The Age of Discovery

The Skyborn, whom were up front, suddenly stopped at Davon's remark. Of course he was right.
Cay gave them a quick 'stop' sign and hushed them as quietly as they could. Whilst the group was halting, he shoved something into his eyes, which produced a quiet grunt of pain.
Silenced dominated, if it wasn't for the heavy beating of leathery wings above, and the restlessness of the rek, which was unnerving beyond understanding - if just those damned beasts would be quiet!

The ashas came closer, and with each moment passed, it became more and more clear that they weren't going to pass over. The avians where headed directly for them.

But then, as they were readying themselves for a fight with the birds, something unexpected happened. They heard voices, human voices, in Elsta.

"Do you see anything?"
"Yeah, I thi-"
One of the reks let out a heavy exhalation, to everyone's dismay.
"There! There! Get them!" one of them yelled, and before any in the party could react, a loud gunshot ringed and a pellet strafed the ground. This set off a wave of actions - the reks screeched and began to panic, the Skyborn whipped them all into sprint, and the ashas came closer and closer with intimidating screeches.

Bullets flew around their ears, and they heard the sounds of cloth falling on the ground behind them, presumably nets. It didn't help that the attackers kept yelling to spur on the birds. It was downright upsetting.

(( Co-post with Teo. ))

" What the..."
Qali leaned lower to the saddle - luckily for her, she already was quite low to the rek's neck - and glanced over her shoulder, sending Shyna forward with more speed. She tried to count the amount of pursuers, but the layer of dust in the air behind them, set off by the reks, was clouding the vision. With a low grunt, Qali wrapped the reins around the pommel of the saddle and with now free hand lured out a bundle of tied up vials.
" You had something to set the fire off??"
Qali threw the question towards Za'den, as her rek caught up with him and now was moving dangerously close to his. She reached out to the man with her hand extended and holding the bundle of vials out to him.
" Set it off behind us, the grass will catch fire faster, the mixture is highly flammable!"
Trying to pass something over, while in a mad ride, oh how risky she was playing.

"Very well!"
With a rapid reaction, the Tinker snatched the vials. He had put his guns back after Davon told him off, and by so had his hands free. Holding to his rek with his legs, he drew out a device from his coat, and started working to attach the vial to it with the help of some metal thread.
"T.N.T, Trikkr National Timebomb. Just need to adjust it right!"
Za'den at least tried to explain to Qaliath, but wasn't sure if she really understood. He finished the wiring of the bomb and started to turn some cogs to adjust the explosion. With a light laugh, he turned his eyes towards the enemies.
"Get ready!"
Grabbing the bomb in his right hand, he raised it, ready to toss.
" Head!"
Qali hissed through her teeth and right in time he complied to her sudden command - a bullet whistled right where his head was just a second ago. Qaliath herself leaned back to the saddle and slowed down a little. Where he was about to question her sanity, it became clear, that she seemed to distract the fire on herself, so he would have a clean 'shot' for himself. Shyna, with her black scales, was larger than other reks in their group, due to being a female speciment, and caught more attention.

" Let me know when!"
Another glance back, as she started maneuvering on the way from side to side, not letting the pursuers to get a perfect aim.
"Go!"
Putting all force in the throw, Za'den tossed the bomb behind them. Hoping for the best he kept his eyes on the makeshift weapon as it flew through the air. Qaliath had just passed as it exploded, sending out a wave of heat and fire jsut behind the woman. With some luck the flames would stop the avians.
"Hah! Let's ride fast now!"
Going low, he grabbed the reins and increased the speed, hoping to race off any remaining avians.
Qali lifted herself in the saddle lightly, still leaning low down to it, and whipped Shyna with the reins into greater speed.
Grass indeed would catch fire much faster - a good distraction on both sides, with the flames and smoke.

