A Dangerous Road

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A older teen with brown hair and the physique already that of a man walked by a passing group of knights. He had green baggy pants of some elastic cloth not easily found by humans at the time. His shirt was simple, black, and short sleeved. Other than that his simplistic attire included some bare feet with massive calluses. "Hey," he shouted to the knights. It was not a threat just something to be heard before the horses got spooked off the trail by his presence.

It seemed the leader came up to him as if he has something to say. So the orange skinned boy took a moment to brush the pebbles off the bottom of his tough feet.

"What the hell type of sword is that kid? You planning to kill a bear or slay a dragon?"

The boy seemed to then notice. "Oh yeah..." After having dragged it along so long he barely even noticed the weight of it resting on his shoulder. Often he switched shoulders and hands throughout the day but this routine of adjusting to its enormous weight was something that didn't bother him like it used to when he was weaker. "Nah, well maybe a bear, but I haven't ever seen a dragon before."

"You say that like you want to find one."

The boy shrugged. "Well I can't say I'd expect myself to win, but that would be interesting at least."

The knight smiled. It was clear that the boy was probably not some bandit, but likely a rouge. It was a good chance to get mapping information.

"Say boy, would you be interested in coming along and scouting a path for us?"

"Depends if any food is involved I suppose."

"Well we happen to be shipping rice to Takoradon. If it makes it there we'll give a bag to you. All you have to do is make sure the path is clear of enemies."

"Hmm, well I haven't been there myself, so I don't think I'd make much of a scout, but if there are enemies I might help you out with that."

"Give the lad a horse Lirian."

A while later the teen was on the horse. Clearly he'd never ridden one from the awkward look on his face. "Uh thanks." He balanced the sword on the horse's back and slowly got used to the way it jostled him around. "Also I'm more of a fan of meat. Not really a fan of those non meat things..."

Conversations took place naturally over the course of the time and they got to know him as Zathire. He rode the 16th horse in a caravan of 25.

All was becoming seemingly uneventful for a while; that was until they made their way under a short overhanging cliff; one low enough that someone could jump down without perhaps suffering injury. The sounds of deer and other animals were all pretty much the same, just a rustle of grass, that's why it came as a surprise when such common sounds of rustling foliage resulted in a shower of arrows that came over the rocks from above.

In that single instant 7 of the 18 humans were dead along with a 14 of the 25 horses. Most were uninjured due to being knights covered in armor though many were thrown from their horse and dazed, 2 of those seven deaths had in fact been from landing on a rock and having the horse land on top of them and crush them against it, in the process breaking their spine.

Zathire was unlucky in both ways. Without armor two of the arrows had sunken in his flesh. One in his left thigh and the other near the top of his stomach between the gap in his lowest right ribs. His horse also threw him landing with its back on his feet. This didn't hurt him but it did snag him and throw the broad face of his sword into his face. He focused on drawing his left foot free from the horse. Orcs were on them in seconds two more men died. 5 were still on top of their horses and fought back. Some scrambled to their feet and took up a defensive stance before they were ambushed however 2 were pounced and slain before they could even put a hand down on the ground to sit up.

Once again Zathire had no luck. As he got his foot free an orc dipped his sword down into his kidney, a vital bleeding area that had blood gushing without much promise of survival in seconds. The stubborn boy shoved his sword at the orc pushing it at bay that he might struggled to break his other foot free from the horse.

The orc stumbled back and fell due to the boy's high strength and a mounted knight was quick to finish off the disrupted enemy. Now Zathire stood up and took his sword to his right hand. He rushed the closest orc and with a single swing of his dull and poorly made blade sent it flying with its armor bent so deeply into its skin that death was sure to be in minutes to the already stunned creature with a broken spine. Zathire slammed his back to the rocks so that no other could attack him from behind. In a quick moment he ripped the painful arrows out, the one in his thigh breaking due to the barb locking it inside and not letting go before the wood snapped. Zathire could care less about the pain now. He just needed to make sure he got his revenge on the slimy grey skinned bastard that shot him.

Subject: Enter The Pink Samurai Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:26 am

The pink haired samurai walked along the field in a slow pace. She had grown so tired, her eye fluttering closed as she came to a slow stop. She had grown ill from her travels; a flu consuming her with a rage of it's own as she collapsed there in the field. Her head spun violently as she tried to lift herself again. There was no one around here in this field, she was far from civilization, so there was no chance for her to gain the help she needed.

Not that she would accept it willingly even in this state.

Baiken was a stubborn woman, her life moving forward only if she felt she had done things on her own. A woman bent on a depth of revenge that had slowly began to consume her to the point of illness. She had always moved without stopping; she didn't have her sheath to protect her...to keep her from running herself into the ground.

The woman's breath grew ever shallow as she lay there in the tall grass. For a moment she had sworn that she had seen some mass of darkness in her vision before hitting the ground.

A feeling of weightlessness seemed to overtake her very suddenly. It was now that she finally forced her eye to open again. Baiken could no longer feel the ground beneath her tired body, instead she felt herself literally flying.

Upon opening her eye, she would see a swirling vortex that had consumed her and was now throwing her through time and space. However, none of this was to her knowledge, she thought herself to be hallucinating from the fever. During this intense commotion she fell unconscious, her body lifelessly being thrown through wormhole after wormhole.

A rip in the air had appeared between the group as they fought. A violent circle of red and black that screeched with such noise it would almost break the eardrum of anyone near. From it, the pink haired samurai flew and crashed into one of the last oncoming orc. The beast breaking her fall and saving her life while taking his.

To the simple fact that she had not tensed and prepared herself for impact, the limp posture gave her the advantage of not suffering much injury even at the high speed she had been flying. Her right shoulder, made of metal, had made the first impact. Her body crumpled over the dead body of the orc's and lay rather lifeless. The wormhole that had ripped into the sky in front of them all now slammed shut hard enough to quake the world around it.

