… and so I wondered. If I had intervened when I had first discovered her, could she have been saved before it was too late?
I convinced myself that the answer was no, and I slept well enough that night.
***
Shaking the morose sense of failure took time.
This sense arose from the knowledge that I could have made a difference. I could have saved that girl’s life. And it was exactly that which the girl had lost, her very life. For if one could no longer think or want, then how could they be called alive? That girl was worse than dead, and I could have prevented her fate, had I acted earlier.
This burdened me over the next few days. I did not go back out, I kept myself and my Tithes Sigil satisfied with the Cee I could pick from pockets or embezzle from my duties. This period let me process my guilt, and I found myself forgetting the bitterness, the emotional weight, of my failings. I found myself sleeping more easily.
Within a week, a sense of normalcy returned. At least, this was until Belobog sent a message to Cook. Why Cook and not myself, I was unsure. Whatever the reason, it was unappreciated, especially when Cook called for me that night, during my shift’s down-time, when the tavern’s crowd waned. With the other serving-girl watching the tavern's front, Cook had found an opportunity to discuss this sensitive topic in private, while she continued to work, prepping food for the next day.
"Kitten," Cook greeted as I pushed through the swing-door, entering the kitchen. She was kneading dough, and with more force than necessary, so much so that her claws were plucking at the dough, almost matching what a housecat might do to a particularly soft blanket.
Upon seeing this, I idly wondered if she would leave fur in the dough, and if it would burn off in the oven, adding some likely undesirable flavor. Before I could prompt, she spoke, flicking her tail, speaking with a husky growl.
"Word has arrived from your green-eyed devil," she said.
And that was how I had learned Belobog was scheming, for why else would she send word to Cook? I could guess at the subject of what was to come, and I was already trying to think of ways to dodge what would be asked of me. Of course, I had already come up with some arguments against risking life and limb, but none of the arguments were any good. The favor I owed her had yet to be done, and I found myself stalling in the task’s completion, although the task had since evolved from simply locating someone that Cook cared for.
Such an irritant! I silently bemoaned.
"My former employer is held prisoner,” Cook said. “This was known already..."
This former employer had been described as white-furred, and was a person of import and sentimental value to Cook. Cook had been made aware that this person was being held captive by the Opals, a crew of thugs holding substantial territory within the slums. Apparently, Belobog had sent additional news to Cook earlier, prompting this conversation with Cook.
"... My lady is treated worse than a slave, kept in a cramped cage. This is intolerable." Cook's tail lashed once, ears flattening against her skull, whiskers twitching with barely restrained ire. Her pupils narrowed to slits, a slow, deliberate blink conveying her simmering fury.
This entire situation would have been far less of an ordeal if this 'lady' had never been caught to begin with. I suspected that this 'lady' had exacerbated the situation through her own actions, creating unwanted consequences for myself.
Thus, I spoke perhaps without prior consideration. "If she was careless enough to get caught, then that is on her.” Saying this was perhaps in haste, for the moment I had finished speaking I realized just what it was that I implied, or rather explicitly stated. Victim blaming would hardly ever endear a person to the victim’s loved ones. Naturally, Cook hissed in displeasure, her ears pinning back further, shoulders rising as if to puff herself larger.
"No!" Cook insisted. "How could this be her fault that humans are evil and complicated things? Their very nature is vile trickery. My lady had been doubtlessly surrounded or perhaps betrayed. To say her current torture is deserved?" She finished in an angry hiss, her claws raking a wooden cutting board, leaving deep grooves.
I winced and nodded apologetically. “I spoke wrongly,” I admitted freely. "But performing a daring rescue from the heart of a well-established crew is far more than a simple favor should require. This you must admit.”
"Your skills are as sharp as my fangs. This is within your abilities. This is known."
I frowned.
"While I appreciate this confidence, the risk remains, and as you alluded to, there is much suffering in this city. If I were to intervene anywhere, it would be someplace closer and with less risk."
She clicked her tongue. "The kitten is foolish then,” she said.
I thought that her choosing to go from beseeching to insulting seemed an odd tactic. But I ignored the momentary confusion of mine as it would only weaken my position to mention it. Not only that, but Cook hardly gave me an opportunity to interject, so passionately was she speaking.
"Your intervention would prevent much suffering, not only delivering one dear to this one, but also helping to stop these humans’ other atrocities. Unless, humans peddling in slaves is pleasing…" she trailed off rhetorically. “Or perhaps, it is the theft of mind that is despicable, or only when humans are the chattel instead?”
I swallowed, but found my mouth dryer than expected. “W-what… ?”
"Foolish kitten indeed! Think this one is deaf and blind? Your dour mood, the scent of blood and misery clinging to your bedding, and your questioning of vile substances. Dumb humans may miss these things. This one is not human.”