The bright light flashed, when Qali wrapped one arm around Shyna's neck and kept murmuring a quiet notes of the very old lullaby, that women in the Republic used to sing to their children. Shyna was used to it - it calmed her down since the very little age.
However, the beast got startled by Davon's sudden flight out of the saddle. Not that her rider was any less surprised, but she managed to pull the reins to the side and follow the Turaian. It seems, they will have to meet the combat anyways. Or leave both Davon and Qaliath there, since one can't stay in saddle and other one rushed off to his rescue.

(( Co-post with Sinq. ))

Shyna was terrified of fire, but was it Qali's skill or just the instinct to follow someone more experienced, she avoided the flames easily and took sharp turns and looped jumps through the tall grass.
Qaliath herself, before entering the growing flaming hell, pulled up the scarf around her neck and it covered her face all the way up to the eyes. Thick material, soaked with dried up herbal mixtures, was there for exactly such situations.
“ Davon?!”
She called out loud, her hoarse voice rolling through the air weakly at first, but soon it gained strenght and was audible on the background of the crackling in fire grass. Trying to find a man in this inferno was difficult.

The inferno was incredible. The fumes coming from the burning grass made impossible to see even five steps infront of you.
Davon had landed hard. He was unconscious for a good minute or so before he awoke. A patch of his cloak had lit on fire. As soon as he could form thoughts he started to remove his ebon cloak, by force. It teared off easily.
The burning rag was thrown to the side as Davon grabbed his hammer. It was heated by the flames. The Turaian let out a roar as his hands grasped the hot metal. He then started to look for a way out of the flames. His lungs felt like they were being torn apart. Then he heard someone calling his name.
" Davon?!"
Qali called out again, but quickly fell silent, noticing his panicking rek nearby - man himself should be somewhere close too. She ignored the rek and passed it swiftly, before beast decided to flail around aimlessly. In her fast riding Qali nearly missed Turaian himself, but luckily for him, the bright flame licked the grass and lighted up his silhouette.
" Come on, get in the saddle!"
Shyna stopped close to him and Qali herself moved forward in the saddle, leaving it free for him and extending her arm to him.


Qaliath?
Davon was confused, but this wasn't a time for thinking so he reached out to the Elsta woman and making his way onto the rek. He placed the hammer on his shoulder.
"Make haste, Qaliath!"
She shoved a folded handkerchief into his hand, as soon, as he found his seat in the saddle.
" Cover up, before you breathed in more toxins."
Short glance was given to him over her shoulder, after which she pulled the reins and leaned forward, shifting weight on the poor beast's back. Shyna hissed quietly, but sprinted away from the place, diving under the leaping flames. Only now it was clear, how well Qali was with this rek- it seemed, as if they were one, rider and the steed. Qali leaned to the side - Shyna followed it with a turn. And this close he could notice a growing red spot on lady's arm. Seems like not only his hands will need to be taken care of.

A few moments passed in the inferno, that surrounded them dangerously, when Shyna flew right infront of the Skyborn's rek, where Qali didn't make a noise. Maybe Davon should throw something towards Cay. And he did. Literally.
Davon reacted upon seeing the Skyborn.
"Cayrodyn! This way!"
He handled his glasses pouch of his belt in a single pulling fashion and threw it straight at the Skyborn, hoping that it wouldn't miss.

As Cayrodyn went into the fires, Za'den turned his head away and charged the opposite direction, hunting down the supply reks. Once he got close enough he snapped their reins and forced them to be dragged along. Some way from the fire, he tied the reins to a tree and turned to walk back to the fire.

As he got closed he tapped down lenses over his goggles not to be blinded by the bright flames. He seeked along the fire edge for the others but could not see them yet. With a sigh he took a step forward.

"There! A survivor!"

The Asha riders were back! Through the smoke the Tinker could see them move towards him. Gunfire sent bullets crashing around him.

"As you wish. As the cogs spin and the gears move, come at me!"

Drawing out his revolvers, Za'den quickt got aim on two of the three riders at once. Gears inside the weapons shifted as they loaded.

Fly closer little birds, the winds of luck just turned against you!

With a fierce scream he releases a volley of bullets towards the riders. Hoping the supreme aim of a Trikkr pistol would be the solution to this problem, as it had been to so many other. The shots ripped through the air, even to be heard for the others.