She wore a mostly tan kimono, the top half was black, the sleeves tan, a red sash around her waist to hold it together. On her hip was a blue sheathed katana that was made for her height. She was roughly 6'1" when standing. Her hair was in a high ponytail, the length would reach just past her rear. She was completely missing her right arm, and her left eye had been sealed shut by a scar that in deep downward direction covered from her forhead, over her eye, and the down her cheek almost to her jawline. A tattoo almost mimiced her scar on the opposite side of hr face. A large dot in the center of he forehead and move right then down her face over her right eye and almost to her jawline. Her kimono she wore partially opened; this revealed a well developed bust. On her feet she had rope sandals attached to armor that covered her shins around her calves almost mimicing boots and then also covering the tops of her feet.

A strange woman to be seen here, she didn't appear to be from this day and age.

Guest

With his back to the cliff wall Zathire listened above. He had excellent hearing, and if it hadn't been for assuming the sounds above were animals he would have never let his team get ambushed.

Seizing what appeared to be an opportune moment by judging the sounds above, he made a run and looped around a small natural stone ramp up to the top of the flat ledge above where he immediately found himself facing around six goblins. It seems they were teamed with the orcs that had jumped down onto the party. They were weak but were all archers. He hated projectiles. He was gonna smash each one of the little shits.

Without being able to do much about it, he took another arrow to the forearm trying to block his neck with the broadside of his sword before bring it down to the side of the miserable creature and sweeping its diminutive body into the air like a broken rag doll. The goblin immediatley behind that his first victim was also ready, and it landed the first strike, it had taken a moment to switch from arrow to sword and brought its sword to slice through Zathire's arm like butter.

It succeeded, that is until it hit the bone and the sharp edge of the blade strangely dented. Within the next instant the two halves of the disgusting creature's face lay burred in the gravel as the heavy sword uprooted itself from the ground.

Two of the pipsqueaks scattered for the bushes and he couldn't manage to chase all of them all at once. That only left two more to swat their miserable existence off the face of the earth. However, this is when a strange phenomenon occurred that had the fighting on both sides temporarily seize.

A screeching vortex coursed with power ripping very existence apart. It stung to look at directly especially with the distortions that blurred the surroundings near it.

"What sorcery is this?" demanded the leader of the knights, trying to steady his horse. The remaining five knights had rallied together and were fending off the orcs rather well with their superior armor. However no one was fighting now.

"A woman?" Zathire exclaimed. Indeed a pink haired woman had fallen from that evil looking vortex.

There was one beast that either was too deaf to hear or too dumb to care; a large troll payed Baiken's entrance no heed and in its large grubby hands, it seized the leader-knight's horse. It had perhaps 30 teeth, fifteen on top, and fifteen on bottom each lopsided crooked and made of fibers that looked like a ripped tree branch who's splintered ends were pounded dull with a stone. In fact they highly resembled hippo teeth. The poor horse's head was crushed in an instant with a sickening sound. Likely, the troll would have continued to chew or simply just swallow, but in battle it let go the head and gave a swat to the main leader. The knight gave a valiant slice to the fat forearm, but that in itself was about a foot thick and quickly gobbled the sword's momentum within it's many greasy layers of muscle and fat, stopping it before it could even apply much a cut to the thick bone it first came in contact with. A large stumpy foot sat down on the fallen knight's chest and one by one the many ribs cracked in sickening concession.

The main leader was dead.

This seemed to be the signal that the fight was indeed back on. With two angry swats Zathire let loose followed by two angry squeaks the remaining archers were dealt with, that is except for those who were already retreating or engaged in melee style combat below. Zathire pulled the arrow from his forearm like a twig. His bone had stopped it early. It was time to crack a skull.

He turned his wrath to the troll. Jumping from the ramping area of rock and bringing his lumbering blade upon its head. However Zathire only weighed a bit over two hundred pounds and as he brought is dull sword down with such force he felt himself actually lifting his own body more than pushing his sword down. Damn its skull is thick... he thought. He sent the lummox down in one hit, though his sword was stuck and it wasn't dead. One of the cowardly goblin creatures that had retreated had re-emerged and fired an arrow at his face. A flash of instincts took over and he aligned the arrow with his jaw. It went right through his first cheek and was about to make its way out the other when he snarled and bit down with blinding speed upon the arrow, snapping the wooden shank and spitting out the black oily barbed tip with murderous intent. Unfortunately for him he had enemies on all sides and a thrusting goblin managed to sink a hooked blade into his stomach right as the troll stood back up and with a casual backhand caught him in the ribs and sent him tumbling over the dry crackly soil a good twenty plus feet.

The painful part was that the sword lodged inside his stomach got twisted and bent from the force of the tumble producing jaw clenching pain to even the rugged kid. He wasn't defeated though, despite the arrow wounds, stomach blow, and the high blood loss from his open kidney. He left the sword in his stomach.

The stubborn kid wanted a rematch with the troll and it seems the knights had mustered together and cleaned up the distractions that had interfered before, however now only 3 were left. It was clear the numbers were not too promising in terms that they'd survive. Not to mention that one girl was likely some evil demon having traveled though a portal. Such thoughts didn't concern the lad too much. He more wanted to crush that troll.

And so he went at it, ripping the sword from his stomach and plunging it into the lardy belly of the troll. This seemed to stun the creature who pushed him back with one meaty arm and held its stomach with the other. Zathire gave a solid punch to that forearm pushing it back enough that he could reach the handle of his sword that was still lodged in the creature's head like a hat.

He tried pulling it out but didn't have the traction and the large beast began pushing him back. He couldn't fight back, he didn't have the required weight to muster any traction. His dry bare feet scratched over the rocks not finding anything solid enough to brace against. Though that's when the troll underestimated him. It slammed him against the very same cliff wall they'd been ambushed at. With his feet fully braced his weight was as solid as the foundation of the rock, by luck he had also managed to finally wiggle his sword free.

It may not have seemed possible, but the boy was stronger than the troll.