“No, you most certainly or not,” I managed to say, recovering myself as I thought over what she had pointed out.
I supposed I had not been nearly as careful as I had thought. As for all of her observations, only one of them could be confirmed by the humans around me, and that one thing was hardly evidence of misdeeds. Though, perhaps my questions may have raised some eyebrows. Over the course of the week, I had performed some light investigative work to better understand what had robbed a girl of her mind. ‘Snuff’—more formally meohr-weed—was a controlled substance, smuggled from the Great Plains far to the south. That alone spoke volumes. The Crown turned a blind eye to mutagenic elixirs, but this? This was different. Outlawed, locked behind policies and checkpoints, meohr-weed was used to flavor meohrs, keeping them docile, making them eat. But in higher concentrations, it became something far worse—enough to drug a person without their knowledge. The implications were sickening. Especially considering that Cook was now bringing this up in regards to her lady, in regards to a well established gang.
Cook’s tail continued to swish, her pupils remained narrowed, oscillating just slightly in place. It gave me a pause to think. It did seem that Belobog had sent this intelligence with good intentions, although I had as of yet confirmed any of this with Belobog herself. Likely, Belobog would not have passed any of this information along unless she expected that I could achieve something meaningful. My doubts were if that something was intended for my benefit or not.
But, looking Cook in the eye, considering that a person she held dear was in jeopardy, and that the criminals were likely members of a trafficking ring of some sort… But–it would be dangerous, and disproportionate to the favor exchanged!
"Just what do you expect of me?" I asked, unable to come to a decision on my own, with emotions warring logic.
"To do as Kitten promised!" Cook demanded.
I had never promised to rescue anyone. I had offered to find the lady, nothing more. Certainly not contest an entire fortified group within their own home. The original favor had been offered for free meals to satisfy my obligate-carnivorous diet.
“I am unsure that the favor of breakfast is worth what you ask," I said flatly.
Cook’s eyes narrowed, as though she saw straight through me.
"Kitten should take more care with her allies, especially when her disguise is weaker than before."
I was taken aback, not expecting that she had seen through my Guise, either before or currently. Of course I had known Cook had her suspicions, but to confirm it so readily? Just how long had Cook known.
"Some allies have been covering the kitten's nightly dalliances... shedding suspicions from surrounding humans. Subtlety, something a kitten should learn."
Nightly dalliances? Did she mean...I froze, My fingers curled at my sides.
Cook leaned in, an almost purr to her voice. "Climbing rooftops, slipping windows, returning with a satisfied smile upon your face, with cream practically dripping from your snout..."
She must have sensed my growing sense of confusion and she decided to stop alluding to what I sometimes got up to at night.
"This one thinks helping my lady is in your best interest. Especially with how humans treat those of our kind."
I began to nod very slowly. Truthfully, I had wanted to help her from the start, because slavers were vile, and Cook was a useful friend to keep.
Sweet Delusions: 2/9 (+1)
“You mentioned details?”
***
I hung from a point where two buildings met, almost indolent and at ease.
This position overlooked a street locked in perpetual shadow, as it ran beneath where one building leaned against another. The larger of the two buildings had partially collapsed long ago, and was only held aloft by the shorter building which it rested against. Rather than condemning the structure, the locals had embraced it, adding ramshackle supports between them, even going so far as to create an almost hidden market plaza on the shorter building's roof.
An interesting place, and obviously under the Opals’ control, considering their enforcers periodically swept through and thrashed careless pickpockets. But as interesting as the market was, this was not where the transfer was to occur, at least not if Belobog was correct. Instead, the transfer between the Opals and the Kaiva would take place on the darkened street that ran between the two buildings.
But my business was not in this rooftop marketplace, but on the darkened street running between the two buildings. For this is where Belobog's intelligence had reported the exchange would happen this evening.
Since it was nearing late evening, I was missing my shift at Ma'Ritz. Cook had assured me that my absence would be covered. But even if my shift had gone uncovered, it would not be overly worrisome. I had received several interviews for other living accommodations–not interviews for a job, no, but for the opportunity to pay rent. This frustration I pushed aside for the time being.
From what I had learned from Belobog, the transaction should have already happened. I suppose it was a bit much to expect criminals to be anything but truant misanthropes, but as I hung there, hidden in the crook where the two buildings met, I could not help but feel impatient, going so far as to second-guess the inside knowledge that Belobog had somehow gained.
Because I had been waiting for over an hour.
During this time, my left arm had fallen asleep, which was novel at first, but quickly grew irritating. I switched to my right, holding myself aloft with a different arm. This was the third time I had switched. Were it not for my reduced weight and my ability to cling to any surface, I would have been forced to find another overlook.