The first response to the volley of gunfire was a piercing shriek of a dyign animal; an asha had been hit and was whirling towards the ground, the rider following in a horrified scream. They both disappeared in the molten inferno.
However, said inferno was already dying out - the thick plume of smoke and gas was choking the crimson flames, however it still wasn't any cooler in there, and the fog was still permeating ever ounce of air in there.

Though as soon as the three had found each other, they rushed back out, and once that goal was completed, a pouch smacked against the back of Cay's head, and it was only through a quick reflex that he managed to catch it.
Almost as if Davon had hit an invisible button, the bioluminescence flared up all around his body, and his eyes shone through the lenses, almost as bright as the evolving fire behind them.
"Is it truly the time to assail me, human? Is there not enough pressure already?"
The voice was loud, and it didn't suit Cayrodyn - to see him angry was truly a strange sight. The lights didn't make it look any less spiteful, though, and the message struck through pretty clear.

But they certainly didn't have time for quarrels now - with two riders still after them, they'd have to confront the unknown attackers, or make it to the nearest jungle unscathed, which was less than a kilometre away.

" Are you out of your mind?"
Qali grabbed a hold of Davon's wrist, not letting him slide off the saddle, even though it cost her and Shyna highly uncomfortable position, but he waved her off easily - the pain stung through her arm suddenly and she herself only now noticed seething between the scales of her jacket blood. Cursing quietly on her language, woman glanced up at the two, pressing two fingers between the scales. Pain shock wore off.
Oh really now, two children, one worse than another... Wonder, then, if his lights react on every emotinal and physical activity, hmm...
A moment of curiousity sparked through her annoyed thoughts, but it disappeared the same quickly, after which Qali just barked at them both. Even if her 'bark' sounded more soothing, than demanding.
" Calm down, both of you, not the time to throw your manliness around, dear something you believe into... Stay both of you, if one gets shot, at least other will back up. I will find Za-..."
Last words trailed off, as Qali blinked few times and pointed out on Trikkr's silhouette a bit ahead of them.
" Or I won't..."
And her voice sank into silence, because at this point, Za'den started shooting.

One down, two left.

Diving aside, the Tinker got behind a tree. Two shots hit the tree, and several others followed, crashing around him as he reloaded. Once both revolvers was ready, Za'den quickly checked around the tree. He dived to the ground as the two riders flew by, on e of them almost striking him down with a bayonet.

"Okay, that's it!"

Roll. Turn momentum. Za'den was rapidly up on his feet. He readied for their next attack, but it didn't come directly.

"More survivors! And they do not have guns!"

The aviators were turning for Cay and Davon, readying to fire. The Tinker bent his left arm and placed his right one on top, getting a steadier aim. Two other lenses folded down over his right eye. He adjusted a switch and some gears inside his revolver started to move, extending the pipe a little.

Zooming active, enhanced accuracy on, balanced, time to kill.

"Hey, you couldn't hit a rek from five yards! Let me show you how a true gunslinger does it!"

With one of the remaining riders in aim, he pressed down the trigger. He could probably not get both even if lucky, but hopefully he would give the others time to react.

(( Co-post with Marw.))


Shyna, watching the landing of shot down Asha, seemed to ignore her rider's protests and followed the falling beast, thus bringing Qali first to the scene. While rek seemed to nibble on the bleeding corpse of the avian, Qali slid off the saddle and clicked the safety off her pistol, aiming it at the rider. She tried to ignore pain in the arm and switched to speaking purely Estla, seeing it was much easier for her.
" Now, before I shot your brains out, because my trigger finger is getting tired - as an Advisor of the Republic's Research team, I demand some explanations. And fast, my patience is on a short fuse."
Her hand was slightly shaking, but the muzzle seemed to remain aimed. No, she wasn't very good with the guns, but surely she knew how to use those.
The rider was, by all measures, not a part of the army. He wore a heavily worn out, leather vest, nothing underneath, a red bandana was tied around his forehead, and his boots had home-made spurs attached to the heels. By the looks of his arm, which was bent in an impossible arc, one could safely say he wouldn't be going anywhere.
"Go stick that pretty gun up in your dark places, wench."
He spat out a mouthful of blood. Apparently, the arm wasn't his only wound.
"I don't give a rek's pile of steaming crap about you government lapdogs."
" Oh, I see."
Her calm face with nicely cut features suddenly showed so much disgust, that it seemed, she would just leave the conversation. But she didn't, instead thrusting her small heel into his shoulder of the broken arm, still keeping aim to his head.
" Who sent you? Speak, if you want to live."
Quiet, hoarse voice of hers lowered to hissing, spiteful and still full of disgust.