It was over in an instant. The troll's own weight crushing Zathire against the vertical cliff gave him all the traction he needed. Withdrawing his sword, he recoiled that force and trusts his sword through its neck then anchoring his feet on the ground lifted upwards lifting the whole beast by the jaw bone over his head and smashing its head against the cliff.

Zathire dodged to the side before the creature's head split letting go of the sword and the dangling body slumped onto the large gravel and broken rock.

Zathire cracked his neck. It was time to see what this woman was about, and perhaps swat some orcs out of the way in the process. He walked calmly, as his aura of intimidation had been established from his recent victory, making sure to be mindful of any stray attacks before he'd get a better look at the fallen lady.

Subject: Re: A Dangerous Road Thu Jan 31, 2013 2:15 am

Her limp figure had been dragged from the orcs crumpled figure. She had no appearance of being anything more than a human. The commotion began to wake her. She had really just wanted silence, little had she known to wake in a world so far from her actual home. Her only working eye began to peek open. The fever still battling with her like the beast among these people.

Her body reeked of sake. A dazed look on her features as she shoved the nearest man away from her and began to sit up. The fuck was going on? She thought to herself as she looked around to catch the faces of the armored men who had pulled her along and the now approaching barbarian that was approaching her. Whatever commotion had been going on seemed to have ended. Still now she couldn't feel safe.

“Chikusho...Watashi wa doko ni imasu?” She spoke almost shaken before realizing these people weren't going to be able to understand what she had just said by the puzzlement on the faces of the armored me. Her fingers gripped her sword as she pushed herself to her feet. Though she was almost unsteady when she had done so. “Where am I?” She said again, only this time she added much firmer demand to her tone.

Her eye wandered the scene around her, the beastly looking creatures that surrounding the ground, the monstrosity that was laying dead at the floor of the cliff. In her sleep her face seemed more feminine, more like the woman her body tried to be. However, now that she was standing. There was the open width of her shoulders at her feet giving her a firm stance. Her arm rest lazily yet prepared to draw it without hesitation. Her shoulders were kept straight, her full height a definite 6'1” as she stood over the height of most average men. Her face was now appearing more masculine, and oddly handsome for a woman. She was clearly born and raised this way as it appeared to be relaxed more than stiffened.

Her head began to spin again, her right foot stepping forward to keep herself from falling forward onto her face once again. This was definitely not a place to take on this kind of illness. How had she managed to make it here? Where was here? Who were these people?

To the looks of it, she had no choice in her physical state to make friend of these barbarians. The beasts on the ground were enemy. Just over the cliff, another onslaught of those smaller ones began to accumulate. Her reaction came almost instantly. She spun on one heal, her arm moved from her sword and pulled back the tattered sleeve that covered her right shoulder. From it, an odd sound would emerge, an mechanical one. From it, a rocket launcher had built itself quickly, a red tipped rocket cocking before it was fired. The small missile flying upward and blasting the lot of them, what remained straggled away in intent haste. What were the creatures she was firing at? They seemed pathetic, but with the numbers, and the larger ones, with the massive one...they had to be a threat.

She had hope her actions would secure in it's blast that she was friend, not enemy to these humans. Though she understood it wasn't going to be as easy as that. Her arm covered over her eyes from the debris that fell from the cliff. The light had been blinding enough for anyone to stare into.

When the dust finally settled she pulled her sleeve back over her shoulder and the gun was gone again. She had to be careful now, with how these people had been fighting, and her very lacking oint on history, she had quite a bad feeling there wasn't any missiles left to be made here. She definitely didn't know how to make them herself. So, she had a very shot number of them left. So, she would use them as wisely as possible.

The Samurai gave her attention to how appeared to be the leader of this battalion. It had to be the one taking on the most injuries, the one who appeared to have defeated the monstrosity. She hadn't any idea. Her jaw clenched as she stared him down. She would fight to her own death if there was an attack given. As hard as she was fighting this flu, it wouldn't be anything to hold her back even on the verge of fainting. Her entire body was trembling with the flu. She was lucky she had actually nailed her target. She wanted t vomit, she wanted to just crumple over and sleep for a few days. Her fingers moved slowly to wrap around her sword. Her stance once again moved to that strong wall she made herself to be. She was silent for now, waiting to hear the man approaching her speak.

Guest

When the rocket fired off the man snarled. However the 20 year old kid didn't seem to posses fear, nor judging from his ignored wounds pain for that matter.

The first was mostly true, however he sure as hell felt pain. He made no attempt to guard himself from her defensive stance, instead he strode straight up to her, continuing to take the following actions until she did something about it.

He'd holding his sword with his left hand just his right hand out for her neck. It was unlikely that he'd get away with this, however much to the lack of Baiken's knowledge the boy possessed a strange ability. His bones could not be broken. If this caught her off guard then he'd grab her by the neck. While a normal man of his size could maybe lift 15-30 pounds with an extended shoulder he'd lift her whole body if he'd grabbed her. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! What sort of person shows up in a demonic portal with pink hair? Tell me wizard? Don't think just because you killed a few goblins that that makes us friends!" It's also quite likely Baiken would have run her sword through his gut by now at which point the boy would still remain holding her somehow unshaped despite this. Though if she did so it would need to be a region where the skeleton did not shield this part of his body.

If she pointed her missile at him he'd likely attempt to grab the arm successfully his grip strength being enough to easily bend aluminum or titanium significantly and even steel somewhat.

If he succeed or not in grabbing hold of her he'd cough blood at this point weakening. And dropping his sword to hold his kidney with his left hand. If he was holding her he'd let her down and grab the inside of her kimono, not shy, nor particularly concerned about his hand slightly smashing against her breasts. He could careless what excuses he'd predict a woman to say. An enemy was an enemy, there was to be no letting up on such a suspicious arrival that took place in the wake of this attack. It would take more than a single attack to some goblins to convince him she wasn't some demon with the look of the portal she'd come from.