There was one advantage afforded to me as I was waiting, hidden as I was. I had no need to maintain my Guise, which meant I had quickly escaped that confining form and allowed my true body to stretch and breathe. It was a bit of a mixed blessing, since this form also allowed my senses to also breathe, or more specifically, my sense of smell. The slums were noisy and they stank of rot and worse. Having the freedom of motion for my tail was still worth it though, even despite the unpleasantness.
Eventually, after waiting over two hours, there was a development below.
A reedy man wearing the pearlescent armbands of the Opals, had exited the stout building. From the wide band, I assumed he was some sort of lieutenant within the gang. He came accompanied with five other Opals, all wearing slimmer armbands, denoting both their allegiance and their lesser status.
The reedy man pointed towards both sides of the street, and two thugs broke off to each, with only a single Opal remaining by his side. This one appeared to be some sort of bodyguard, impressively large in stature, better armed than most, and hovering at the reedy man’s back. Within minutes, the flow of traffic through the street below stopped, with the Opals sending any hopeful passerby off to find a detour.
After the street was cleared, another quarter hour passed. The reedy man began fidgeting and pacing, muttering all the while. With my enhanced hearing, I picked up the man's mutterings. I only had to focus a little to do so.
“Of course they’re late,” the lieutenant muttered. "What's holding those animals up?" he asked one of his two guards. The guard, a thug really, shrugged in response. "Worthless."
While I had yet to lay eyes upon my target, I knew that the Opals must have had her somewhere nearby, likely in the same building that the man had exited from. I considered where the Opals had exited the stout building, the one with the rooftop market. It seemed likely that the Opals had a base of operations here, and it was likely where they were keeping the white Kaiva.
As I waited there, just as impatient as the lieutenant, I considered if it might not be better to simply break in and steal away with my target. But then I wondered how I would escape with a likely malnourished and sickly captive in tow. It was enough to make me hesitate, and a good thing I did, for not long after the Kaiva Delegation arrived, entering the street from the side nearest the Chasm.
This delegation was composed of several Kaiva, all far too well dressed for either the slums or for what would be expected of kunbeorn within the city, except perhaps the Estates. However, they seemed to have given up all pretense of slavery, except for the thin cloth chokers they wore. But with their smooth and deliberate motions, they certainly carried an air of both elegance and import. Of course, their embroidered coats and silken hoods helped hide their non-human traits, except their tails were all on full display. They all carried weapons openly, with most carrying a saber at their belt. In front of this delegation was their presumed leader. She strode with confidence, never once glancing at her followers. She was a head taller than the rest, and her golden eyes pierced the darkness, almost seeming to glow within the shadows of her hood. From her tail, I could see her fur shone with a lustrous black.
This leader shoved past the Opals guarding the entrance of the street and led her entourage towards where the fidgeting Opal lieutenant awaited.
Before the lieutenant even had a chance to so much as greet the Kaiva leader, she was already making a demand.
“Show us the princess,” the leader said in a tone that allowed for no negotiation.
However, both I and the reedy lieutenant perked up slightly at that. A princess? I wondered. What was a princess doing here, especially one from the Kaivan Empire, and did Cook actually have ties to royalty? I had not given the Kaivan Empire much thought, but I supposed it made sense that they had something resembling a feudal system. Perhaps the princess was a political exile? It was all speculation at this point. I would find out later.
Meanwhile, the conversation played out below me on the darkened street.
“W-what?” the man stammered, eyes darting between the Kaiva in front of him and his own thugs. His mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before he found his voice again. "Princess? No one told me— I wasn't informed she was someone important. I thought—just some Kaiva wench you wanted back."
The Kiavan leader narrowed her golden eyes, and her tail gave an angry flick. "This is no time to play deceptions,” the leader said, almost spat. “This is the exchange point. Where is our quarry?"
“She means the kunny,” the lieutenant’s bodyguard whispered to the reedy man. “That’s the princess, I think. With the white fur?”
The lieutenant glanced over his shoulder at the bodyguard as though to ask a question, but the Kaiva confirmed it first.
“That is correct. Bring her forth.”
“Ah, well–I will! I will,” the lieutenant said, hemming and hawing. “But… I need to check if it’s safe and good first, y’know?”
The Kaiva leader made a show of looking around at their surroundings, including the largely empty street, before letting out a soft, scoffing chuff. Her ears flicked back momentarily, as if suppressing the urge to roll her eyes.
"This? This is what your people call good? A den of brutes lurking in the open, the stench of rot and greed thick enough to choke on?" Her tail flicked sharply as she turned her gaze back to him. "How very... human." She tilted her head slightly, her whiskers twitching in a way that conveyed both amusement and disdain. "This appears safe. Deliver."
The lieutenant seemed to hesitate, just briefly, not quite making eye contact with any of the Kaiva. His bodyguard nudged the back of his shoulder, prompting the lieutenant to action.