A stark hiss erupted from the wounded in pain.
"Cheap shot from a cheap whore."
He snarled angrily, showing off a nice set of yellow, rotting teeth.
" I bet my rek will gladly devour you alive."
Another painfull kick with the heel, now on the broken spot. She seemed to know where exactly to press, to make this pain even worse, than it already was. Strangely enough, woman remained untouched by the further insults - afterall, she spent a lot of time on the streets of the city and heard quite a lot there.
"Stupid bitch" he snarled, but he seemed resigned.
"Alright, alright, I'll answer you bloody questions."
" Well, isn't that just wonderful. First up - who sent you?"
Qali moved her foot off him and stepped back a little, still holding the pistol somewhat in the aim - not really pointing it at the man, but certainly not relaxing either, ready to raise it again. Others seemed to be on the way towards them too.

"None of your conceee- alright. Alright! Just don't shoot me."
He lowered his head in shame.
"My brothers and I work for the Triangle of Blood."
" I gave you a word - you speak, you stay alive. What is the Triangle of Blood?"
Qaliath wrinkled her nose lightly from the pain in her arm, but kept watching the man calmly. Somehow he could tell, that she wanted to hear more, before her companions arrived. Maybe because she wasn't so sure in their methods and outcomes of interrogation. Afterall, Davon, for example, didn't give him a word.
"You do not know?"
He wrinkled his nose, and spat out another glob of blood and spit.
"We take what belongs to the common people. We're vigilantes of freedom" he cackled with obvious sarcasm.
A pained groan followed the laughter.
" Wh- ... Alright. Why exactly are you after us?"
Qali perked one eyebrow and by the moment she asked this question, rest of the group joined her. Woman nodded lightly, stopping her speak on Estla.
" Having a small chat here with the kind sire, you see," she explained to them and returned her glance to the man infront of her, waiting for his response. " Feel free to ask him anything, he nicely agreed to talk."

((I fucked that up bad...Let's try again))

The attire and the outlandish tactics.

Davon observed the bloodied man with growing interest as Qali interrogated him. He was pleasantly surprised when she aimed the gun at the bandit's head. Davon noted the slight shaking.

Never killed a man, eh? Still, she has no quelms about killing.

After Qali got the man to start talking. Davon gave an ever so slight grin and nodded his approvement to the Elsta woman.

"Alright, you sad, little bastard. Why were you after us?"
The first question to come to Davon's mind, with the answer they would know, or atleast have an idea, of who was after them.

((Page 7 so fast?))

Za'den joined the others, holding a hand over the old wound from the bar fight back in Munion. He glared on the wounded aviator, taking a deep breath.

"Who sent you. You better give me a true answer, because unlike my friend here-" Za'den nodded towards Qaliath, "- I have no problem crushing your limbs, one by one."

Keeping a hand on the wound he grinned in pain for a moment, then pointed a revolver with his left hand on the man's knee.

You better speak fast, or else I will see how easily it is to break you.

" He says he's of the Triangle of Blood, whatever it might be... What? Excuse me my ignorance, I'm a doctor, not a military person..."
Qali shrugged lightly on their short glares, finally lowering her hand with the pistol, now that men were here and they could take care of watching over the survivor, and returning the weapon back into the holster. She, however, noticed Za'den's gesture and frowned lightly.
" Let me see."
Quiet mutter, as she stepped closer to the man and perked one eyebrow lightly, trying to move his fingers off the wound carefully. Completely ignoring the fact, that she herself had a bullet hole in her arm - her pain level was quite high since she had unfortunate meeting with the poisonous plantlife.