Subject: Re: A Dangerous Road Thu Jan 31, 2013 3:41 am

Baiken knew her place right now was not to take on an offensive. To give them hostility would only ruin any chance of making amends here. She did not draw her blade, his injuries were enough to slow him down from here. She could have had her throat crushed, but the upward motion gave her the ability to release tension in her shoulders and allow her feet to hang in the air without so much as blinking.

Her neutral expression did however change momentarily. A half managed smirk perked the corner of one side of her lips. A smartass retort was not a correct move, neither was panicking and trying to gut him. Her temper wishing to do so, she pushed it aside for her honor and pride. While her hand stayed on the hilt of her sword.

“My name is Baiken Seishido...” She struggled against the grip against her neck, but she was going to manage in answering his questions. Ill toned as they were, he had the right to be panicking this way. Pissed as he was. “Demon portal, it was not...more likely a wormhole. I was born with this hair.” She let loose a cough from her struggling now. The weight of her own body beginning to add pressure to her neck. “I am out of place, I do not expect your trust.” She stated rather calmly. He was radiating with the adrenaline of battle, something that wasn't easy to settle from. She knew this quite well herself.

The blood that hacked from his throat was alarming. He hadn't fallen yet? Interesting. Berserker, perhaps? She hadn't any idea. She would continue to take in the details that she could find. Her tone was nothing but calm, a soothing masculinity that was meant for what she made it. To sooth the tension of battle from him, if it didn't work, it didn't matter. What mattered was not being killed by this barbaric man.

The tension in her throat was beginning to grow excruciatingly and she gently grasped his hand only to lift herself and begin coughing, she wasn't trying to escape. She was only meaning to try and handle the hacking that came with her throat becoming sore from the pressure, and the dryness the flu was giving her. She continued trembling rather violently. Not from fear, if she was afraid, she wouldn't be behaving this way.

Guest

The man took a rather annoyed expression to his face setting her down. He did not trust her, but she did answer him fairly. Even though he thought it was all lies he couldn't expect that she would take such passive actions. To be fair, he decided to do the same, though he gave an unsettling shove that might tip her over if she was not ready. He didn't particularly care, only that he remained a man of his word. Despite not saying anything, it was understood that you only talk when there is a mutual exchange of some level of peace as a reward. He definitely would not betray such honor to land a cowardly blow if she was bold enough to speak.

If she killed him with magic so be it. If she attacked with her weapon he knew he could always win in pure melee combat with most humans. He sat down on a rock and took a sword from one of the fallen knights. He somewhat left the stranger to do whatever. He could careless, he took the sharp edge of the blade and began working out the barbs of the arrowhead in his thigh. He then stuck in his finger to wipe some of the nasty oil and grime out of his wounds to lower the chance of their weapons making him ill.

It seemed no humans had survived. Just that pink haired freak who brought a whole new level of literalness to the expression 'falling out of nowhere'. He wasn't going to bury these men. He didn't really know them too well nor really ever grew attached to most people. He searched their pockets finding two of them to have jewelry with pictures of their wives. He also gave himself a pair of socks and some shoes that were the right size for his feet.

He looked for some food finding a few things. He didn't particularly want the rice they had in the bags. He was nearly a carnivore. He gave an annoyed sigh realizing the orcs in this area probably left the animal life more bone dry than the rather dead surroundings themselves. He didn't particularly know where the trail he was following lead but he knew it was a great distance to backtrack now. He decided to continue the path towards where they would be selling the rice.

He gave one glance back to the odd pink haired female. Just to make sure she wasn't doing something odd he'd regret letting her get away with.

Subject: Re: A Dangerous Road Thu Jan 31, 2013 4:41 am

Baiken was relieved when he set her feet to the ground again. She caught her breath only to have it thrust from her a second later when she had been shoved. She stumbled backwards a few good steps. She cringed as she forced herself to keep from falling, only to be luck in catching herself on a large boulder.

“Udonotaiboku...” She muttered under her breath. With all of the people in this apparent surrounding area now dead, she was in need of serious help. To resort to something she had never wanted in her life since her colony had been slaughtered. A sneer appeared as she looked toward the ground. A rage building with frustration that seemed to be suddenly boiling and ready to burst. She was lost, sick, and in the presence of a hostile barbarian. Nothing seemed to be looking good from here.

She looked up in time to see him desecrating the remains of the fallen soldiers. She could see small bags of rice he was tossing away. Definitely a barbarian as he was only collecting what he found useful. There was no opportunity for her to gain much from him, but what else could she do. She could already feel a kick in her pride as she opened her mouth to speak again.

“Will you help me?” She asked in a choked plea. To the forgiving god Budda, she had not wanted to ask that to anyone, but there was a time in everyone's mortal lives when they had no choice, she supposed. “Just lead me somewhere that I can meet other people...that is all I ask.” That would be all she needed, however she had no idea how close the next civilization could even be. “I helped you, so pay me one favor of escorting me, if you will?” Don't just point a meaty finger and leave he to it, she wouldn't make it far enough, and she'd be damned if she was attacked again. She knew very well he hadn't asked for her help...but she had no choice in asking him.

She continued to tremble against the rock she was using for support, her body began to ache from the impact she had suffered in killing the orc she landed on. Though nothing was broken, it was one hell of a fall for any mortal to take.

Guest

Zathire gave a sigh. He headed back but it didn't seem to be to help her. He took out his sword and cut off the fallen horses neck. He didn't want any troll slobber on a single bit of it. He then dragged it to a clean patch and began eating more meat that seemed humanly possible when he was done he slung a large section of the horse over his shoulder then walked over to Baiken.

She was a woman. As far as he was concerned she would be useful body heat at night. Zathire staked his sword into the slab of horse slumped over his right shoulder then with his left hand grabbed Baiken. She asked to be helped, though it was probably not what she expected. He gave an annoyed grunt as he through her over his shoulder like an item. She weighed next to nothing compared to the portion of horse over his other shoulder.

Already his bleeding kidney had stopped and turned into a dark sticky mess. He healed fast. There were many anomalies with this human. His genetic mutations exceeded luck, they were the divine providence of Thor. He had a purpose in the future he was not yet even aware of.