“Right, o’course,” the lieutenant said, before giving a signal towards the building, where other Opals undoubtedly watched.
The door to the Opals’ den creaked open, spilling dim light into the alley.
Thugs emerged, their postures stiff with tension, dragging a bound Kaiva between them. Her head was covered, the fabric pulled tight to obscure her features, and a thick leather leash tethered her movements.
"Finally,” the Kaiva leader said. “This is her? The one we seek?” The question held a note of excitement and unease in equal measure.
The lieutenant nodded, quick to answer. He glanced towards the other thugs more than once, giving a feeling of weakness, or perhaps a trap.
The Kaiva delegation seemed suspicious of the Opals as well, perhaps worrying of a bait-and-switch or some other ploy. The leader of the delegation issued another demand.
"Then prove this is her."
At this demand, the bound figure barely stirred, her fur matted and streaked with grime.
From this, a moment stretched in heavy silence before one of the thugs stepped forward and yanked the sack away.
The princess, Cook’s lady, blinked blearily, her eyes dulled, her gums dry and lips chapped. The matted fur and stains from where she had been forced to wallow in her own waste showed that Cook had been right to urge me to action, and I now felt guilty at having allowed the situation to progress to such a miserable point.
A heavy feeling held me back from intervening just then, besides the fact that I would be grossly outnumbered. While I suffered through my own feelings of guilt and anxiety, the Kaiva delegation expressed their own discomfort, lashing their tails and snarling. Their fangs were fearsome and sharp indeed.
"Pathetic," one of the Kaiva sneered, though their ears flicked back, the sight of a once-proud figure in such a state stirring something almost unease. It seemed I was not the only one who reacted to the prisoner's dire straits. “But this is her,” the Kaiva delegation leader finished.
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"Course it’s her,” the Opal lieutenant said. “Think we’d try shit with ya, this close to the op? Pfft na, forget about it. But now that you’ve seen her, you’re happy, yeah?"
After the sack was once more secured over the princess’ head, the lieutenant waved at the rest of the Opals to stick around, bringing the number in his immediate vicinity up to six.
“Convinced,” the delegation leader scoffed. “No, this one cannot be happy. While our quarry need be hunted and retrieved, such abysmal care of one of her blood brings shame. How will these ones return the princess with her in such a state? Now, much care will be required prior to bringing her back. Think our priests wish this delay? Think this delay brings glory? Answer should be obvious.” She finished with a vehement hiss.
“Haaa,” the lieutenant trailed off, shuffling in place. “Look, we’ll give her over, alright? It’s just…”
"Was this not agreed upon by your betters?"
One of the Kaiva hissed.
The man backed up a step while waving his arms to calm, not that it came off as anything but insulting.
"It’s not that we’re not gonna hand her off, cuz we will. It was–it was–just making sure you deliver your side, is all..."
Even the other Opals regarded the lieutenant with a mixture of irritation and ire. The bodyguard seemed to flinch back from the lieutenant. The Kaiva took it marginally well, considering they refrained from immediate violence. Instead, their leader spoke with scorn.
“Questioning our integrity as your allies? Rather foolish to do so at this point, yes?"
The lieutenant coughed and glanced at the ground, all while shifting from foot to foot.
"But of course, our side will deliver,” the Kaiva woman spoke with firm confidence, a finger tapping her stomach casually. One of her claws was extended in the motion, revealing a metallic sheen rather than dull keratin. More than one of the Opals glanced at the subtle movement. “Unless... the humans have second thoughts… ?"
The woman went on to question if combat would decide the day and shatter their alliance. At the thought of battle, several of the Kaiva began to bend forward onto their toes, almost crouched. Again, the threat of violence through body language remained subtle, yet left the Opals all the more leery. The lieutenant most of all. He coughed and trembled just slightly.
"No, no 'course not. Just... we're worried, since there's nothing tangible holding you here, y'know?"
"Our integrity is under your doubt?" Before the man could offer more platitudes or some other nonsense, the woman called for her second’s blade. The man began to protest, gulping loud enough for me to hear from where I hid.
"Woah, hold up there-" the man began protesting.
The Kaiva chuffed at this display. “This is not an attack.” A scimitar cleared its scabbard and was held out, blade first, towards the woman.
Ignoring the lieutenant’s fearful rambling, the Kaivan leader gripped the edge of the blade with her hand, before staring at the lieutenant. “Our side will provide necessary assistance,” she spoke as she ran her hand along the blade, leaving a red streak along the metal and causing blood to dribble from her hand.
“Wha–”
Then she flicked the excess blood to the ground
“Our blood and our word. Do not insult our word again.
“Uh–yeah?” the lieutenant agreed with an air of confusion. Before he could spew anything else, his bodyguard shoved his shoulder and whispered at the lieutenant to shut up. “Right," the man said, grimacing. "Alright, yeah. This... works. The boss'll be fine with this. I think. The kun is yours. Want her tied up?"