"Alright, you sad, little bastard. Why were you after us?"
The survivor threw his glare up on the speaker, throwing a globule of blood mixed with spit at his feet.
"Why do you think? Moron. There's money in travellers."
He winced shortly, and looked at the next person speaking. The gun didn't seem to bother him.
"- I have no problem crushing your limbs, one by one."
"Sure, go ahead, twist my limps. Like I give a whore's arse."
He grunted quietly, but answered the question regardless.
"Nobody sends the Triangle. We go where-the-blaze-we-please. Try to stop us."
A devious grin emerged on his bloodstain lips.

Unfortunately, he seemed to pick up on Qali's concern.
"Seems like someone has taken a bitch under his wing. Save some of that precious pussy for me later?"
He grinned maliciously. Swine.

Qaliath remained still for a moment, then suddenly turned around on her heels and walked up to the man, thrusting her boot into the broken arm.
" You little disgusting son of a bitch, wish I knew what whores like your mother spawn, so I would never save their lives, when accepting birth to shits like you or saving your miserable lives from diseases and infected wounds."
Her voice was filled with hate, so great and living, that it was weird to see in a woman of her title and appearance.
" If you think I give a rek's ass about you throwing insults, you are just as stupid, as you are miserable. Can't believe I wasted medicine on bastards like you."
Every words was spiteful, hissing and on the verge of exploding with anger, she pulled out the pistol again, aiming it for the man's head. Determined - maybe someone should stop her, if there're more things to ask.

Davon was sickened by the vile words the man was spewing. He felt physically ill after the bandit spat blood at his feet.

" You little disgusting son of a bitch, wish I knew what whores like your mother spawn, so I would never save their lives, when accepting birth to shits like you or saving your miserable lives from diseases and infected wounds."

He'd never seen Qaliath that angry. It was almost as if she had been holding it all in untill the bandit's words made her snap.

She aimed the gun at the bandit's head. She could do it, Davon thought.

"No.." Davon put his free hand on her shoulder as if tying to calm her down. "..this scum is not worth your anger, milady."

Qali retracted the pistol, fury could still be seen in her glare.

"Awh, what's the matter dumbo? I'm not worth her anger? Am I worth yours? You big, stupid, sonofa-"

Davon lightly tapped his hammer with his index finger. A small vibrating sound resonated, the sound was smooth and the hammer seemed as if it was vibrating lightly.

"-and I think all your mothers are whores an-"

Davon swung the hammer at an incredible speed as if it was made out of wood instead of metal. If the hammer connected it could kill the bandit!

((I left some space for Davon to be stopped))

Za'den was fast, rapidly sending his rapier between the hammer and the bandit. He glared at Davon before speaking.

"That is way to nice. No clean deaths."

BAM! Gunshot through the air. The smoke rising from Za'den's revolver, the bandit's knee a bloody mess. Red stains on them all. The tinker stared seriously on the woman. Raising his revolver.

"Some are born killers, some are not. But never over a simple insult. Harming is not as permanent."

Looking down on the victim's knee, Za'den sighed. That could be quite permanent after all. He put the gun back in its holster and grinned. For a moment he considered something and then drew out a fine white powder from a pouch.

"Salt, if he insults you again, just add salt."

((He is still alive! Even if Qali will have to drug him a little...))

Qali took a long, deep breath, when Davon stopped her. It took her good few moments, until gunshot broke the air and she flinched lightly, sliding the pistol back into the holster and catching a pouch with salt. Even though anger was still neatly cut in the frown on her face and arched down lips, Qali seemed to calm down quickly.
" Now what? Can't just leave him here. Too risky, someone might run into him - his friend, who fled, for example, and he'd see the direction we went in."
As she spoke, her voice still trembled with overwhelming emotions, but then she quietly coughed into her fist and continued in her normal manner, calmly.
" Either shoot him down from his misery, or I don't know."
With a quiet grunt she moved away, back to her rek, who now left the remnants of Asha alone, just to throw off her jacket and roll up a sleeve, prodding the edges of the bullet wound in her forearm. Completely ignoring happening - just taking care of it now, cleaning up the blood and the wound itself with some potions from her shoulder bag and with one hand wrapping the bandages around it.