Despite not trusting her, he was a male and having a woman over his shoulder made him smile a bit inside. They were always pleasant company. It didn't seem like she was all there. So any protests or squirming she made he'd ignore. In reality he was not strong enough to make the journey like this, but it would take a while before fatigue and hunger would force him to quit moving. He was strong and with a good supply of meat would make it a long ways.

He had no sympathy for himself. He just kept on marching, ignoring the burning lactic acid in his thighs until sun set or an interruption occurred.

Subject: Re: A Dangerous Road Sun Feb 03, 2013 6:04 am

Baiken took his approach to straighten her stance once again. As shaky as it was, she was standing again. That was until she was staring into his back. An irritated growl escaped her before she fell silent. This wasn't at all comfortable on her gut. Her hateful glare only a mere fraction of what she could actually appear in anger. Her thoughts turning to the idea of giving one hell of a punch to that open wound that was affecting his kidney. It was strange he was healing this quickly. The wounds edges were all beginning to mend. Humans shouldn't react that quickly.

She stayed silent. An analysis on this man, the monsters they had fought, were enough to give her an idea of the world she had suddenly become a part of. She pushed against an uninjured section of his back to prop herself up. This was easier for them to travel, she could agree with that without even establishing a conversation, still...there were more appropriate ways to carry her. She blamed this on his barbarian nature again without establishing a conversation.

Baiken let out a quiet sigh before gagging at the smell of the raw horse meat. She took this time to rest for a while. This wasn't her first experience of being flung over someone's shoulder. With her stubborn nature this was common when...Haji was still there. She pushed the memories aside to begin to relax finally.

A few hours seemed to have passed in silence when she woe from her daze. They seemed to be in a village now. Her eye shot open wide at the site of a body cut into pieces. It couldn't have been this barbarian. She hadn't been out enough not to notice anything of that sort happening. “Nani?” She whispered before tapping his back a few times. “Set me down. I will walk for awhile.” She stated rather tiredly. She had stored enough energy to manage that at least.

As she felt her feet touch the ground she stepped back and turned to face the town. Only to be met by th sight of a the entire town that had been slaughtered. She frowned seeing the bodies piling and laying out on the ground. “Who could have done something like this?” She asked out loud.

Guest

He listened intently as he made his way through the town. Finally he found a location he deemed safe from ambush and set the pink haired woman down along with the remaining meat.

He strode over to to a particular body, or part of one more accurately and brought it before her: the two lower thirds of a torso and a left leg were one solid piece with a small portion of the right thigh were in his one hand and the right leg was in his other. "Look," he said. He held the two pieces together. He wasn't being immature and trying to make her sick, he was showing her something she'd notice right away: One, that the cuts were remarkably clean to the point it looked like the two pieces could be placed back together, and two, on this particular cut, 1/8th inch thick steel plating on the grieve had been cut too. While the metal wasn't as perfectly cut as the flesh, it was clear that it bent in only perhaps a 1/16th of an inch from what ever struck it before it gave away to just as clean a slice.

"It seems we have an assassin on our hands. These cuts don't even look human too me." He took another moment to listen; in this dead silence his ears were remarkably sharp. Most of the blood was dried up on their bodies into hard black crusty syrup, only a few spots remained raw. This meant it had to have taken place at least hours ago, however the place did not reek of death, this meant whoever did this cannot have gone far or was still there. Suddenly his thoughts drifted to a person who teleported to him at about exactly the right time frame for that discription.

Everything about her seemed to hint she was the one. The demonic aura of the portal, the interesting weapons she seemed to posses, the strange way in which the bodies were killed matching her strange appearance. If he was suspicious about her before, he was even more so now. However he had no reason to react. Despite her sword looking capable of doing such a thing he gave her the benefit of the doubt, but he'd make sure not to lead her towards the elves which might have been where he would have gone on his own at this point. There was one thing that didn't make any sense to being suspicious of her. Why was she traveling on his back to get to anywhere? He couldn't see any blood on her. Was she trying to find a new place to massacre? I didn't seem likely. It almost seemed more probable she was a bounty hunter sent after who did this. He had nothing to loose in asking her this question. "You have anyone you are tracking?"

He'd wait a few moments to either receive no answer or get one. "Likely bandits will raid this town once they discover all the abandoned bodies and wealth. We should gather food now and money, it's going to be dark before soon, and I don't intend to sleep somewhere like this when it starts to stink." He opened up two heavy doors to the main castle. It looked like most of the bodies had been ignored. Some still possessing gold even from exchanges they were in the middle of making. Whether she bothered to comply he would go around finding coins. There was a whole kingdom to exploit. When he came to a barn he found some chickens, but he heard something. Breathing that didn't match that of an animal. "I'm gonna cut us up some meat. You find some firewood if you want it cooked Baiken." In all honesty he wasn't really that nice, he could care less about the woman's comforts. She could cook her share if she wanted it cooked on her own. What he really needed was her to leave the room.

Once it seemed silent enough he plunged his hand in some hey and dragged out a little girl. Immediately his hand cupped her mouth and he checked back listening to Baiken to make sure she hadn't changed in her foot stepping patterns to indicate she might have heard a faint human sound. His voice was low and calm. He wanted to keep the girl comforted. "Hey listen and just shake or nod to my questions." His eyes drifted back from the direction of the entrance behind him to the girl in front. "Did you see who did this to you?"

The little girl gave a nod.

"Was it a woman?"

The little girl nodded once more and Zathire had to bite down to keep from growling.

"Did you see what color her hair was?"

The little girl paused for a moment then nodded again.

"Was it pink?"

The little girl shook her head.

Zathire removed his hand and she seemed calm now. "Tell me what you saw."

"She had black hair and a brown skirt and lots of armor on. And... and she was about this tall." The little girl lifted her hand up not much higher than her own head. "Not very tall for a lady." The kid seemed to get excited, proud she knew such details. She ran off to a post in the barn and pointed to some termite ridden wood. "Her skin was this color. A lot darker than mine."