The Kaiva hissed, sounding disgusted. "Humans," she said as though swearing.
The lieutenant backed up, holding his hands out to placate. “Alright, alright. As she is then. Hand her off,” he directed the Opals holding the leash and securing the princess. “Go on, give her over,” he said again after he saw his thugs’ hesitation to approach the Kaiva delegation.
The leader snapped her claws and two of the Kaiva stepped forward to grab the princess at both sides. During this time, the blooded scimitar was held somewhat reverently by its owner. The leader glanced at the blade, then the Kaiva holding it. “Yes,” she said, answering an unspoken question. The Kaiva then bowed before bringing the blade to his face to lick the blade clean of blood.
Several of the humans cringed at the sight, but showed the sense of holding their more offensive talk until later. Once the princess was secured, the Kaiva leader snapped her claws once more, and the delegation turned to leave.
"Then our business is done,” she said over her shoulder.
The princess was shoved along between four of the delegation, with two before and two behind and the leader holding the leash itself from the very front. They strode back out onto the public street, where there was some traffic. They walked with such confidence that the traffic parted around them.
It was almost time to act, but not quite yet. Something told me to wait. So I followed along from the rooftops and his-rise walls.
I watched and I waited, seeking an opportunity to intervene. I doubted I would win a direct fight with all of them combined–I was unsure if I even wanted to fight them at all. As far as I could tell, they were decent enough people. However, I still needed to rescue the princess. I needed to delay the delegation some way, or at the least incapacitate them long enough for me to slip away with the lady and allow my Talents to make us untrackable.
So I followed and I watched. It was dark enough now, with evening turning to night, that unless I stood before a torch, I doubted anyone would catch sight of me.
Eventually, I began to feel an almost intangible weight fall upon me, but not a physical weight. It certainly felt odd, almost anticipatory, except I was unsure of what. But a moment of opportunity must have been upon me, or so this strange feeling led me to believe.
I had been scanning the streets, but now I looked much more closely at the traffic, following the sensation until my eyes fell upon the likely source. Rounding the corner, onto the same street, there was a squad of knights performing a routine patrol. They were far enough that the intervening traffic prevented either Kaiva or knights from sighting one another.
Impending Sense: 8/9 (+1)
When the knights had turned onto the street, there had been several blocks separating them from the Kaiva. When only a block separated the knights from the delegation, I decided that the knights had come close enough. Any closer, and the parties would likely react, with the Kaiva most likely retreating down a side street.
Thus, I finally, finally, acted. Despite my position several stories above street level, I pushed off from the wall and leapt out into the open air, aiming for just behind the delegation. In my enthusiasm, I may have acted carelessly.
I nearly landed on an old woman as she stepped into where I had aimed. She must have seen a purple blur cross down before her, as she flinched back just in time to avoid a collision. I knew I was featherlight, but given her age, I doubted she would have escaped with less than a broken bone.
I hit the cobblestones, bending my legs, bottoming out in a crouch. My ankles stung and my feet felt like pins and needles had jabbed them, prickling unpleasantly. My quads burned and felt on the verge of tearing, but they held. In that split second, as the old woman sneered down at where I crouched, I checked myself over. Everything remained hale, damage was light. Which was good, because the rearmost Kaiva was already turning to see what had caused the disturbance to his rear.
I sprung forward and dashed towards the leftmost rear Kaiva guard. His head was half turned my way by the time his yellow eyes flinched wide in surprise. Before he could hiss out a warning of any sort, I was upon him, aiming to incapacitate, not kill. The other rearmost Kaiva had also begun turning by this point, likely having sensed something was wrong.
The first Kaiva was to the left of the princess. I ran through on the right, putting myself between him and the princess who was still a pace ahead.
I snapped my left hand upwards, fingers straight and inline with my talons. I could have aimed for the throat, but I was hoping to avoid killing him. Instead, I angled up to the underside of his chin. My talons met fur and flesh, sliding past bristling whiskers before digging in. I felt the resistance of muscle, the sudden give as my claws pierced skin, scraping against his jawbone with a grating scrape that sent vibrations up my fingers. That went a bit further than I had intended. I jerked the hand back out as I went by, but the sudden motion caused more tearing on the way out.
A sharp hiss escaped him as blood welled around my claws, warmth spreading over my fingertips before he tore away, leaving red streaks across his chin.
The other rearmost Kaiva had seen me by this time and had hissed instinctively, already drawing his scimitar. He was too slow. I lunged to the side, my body responding faster than ever before, fluid and lithe. Before he could finish his draw, my claws slashed across his face. He flinched back just quickly enough to save his eye, but the gash on his forehead would blind him, and his stumble would further delay his reprisal.
