, the crystal shattering and the machine combusting in on itself instantly. Metal shrapnel smashed into Mirova's side, the fire sending her flying forward into Boh. The plant, as quickly as life had sprouted, was engulfed in flames and destroyed.

Skullivan was knocked back by the explosion, smashing into Dustin as the two fell backward toward the others.

Mirova's hood flew off as she lay on Boh, panicked breaths mixed with pain. "Cowboy-ninja," She managed to breath.

At the sudden eruption of Mirova's weapon, Uluru instinctively attempted to leap put of the way, but was knocked back with the suddenly propelled Skullivan and Dustin.

Landing face down, he grunted as he looked up, quickly, to survey what had just occurred. A sudden explosive detonation from an unknown spurce. 'Cowboy Ninja' was something that Mirova had uttered after she'd taken the brunt of the fiery explosion. That man, the gunslinger from Dol-Duna? But would he really travel this far for a bounty whose posters had long since left.

But there was no time to dwell on that right now. He had the wind knocked out of him, but he still wouldn't let that stop him from going on the offensive to combat the cowboy-ninja or whoever their current assailant was.

Uluru drew put his sword and proceed to peer around the dunes of sand for their potential enemy. This was beginning to be a very odd week.

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."

Elise held her hands in front of her face to shield her eyes from the explosion. Before she knew what was entirely going on, A strange man was questioning Uluru. Elise recognized him from the bar, and hearing about it burning down made her stomach drop. She feared the worst from her friend but hoped she'd gotten out okay. "Someone here burned down the bar?" The words felt hollow, everything in her life was falling apart around her, suddenly she cursed the idea of craving adventure. She'd never meant this.

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."

"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?"

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.

"Not lava," Jake corrected. "Meltsand." He glanced up at the sun from under his hat, and then adjusted the wide-brimmed view. "We're making good time, we'll probably reach the town by nightfall. But we've passed into the boundaries of the Clan, so it's possibly we'll run into a scouting group. In fact..."

Jake paused, and raised his voice. "Listen, all of you. If we run into the Meltsand clan, keep your heads down and let me do the talking. They happen to know me, so we should be able to get by without fighting. I don't want any of rushing off into the dunes and attempting to snipe them, or doing some other stupid act that will get us all killed, since I'm quite aware that several of you are capable and willing to do that."

Shaking his head, Jake turned and kept walking, taking a small sip from the canteen at his waist.

Elise walked with the rest, ignoring their conversation. She could hear them arguing back and forth but wanted no part of it. She was ready to be in the new town but was happy they had supplies. She grabbed herself an apple and ate it hungrily, tossing the core into the sand behind them. She rolled her neck in an effort to alleviate the stiffness acquired from sleeping under the stars with her pack as a pillow.

The sun lowered down to kiss the sandy horizon, turning the sky into a fiery orange around the group who trundled along among the lengthening shadows of the dunes towering above them in sections. They mostly stuck to low ground because of the rusty wagon that rattled along. Climbing the dunes wasn't exactly a meager task, especially for exhausted, lost wanderers pulling along a cart, but Bohdana had a particular trick for doing it without exerting much energy.

Boh had separated herself from the group after the small argument she had a part in. She felt frustrated and sad - the sight of the sunset not helping with her mood. Just a day earlier, at this very time, she had lost her beloved uncle and her only remaining family to the sands. How could he, she thought angrily while tears pricked her eyes, how could he leave her like this. Surrounded by a group of strangers, one of which had attempted to kill her, the other smashing her only reason to keep going into the grains. Most frustratingly of all; leaving her with an impossible task.

She kicked the sand bitterly, watching the fog of yellow drift off into the wind. How could he leave her like this. It wasn't fair.

A thought popped into her head as she caught sight of Jake up ahead, shadowed by a particularly large dune beside them. She stopped for a moment and pulled a strange sort of metal board attached to her pack beside the rifle. In a swift movement Boh had twisted a small Taqa from her pouch into a little hole on one of the ends and in an instant the sand-glider powered to life.

The girl stepped onto the sand-glider while slinging her pack over her shoulders and, without speaking to the others, drifted upside the large dune of sand. As the wind blew her hairs over her face she looked out from the top, seeking a vantage point.

Almost instantly, Boh spotted the Meltsand camp in the distance.

Hundreds - perhaps thousands of tents dotted a vast expanse of sand in obscured patterns, but most notably she recognized metal vehicles and some other types of strange contraptions - catapults, batarams, large guns that looked like the smaller one Mirova carried. War machines. The whole place was like a military encampment. Bohdana swallowed and squinted down to the group below the dune, her young voice being carried in the wind, "Clan Meltsand is just up ahead!"

Elise sighed upon hearing Skullivan's reaction, "You've got the wrong idea, Wetlander. Clan Meltsand aren't too fond of outsiders. We need to handle this very carefully." She thought about the first and only time she'd run into members of clan Meltsand. She shuddered at the thought and found herself firmly gripping the Taqa crystals in her pack. "They take what they want, and don't care what it takes to get it," She eyed their supplies.