Too him it seemed clear now the odd arrival Baiken didn't match the killer's description even slightly, and even though he suspected a demon might be able to shape shift he doubted one would do this unless they wanted to frame someone for something that wasn't their fault. And while that possibility seemed logical, it was also too oddly specific for him to give any real concern towards as a possibility. It wasn't really in his nature to babysit, but he decided to lift the girl up. "Your mom and dad and family and friends are all dead. It's time to get you out of here."

With these words the little girl began to cry profusely. "Hey," he said as he opened the door. "Look at the bodies, you need to understand its time to go."

The child threw vomit over the back of his shoulder.

"It may seem rough kid, but its better to face reality than hide it from yourself."

Naturally Baiken would likely hear the crying.

"Just remember kid, I'm here to help find you a new home so please stop crying."

It was no use, so he set her down and violently twisted her skull to face him in a way that made the kid shiver with fear and stop immediately. "You see what these people did to you? What they took from you? Do you honestly think someday you will be strong enough to get revenge on them if you sit here and cry?" He looked deep into her eyes. In that moment he instilled perhaps some confidence and understanding of the notion that she'd need to man up from this point, and surprisingly the kid embraced the notion with quite a bit of strength on her behalf. Tears still rained down from her eyes, but her bawling had been reduced to a meager sniffle and she even seemed to straighten her posture and wrinkle her brow slightly in somewhat of a defiant posture.

He lifted her up and set her on his shoulder. "Good, you'll make a fine warrior one day, and bring that girl to justice." Zathire walked around a corner and the small kid was holding onto his neck for balance when he approached the location he could hear Baiken. "You ready to head out of here yet?"

Subject: Re: A Dangerous Road Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:40 am

Baiken took a short look around before she had been greeted with Zathire's display of the two pieces being able to fit back together. She tilted her head. She had seen enough bodies not to be bothered by anatomy anymore. Blood, guts, and body parts were nothing short of just normal to her. The angles were all so pristine. The way the metal gave to the cut quickly enough.

“Hai...” She stated in agreement to the odd way they were cut. His next question was given reply with a quizzical look. How did he realize she was a bounty hunter? Still, there was no one here in this world she was tracking. “No, I am not from this world.” She stated flatly. It woudln't make sense to him more than likely, but if it did then luck would be with her today.

Though she gave short stumbles while she walked, she was able to keep her balance well enough to begin searching around for things she desired. The possibility of herbs, she found a few, the possibility of booze...Ale. Pisswater more like. Suddenly she hit the jackpot! There were a few bottles. Similar to ones in her own time and the corks were still screwed in tight. She sat down holding the bottle between her feet as she popped the cork out and sniffed from the bottle before turning her nose away from it.

Mead.

Worse than piss water. She took a few bottles, just because she was getting sick of becoming sober. She drank one down before she stuffed a few in her kimono. It was alcohol, that was for sure. Not as bad as it smelled. She began scavenging now for the bits of food and herbs. This was going to have to do for now for what she found. Two bags of rice, a bag of gold, a bag of medicinal herbs, and the three bottles of mead. All hidden away in her kimono properly. It was about the time that she stumbled from another building that she heard the child crying.

The sound actually gave her a small amount of worry as she approached the two of them. She blinked seeing the display of the two. The little girl on his shoulder. A strange site to see. “Now why could have I not sat like that?” She asked almost amused. The mead was working well enough. She didn't give him time to answer before she fished into her kimono and pulled a few pieces of wrapped candy she had on her and held them out to the child. It would cheer her up a little.

The girl gladly took the candy and popped it into her mouth. She had no show of disapproving of strangers.
“Alene!” Another small voice could be heard. A pig troth being turned over. The child had probably been peeking through and saw the child taking the candy. This one was a little boy. They looked similar to one another.
“Roy!” The little girl squeaked as she fought to climb down from the barbarian and suddenly run to the young boy. Baiken raised a brow as she watched the two of them. They were safe in one another's hands this way. Still, even if it were a boy, it wasn't easy to leave such young ones all alone in the midst of a slaughter.

She rubbed the back of her neck before giving Zathire a questionable look. He was determined before to get the girl somewhere safe, it seemed that way, perhaps he would think the same for the boy as well. Hardly likely, but she could silently hope. “What do you want to do? Two brats are harder to look after than just one.” She stated with a blunt and tired tone. If they did leave them, she'd give them her rations that she'd found. Probably one of her daggers too. Still, he was the one guiding her. She wasn't going to make a choice in what he did.

Guest

Zathire picked up something with his ears. He drew his sword. It looked for a moment he was going to put a quick end to the children so they wouldn't have to starve to death when he abandoned them but instead he overturned the pig trough and burred them once more. "Shut up and stay quite."

Roy complained immediately: "Ow you bumped my head."

"Yeah, and it's too dark in here," agreed Alene.

Zathire growled in annoyance. He could hear approaching footsteps. He was going to investigate but now who ever it was was coming to him. Three large men wide of girth barged though some large doors they were backed by five lankier men. Clearly they had already gathered quite a bit of resources.

"Well what do we have here?" the center thief said with the widest girth. "I see you've already gathered up what we were looking for."

"We'll take the woman too," the large large fellow to the right made sure not to forget to mention.

Zathire gave out a bit of a laugh. "Well about time. She said she was looking for someone to take her away. I'm glad you came to sweep her off her feet." His voice was rather snarky somewhat to the satisfaction of awaiting Baiken's response. "Anyways I'm feeling a bit too lazy to collect all these things again."

"Your a dumb kid," a thinner one to the left said. "A dumb kid," he repeated, "who doesn't know how to count to eight."

"Step forward," Zathire declared with bravado, making sure the whole group was watching. "Step forward unless you need the help of your friends." The man did not risk approach however Zathire dropped his sword and this seemed to grant the bandit the courage necessary to do so.