There was little to no time to think of how close I had come to crippling a relatively innocent person. I chose to avoid examining why I felt more empathy for non-humans that I injured. Best to avoid these thoughts when in the midst of it all.
From that side lunge, I shifted into an almost comical squat, still carried forward from my original dash, and I shot forwards and upwards, straight into the captured princess. My shoulder met the lower back of the princess as I continued forwards and upwards, lifting the princess in the process.
The princess yowled, but it would take much more than that to break a back, but it could not have been comfortable. Still, better some pain now and freedom, than risking getting slogged down by respecting the princess’ comfort. Besides, the princess was already squirming around to face her stomach towards me. It did throw my balance off slightly.
The third step, just after I collided with the princess, the three Kaiva ahead of us had already spun towards me, although they were still realizing the situation as my ambush had been sudden.
The delegation leader hissed a question as she spun, until she saw me barrelling her way with the princess on my shoulder. Her hissed question turned into an almost-yowl as she jumped to the side and began snapping out a command.
In the past, I had learned my lesson regarding my own lack of momentum. Rather than simply push forward, I also lifted upwards, turning the princess’ weight to my own advantage. I had enough strength to manage this easily, and with both our weight combined, my momentum was great enough to push through the Kaiva immediately ahead of us.
Their scimitars were slashing through the space I was traveling through. The one on my right aborted their strike to avoid wounding the princess. The one of the left brought his blade down at a diagonal. His footing was weak due to his sudden spin and reposition, allowing me to shift my momentum downwards a foot, and to the right, using the princess to push through one of the Kaiva.
The scimitar swept down behind me. I pivoted and twisted and felt a tingling burn on my forearm as I just barely avoided losing my tail completely. Cold metal sheared a portion of my fur and nicked the skin of my tail, stinging and eliciting a sudden yelp.
Evasion I: 5/9 (+1)
The pain reminded me of my own foolishness. A certain clarity came. Still, I made excuses for myself. Everything had been moving so quickly that I had forgotten one of my most powerful tools in my kit. Well, not forgotten, I advised myself. Rather, saved, as I could only use this skill so often before exhaustion set in. But, in hindsight, I realized that this frugality on my part had been arrogance. This was a failing I addressed immediately.
All of these thoughts crossed my mind by the time I had taken my fourth step from after landing. I began preparing the mental construct as I took my fifth step, as I was passing the Kaiva delegation leader. I was distracted enough by what I was planning, both the feel and the vision. It was not until after the leader’s claws were raking down my collar and breast that I realized I had been wounded, although my jacket had absorbed the worst of it.
And then I was past her. Were I not weighed down by the princess, I would have been quick enough to lose any pursuit without worry. But as burdened as I was, even if I could maintain a brisk run, I doubted I could outrun the fleet-footed Kaiva.
I pushed that mental muscle that twists, that shoves the construct from my mind to another’s perception. In this instance, I targeted all of the delegation. The twisting ratcheted into place, but I could feel that the casting had not been completely successful. There was too much resistance.
One of the Kaiva swore from somewhere behind me.
“What sorcery is this!” he hissed.
From their perspective, a heavy black curtain should have fallen across their paths, separating them from myself.
While I hastened towards where the knights should be, I examined the straining twisting mental muscle that controlled and held the tangible hallucination in place. It felt as though several screws were missing, or that the structure was shy of several supporting pinions. This was the first time I had felt such a weakness after casting a hallucination.
I hoped it would hold, but seconds later, I knew that it had at least partially failed, as I could feel one of the mental screws pop loose.
“After the wretch!” The Kaiva leader commanded, scolding her underlings. “What addles your mind, move!” she finished, reprimanding her soldiers. As she shouted, another screw popped loose, then another, then all of them, bringing the entire hallucination down. A chunk of my reserves had been lost despite the fact that the hallucination ended far earlier than necessary.
Clawed feet scraped the cobblestones behind me, already approaching. I would not maintain any degree of separation for long. I lacked other tricks, unless I chose to abandon the princess, which I would only resort to if my own life were in peril.
This meant I was forced to use that twisting mental muscle again. I could not afford another failure, not if the Kaiva were soon to be upon me. I only needed another ten or twenty seconds to reach near enough to the knights. From there, I was unsure of exactly what I would do, but I would figure that out after the more immediate problem was resolved.
I focused much more strongly upon the Kaiva leader, slamming the same visualization into place, along with the added weight of lead like cloth. It began twisting out of my grip, almost locking into place but not exactly where it needed to go. I held it longer than I had ever before, gripping it and honing it more exactly over the stubborn perspectives before it finally escaped my grip, completing its twisting boiling pour, this time filling into the other perception more efficiently.