Wiping the blood from his face, Za'den glared at the wounded enemy. For a moment he raised the rapier, but seemed to change his mind and placed it back in the scabbard on his back. He smiled and let out a light laugh, only to shift to a grin, placing a hand on the wound again.

"Hey, Davon, you decide his fate."

Turning around, Za'den started walking towards where he had left the reks.

Typically my luck, ripping up the wound in the fall. Hope it didn't get poisoned.

While leading the reks back to the group eh looked around, seeking any signs of the fourth aviator. Nothing. Changing his focus, he started to seek for Qaliath. He would need to fix his arm sooner rather than later.

Qali just finished with her own arm, and was rolling down her sleeve and pulling her jacket back on, when she noticed Za'den stare at her in silence. Woman blinked once, pondering something, but then remembered about his wound and sighed softly, trying to focus on reality.
" Come here, I'll see. Remove coat, roll up sleeve. Should've let me take care of it back in the city..."
While waiting for him, she pulled out few clean cloths and new bandage roll, along with another antiseptic vial.
With a sigh, Za'den took off his coat and tossed it aside. As it hit the ground the sound of metal could be heard when several gadgets collided with eachother of the dirt. Under the coat the Tinker was wearing a short-sleeved leather armor. He held out his arm, revealing an open wounds stained with blood, and covered by dirt and possibly poisonous spores.
"Ripped open the would when I dodged the bullets. Not sure if it is poisoned."
Za'den walked closer to Qaliath, looking on her. As if questioning if it was bad.

Woman perked one eyebrow and sighed soundly, again, pouring water from her flask onto one of the clean cloth pieces. Without a word she pulled him closer and in silence cleaned the wound off the dirt, blood and whatnot. Only then a deep frown appeared on her face.
" Should have let me deal with it straight away."
Low grunt escaped her, as she shuffled through her bag and fished out a small scalpel. Why, thought struck his mind, but before he could question this woman's sanity, she ran the clean metal along the edge of the wound - and only then he noticed blackened, seething with poison skin, that was cut off. Couldn't feel a thing, luckily.
" Bad. Luckily for you, though, not too late."
With yet another grunt, she soaked another piece of cloth in the antiseptic and pressed it to the wound, grabbing his hand and placing it on top of it. Could've just asked to hold it, but she has to boss around, it seems. Or just thinks, that men sometimes are too careless with their wounds. While Za'den was standing there, with antiseptic eating down on the exposed flesh, destroying anything she couldn't clean out, Qali herself picked out one of the few syringes from the tools and filled it up with a blackish liquid from yet another flask. Letting the liquid out, to avoid air bubbles, she, again without a word or warning, injected the concoction right into his arm, close to the wound.
" Will have to repeat that few times, should flush everything out on third injection. It will be itchy, don't you dare to scratch it. Bandages will get soaked with poison and purulence leaving the wound - have to change them. So next stop, be ready for it."
Looking up at him with the same frown on her face, she moved his hand off the cloth, pressing it down with her own fingers lightly and only then covering it with bandages. She was fast - hand steady and light, which obviously showed, that she has been doing this for a long while. Didn't even need to pay too much attention, each move well-trained and precise.

"You addicted to stabbing?"
He snickered under his breath as he eyed the bandages. With a frown he resisted an urge to scratch it already.
"Hmm. Maybe even on my top ten wounds."
He looked towards the horizon again, still seeking the last aviator.
"I am addicted to fixing. You're welcome."
Qali eyerolled shortly, but crooked a smile and started cleaning the tools carefully, throwing short glance at the wounded attacker of their group. Obviously pondering, if Davon is going to end him, and most importantly, wondering why Cay doesn't say a thing yet on the matter.