Zathire was almost about to instruct the individual to strike him but the opponent did so before his sentence was even complete enough to make sense. Zathire let fly his left hand his fingers gripping the blade. Blood splattered on the floor. Zathire's hand clenched and more blood dripped onto the floor. At first it looked like they might suddenly all attack. However the leader held them back. Zathire squeezed harder and the steel began to groan. "What's the matter?" He didn't wait for a response but continued clutching the man's sword and punched him in the face with the same hand. Letting go, the sword clanked on the ground and it was clear where his finger grips had dulled the blade mashing the metal into slightly knurled rounds that looked like a handle.

The man had not been punched too hard and Zathire barged forward before the others could agree on a single course of unified action, and grabbed the man and pulled him towards his self and slammed the man's elbow onto a brick fireplace. Within less than a forth of a second Zathire's elbow came down on the man's forearm splitting the radius and ulna into in a single crunch, leaving the wrist bent upwards with a hideous display of pain upon the man's face. Zathire didn't wait for a response from anyone. He merely kicked the guy into the group to be caught by some of his men while he picked up his sword.

"Next."

Subject: Re: A Dangerous Road Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:46 am

Baiken watched him shove the children underneath the pig troth. She turned in time to see the men who were approaching. Just what she needed while she felt rather exhausted and sick as a dog. This wasn't going to be as easy as she had hoped. Then again, this hadn't been the first time she fell into a world that wasn't her own.

While Zathire interestingly took care of the first bandit, she had slowly unsheathed her sword. She wasn't going to wait for the next in line to step forward, in fact there wasn't a reason to as they all suddenly charged. Her senses were slower, but that wouldn't allow her to make too many mistakes.

Her blade was white, too pristine to look as though it had actually been touched with blood, but it had so many times before now. In the instant the first step was taken by the bandits she took two, meeting them in two long strides and raising her blade to sweep in a horizontal swipe to cut through the two remaining smaller members. Her foot hit the ground on the third step and she jumped backwards raising her sword again as one of the larger men came now toward her to retaliate her actions.

“BITCH!!! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!” To her, this insinuated he cared for his fallen friends. This didn't bring him any mercy as she took her step back landing to jump to her side avoiding his ax that came down to rattle the ground. Her landing when it hit caused her to stumble for a second. But he was slow. This wasn't going to be much of an issue, thankfully.

A clawed hand suddenly shot from her right shoulder and miraculously wrapped around his neck three times. The claw hand hooking into the side of his face and suddenly tightened a grip like a hand.

“I'll save you to pain of weeping for your comrades.” She stated rather tiredly. Her head tilting to one side as she watched him grasp the chain, but he was too late; the chain retracted, the grip pulling his head and spinning those three times snapping his neck, and ripping the skin as it stretched beyond it's limit and caused it to fly from him giving her time to step to the side and avoid it while his body fell in a twisted manner toward her. The claw hand hiding away in her shoulder again.

She was already starting to run out of breath. Her body began shaking again, only this time it was enough to rattle her sword. Exerting so much energy was already bearing on her in her illness.

Guest

It seemed his "ally" if she was one had decided to dispose of the rest. He didn't really care either way, but at least this way he wouldn't have to worry about them plotting revenge and always have to be watching his back. As long as she was going to finish off those three He might as well go after the four remaining. Two more of the chunky guys and two thin ones.

Zathire made the first move at the closest guy who seemed to be the leader. It looked like Baiken already was attacking from his right. So he came down low for the knees lifting his massive blade up. The bandit stepped back to avoid the blow but the length of Zathire's sword was a bit too much to completely outspeed the comming attack. The bandit pressed the sword left with his axe to deflect it but the weight behind the strike and the power behind the large boy's arms hardly allowed such a parry to take any affect of slowing or swaying the path of the oncoming load of steel. The first impact was at the lung level where the sword started digging in with its dull edge and lifting the man into the air. The sword broke free exiting his trapezius and was now held high as possible above the barbarian's head.

Not wasting any of his forward motion in his legs he continued barging fearlessly into the crowd. For the most part the bulk of them stepped back. But he was moving forward at significant speed and negating their retreat to quite a degree. He took a quick step right lining two of them in a line and crushed down with terrific force that failed to slice them in half but did crush their skulls and splatter their cranial fluid and brains across the tile.

The remaining two survivors were to both his sides. Considering Baiken was to his right he went for the one to his left, which was just as well considering that one also ran his sword through his stomach as he withdrew his sword from the cracked tile.

Unfortunately Zathire's sword was rather long and was not very effective at close range with its center of gravity being around three to four feet from his chest when his arm length was added. He lobbed his sword at the one Baiken was sure to finish off in the next second anyways. Letting the broad side of it crash into the man and roll off to the side bruising him and bowling him over like someone had just beat him with a sledgehammer. In the same moment he threw the sword with his right hand at the guy to his right, his left hand and his whole body shot left at the one who stabbed him. In this process the sword worked its way an extra foot out his back as his fingers clutched successfully for a neck.

Using his superior weight Zathire leaned in and pushing with several steps and slammed the guy up against a fireplace. The man still tried to withdraw his sword but managed to do nothing but give it some twists as he was always closed in upon and never achieved the distance to easily do so.

It was over in a crunch. Zathire's right elbow curled in and struck the man in the nose bridge. A powerful attack and one that was lethal with the man's head sandwiched up against the hard brick of the fireplace.

By now it was most likely that Baiken had long since finished the last opponent, so he withdrew the sword in his stomach paying no attention to his wound then flipped the pig trough and gave it a short toss to the side.

He doubted Baiken needed his help knocking the one guy down but when he saw her claw he didn't want her to be occupied with that attack if by rare chance she was vulnerable during that time. He went over to withdraw his sword from the ground unless Baiken had picked it up out of curiosity or god forbid thankfulness.

Without a word he went over and set Alena on his left shoulder then set Roy on his right. It was unlikely to succeed and hard to manage with his with holding his sword but he ducked under Baiken's legs and lifted her up so she sat around his neck. Or at least he tried to. It was unlikely she'd let him get away with such a thing, but it's not like he would do more than give a grunt considering the neanderthal he was.