The hallucination stuck. I knew it did. From the yowls, and several barked laughs from onlookers, I knew it. Had I chosen to risk a stumble, I would have glanced behind to watch the Kaiva wrestle an invisible netting of black cloth. But I was not foolish enough to do such. No. I ran ever faster, trying to ignore the shaking weakness I felt in my limbs, as though I were hyperglycemic. My reserves of energy were nearing empty after casting such a demanding hallucination across multiple stubborn perspectives.
But the hallucination held, and I experienced my forearm burning, letting me know that at least one of my sigils had grown.
Tangible Hallucinations I: 4/9 (+1)
I derived some pleasure from the panicked hisses and the leader’s angry yowls. Perhaps, too much pleasure, to a distracting degree. I found that I could still tweak the hallucination, even after it took effect. With a sharper twist, a rag more tightly wringed, I could impose just a few differences, letting the curtain feel sharp where it touched flesh, a contradictory blade like sharpness imposed across the flat curtain which tangled my foes.
A brief chuckle escaped my lips.
The princess had finally repositioned, although she still squirmed. Her rump was practically before my face, with her white tail swinging about obnoxiously.
The hallucination was effective enough that I thought I might have been able to lose the Kaiva delegation then and there. But the princess was a squirming burden, and one that had begun complaining. I also learned, that by eeking out those dregs from the hallucination and enforcing an additional change, after it had already set, that the hallucination grew strained.
The supports of the mental structure began to break, one after the other, creating a cascading failure which would soon break entirely. Between keeping my focus upon that, upon the princess, and upon my steps forward, I had reached the limits of my concentration.
“Quit your squirming!” I ordered the princess, navigating the infrequent traffic along the street.
“T-then stop bounc-cing m-me!” the princess retorted, her speech distorted as my shoulder was jarring her diaphragm with each step.
I was about to retort when I realized I was on course to collide with a pair of workers walking together.
“Move!” I shouted, pushing through the middle.
“What? Hey watch it!” their shouts mixed together, but they did part, with some slight shoving applied as I barrelled through the middle of them. But as they had been walking together, I had not seen the handcart directly ahead.
“Mother!” I snapped a swear, dodging left and nearly overbalancing with the larger counterweight across my shoulders. I managed to mostly dodge, but the princess bounced her head against the wooden cart, hard enough to spill the cart the opposite direction.
“Oaf!” the princess snapped, attempting to kick out at me and mostly failing, but still risking me losing balance.
“Did you want to stay with your captors?” I asked, if somewhat breathlessly from my run. “Because that is–”
“Just get us out-t of here! And run better!” the princess protested, a mixture of Kaiva and Imperial mixed together in a pigeon.
From behind, I heard a pained scream, and an accusatory “Kunweald! Beast! Back–get the enforcers–”
From the strange shouts, I did risk a glance behind. One of the workers I had jostled aside had been too slow to move aside as the Kaiva moved past, one of them had cut the man down. Bits of stringy flesh whipped through the air from one of the Kaiva’s claws. They had not even bothered to use their blade upon the man, simply slashing away with their claws. I could not be certain, but I thought that was a manner of disrespect of some sort in the Kaivan culture. It left my own shallow wounds on my collar and chest burn all the more, though not nearly enough to hinder.
The knights were less than ten seconds ahead, although I could not be sure. They must have heard the commotion by this point. But the Kaiva were nearly upon me once more.
I was running on fumes, but I needed another hallucination. I decided to keep it weak, a distraction, if nothing more. I would refill my energy once I had a chance, once I could settle the princess down at least somewhat.
I threw out a fog of shadow. Simple, not tangible, vision only. The twisting came easier than before. It landed more fully. The feeling of weakness grew. One of my Sigils burned.
In my distraction, I crashed against a plodding meohr. It looked down with dumb eyes. I nearly spilled the lady against the street, but managed to retain her across my shoulders, even as I stumbled and nearly avoided falling.
The princess yowled–she had been the one to take the brunt of the collision.
I went around the meohr and kept running.
Nine yards later, the hallucinations broke.
Two yards later, I finally laid eyes upon the knights.
I nearly stumbled at the sight of them, as I quickly realized that there was one thing I really should have noticed earlier, before I had leapt. It made me question why it was I had suddenly felt such an impetus to act when I had. It felt as though there were some chicanery at works. Because leading the group of knights on patrol, waltzing through the slums with all her armor on except a helm, was none other than the bluish-blonde haired giantess strutting in all her brash glory.
Sir Kate Guardson.
Her bright eyes brightened even further as she saw me, perking up from her slouched saunter.
Her lips went through the motion of speaking, but no voice accompanied it, at least nothing more than a breathed whisper. She mouthed my name, “Jackie?” A ripple ran through me, a slight shudder, a raising of goose pimples across the flesh.
Just barely I managed to keep one foot ahead of the other.