With the two kids on his shoulders and possibly Baiken around his neck. He began walking the way they'd come from. It would be a long road without a horse, but he wasn't the type to complain, only to die or succeed. At the moment neither prospect was too exciting.

Subject: Re: A Dangerous Road Mon Feb 11, 2013 6:12 am

Baiken gave no time for the remaining bandit to think after the thick sword had crashed into him and thrown him backwards, she simply extended her arm so that he would fall onto the end of her blade. Withdrawing her katana and slinging it to her left to remove any excess blood. Zathire needed no help in taking care of the last bandit.

She fished into her kimono and sat down laying the katana across her lap to clean any blood that remained before she stood once more and sheathed it. She approached the thick sword that had belonged to Zathire. It was incredibly heavy. Still, she held it single handedly. Strange brute weapon, but she'd seen similar to it's type. Maybe this world wasn't that different from her own. Besides all of the monsters being different.

It was only a moment later in her distraction she felt his head suddenly come between her legs underneath her kimono. Her eye widened in shock as her grip tightened onto the heavy sword. She was careful to mind the two children of the sword.

“Eh!” She was careful to balance herself while he walked. Well...she wasn't going to stay this way for long. The sword was returned to him and she folded her arm into her kimono once more. She allowed him to carry her this way for a few hours, if that before she tapped his stomach with her heal. “Let me down.” She said in a familiar lackadaisical tone.

Once her feet were on the ground she caught up to walk just beside him where he stayed in her vision on her left. The sun was beginning to set now, her stomach twisting and growling from going so long without food. She pulled one of the bottles of mead from her kimono and turned it up. The more she tried it, the more she was liking it. The sweet taste was finally being taken in. She could get used to it. It wasn't sake, but it was definitely alcohol.

“Any idea what you plan on doing with those two?” She asked in all curiousness. The two little ones had fallen asleep on his shoulders and barely hanging on at this point. She shook her head and looked ahead once more.

Guest

Zathire gave a bored grunt, as if he didn't even possess a personality. As Baiken asked the question he grabbed one child in each hand and with absolutely no finesses set them down. This hurt the children as he had not held them properly, holding Roy by the leg and Alene by the armpit. He sat them down then chewing the inside of his cheek for a second rubbed some crust out of his eyes. "Well if I choose to babysit you already, might as well add some extra weight to my journey. These pipsqueaks might be just what I need to get a good leg workout."

Naturally the children reacted to being awakened and handled like livestock. Roy cried a little and Alene who'd be traumatized into not crying gave a bit of an annoyed grumble.

He had noticed her chugging some mead earlier. "Hey give some of that to the kids." He eyed the bottle so she knew what he was talking about. "They need calories and it will help shut them up for the night." He didn't really care whether this worked or not. None of the three were his responsibility, he'd just help them some. He found what appeared almost as if two legs and a lap to rest his head upon. It was a tree. The only way he ever slept was with his head nested between two large exterior roots of a tree. He got up as he realized the annoying weight of his sword. He staked it in the ground beside him with it leaning to the side of the tree then slumped back down to his patch of earth.

He glanced up at the stars. It was a dead tree, and the only one that had been in site for miles. It was actually why he stopped here, but he wouldn't reveal his weakness that he had a soft spot for trees and felt alone and away from home without one "watching over him" so to speak.

Ice cold winds blew that night, something that felt nice to him but surely would make the children whine if Baiken didn't manage to get them to drink any of the mead and absorb its warming sensation. He however didn't want any. He was a strictly non drinking type despite being a barbarian.

When he awoke he heard a pleasant surprise. Crunching grass and he turned his head to see some migratory yak moving through the dry grass. He got up and moved along the trail passing by Baiken and the two children that had somehow managed to nestle beside her for warmth during the night. He almost snickered, not imagining the woman to be the type to be happy about this. She seemed oddly like him in many ways.

Much to his surprise, Roy was awake. The child followed him rather than asking what he was doing and this pleased Zathire some. Always better when they are the type to quietly watch. Zathire stepped into the grass and immediately the crunching signaled the attention of several beasts. Zathire gripped his sword and twisted his back, getting ready to lob the sword like a twirling battering ram at the center of the herd.

He stopped however.

"Oh no you didn't!"

Roy hadn't said anything so he was rather confused. "Um..."

The snow bull stomped its hoof threatening to charge.

Zathire surprisingly threw down his sword. As stupid as it appeared, he seemed like he was accepting the half ton animals challenge without backing down. Before anything more could be done Zathire charged head first, obviously the bull had no qualm with taking this challenge.

Heads collided with a sickeningly loud sound like a boulder tumbling down a rocky cliff. Equal and opposite reaction declared Zathire went flying back like a ragdoll. He slammed unluckily into a somewhat angular boulder jutting from the soil. Smaller shards of shale and rocky sediment broke off and stabbed into his back. To any witness such as Roy it wasn't even a question if Zathire was dead, his corpse was absolutely wrecked, it was only a question of how someone could have possibly been so dumb.

The bull shook its head and snorted, apparently speaking the message that "that's what you get for challenging me."

This left Roy in a very awkward situation and the bull still agitated heavily heard Roy crouching by the boulder though its poor eyesight couldn't quite pinpoint its target. He let out several nerve-wrecked breaths trying to balance the sheer need to panic with remaining quite.

This is when something most unexpected happened: Zathire got up, not only was he alive, he was uninjured. Without even groaning he took a hold of his sword as if knowing what would happen next. "Haha it's a very cheeky animal that thinks it has what it takes to stand up to me." As if on cue, the bull took a stuttered step; it seems the head on skull to skull collision had done more damage than the bull realized and the yak fell down; dead. Zathire merely brushed a hand behind his back removing some of the loose gravel and small sharp rocks that had wedged themselves in. "Look's like breakfast is served," he said lifting his sword.

It was going to be a messy cut from this butcher.