Chance Encounters: 6/9 (+1)
The shouts from earlier, from the bloodletting caused by the Kaiva’s pursuit, caused an echoing shout to ripple forward.
“Who goes there?” one of the knights demanded. “A kunweald?”
A kunbeorn was a ‘domesticated’ beast-kin, whereas any other flavor of the term was even more derogatory than that. Meanwhile, the Kaiva were near to reaching me. I could not be sure if any vestiges of my hallucination still held. So, while Kate and I shared a glance, I mouthed a word in return.
“Help,” I said, before immediately shifting direction and sprinting down the first sidestreet that I saw.
The knights began rushing forth, towards me. They likely would have followed, except the bloody Kaiva were soon upon them, pushing through to chase after me.
As I ran down this sidestreet, I knew I had only a short amount of time to escape. However, I was running low on energy. I had thought ahead and accounted for this. I grabbed a small pouch from my belt and pressed it against my Tithes Sigil. I felt the Cee transfer their power to my Mark, giving me enough to cast at least another hallucination.
From the street behind, I heard a familiar bellowing shout. “What is this?!” one of the knights bellowed. “Where are your owners–” they started to demand.
I refused to let this distraction pass without taking advantage of it. I hit the end of the sidestreet, crossed another, then sprinted up the side of a tenement.
The sudden change in direction caused my package to sputter. “What?!” the princess asked. “Why–up? But–” Likely, she was confused by the immediate change in acceleration upwards.
The commotion had followed the first sidestreet. I glanced behind and below as I climbed, and I saw the Kaiva rushing down the same street, with the knights clashing against several Kaiva who had been left behind.
Perhaps due to the noises the lady had made, or perhaps due to misfortune, the leader of the Kaiva looked up and spotted me just as I crossed over the cusp of the tenement.
At that point, a certain blond haired maniac bellowed in laughter, swiping her sword through the air to flick the blood off as she began pursuit down the sidestreet, after the Kaiva leader. The bulk of the other knights lagged behind, dealing with the other Kaiva.
Of the Kaiva in pursuit, only the leader and another of the soldiers remained by her side. I saw her hiss at the soldier, before sending him bounding away on all fours, in the direction of the Opals’ territory. I could imagine what had been instructed.
I heard the leader shout as I crossed over the rooftop to the otherside, but I chose to continue on, not listening to whatever she had to say.
At the edge of the building, I jumped. The gap between this building and the next was a bit larger, but the next was leaned away from me, meaning when I landed on the wall it was more of an incline. I continued running.
Before I cleared the crest of the next rooftop, I saw Kate flying through the air, sword held overhead for a strike. I shook my head and kept running.
All the while, the princess shrieked and kicked, somehow finding a hidden well of energy despite her initial wretched state. Perhaps it was a front that came with being royalty, some unending well of presentation.
“Unhand me brute!” the princess demanded.
I did not have the chance to respond, as I was leaping between another two rooftops, this time dropping several stories before landing. She cried out in both pain and shock upon landing, and I winced from both the noise and sympathy. I changed my route to avoid the worst of the elevation drops, although it would make the journey more circuitous.
After another block was passed, the lady tried reasoning with me again.
“At least get these bindings off,” she said, before using both her bound hands to slam ineffectually against my back. “And what even are you? Not one of my people, that is for certain…”
I suppressed the urge to groan, and then the urge to snap. Because in the distance, perhaps a block away, on the other side of the strip of buildings, I heard the commotion of clashing steel and both shouts and yowls of pain, all the while a certain mad-lady laughed.
“Keep quiet,” I said in a hushed tone. “We are far from safe just yet.”
Talents:
- Athleticism I (4/9):
- Climbing I (5/9)
- Featherlight I (5/9)
- Inversion (4/9)
- Gymnastics (5/9)
- Stealth II (2/9)
- Trackless Tracks I (8/9)
- Area Coverage (8/9)
- Alchemical Immunity: (2/9)
- Unnatural Concealment: (4/9)
- Eschiver I (7/9)
- Evasion I (5/9) (+1)
- Impending Sense (8/9) (+1)
- Lucky Break I (6/9) (+1)
- Chance Encounter (6/9) (+1)
- Courtly Dancing: Treachery I (5/9)
- Flexibility I (4/9)
- Persuasive Lies I (1/9)
- Sweet Delusions (2/9) (+1)
- Her Flesh: (3/9) (+1)
- Always Form: (3/9) (+1)
- Her Love: (3/9) (+1)
- Tangible Hallucinations I: (4/9) (+1)
Spells:
- [Slot removed]
- Guise of the Kitsune I (3/9)
- Malleable Form: (7/9)
- Passive Enervation: (5/9)
- Tithes to Above: (3/9) (+1)
Gifts:
- Obsession (5/9)
- Closed (0/9)
- Closed (0/9)