Drawing of the Line

#46

Markus addressed Swix at this point, and with a mixture of apprehension and ernesty, he said:

"Frankly, this all seems a little... overkill. However, you are the one wounded, and I am the one who wounded you. What would you rather I do?"

He may not have liked the idea of this "blood magic", but he considered himself a man of honour. If she insisted on it, he would go through it.

#47

ES stopped her staring at the grass, raised her and then turned towards Markus when he spoke to her. She looked mildly surprised at the show of honourability, and whilst it would normally make her feel sick she swallowed the bile this time. Whilst she still liked the idea of the blood magic she'd already decided that she wasn't going to make him do something he didn't want to do, and from his use of the word 'overkill' he clearly didn't want to do it. The apparent blood mage clearly saw some sort of opportunity here. So did she.
"I'd rather you fix it, Markus, you did this" she told him, then turned to the veiled being "Sorry Drevlin, although I'd be very excited to see how this blood magic of yours works, it does seem a bit much right now"
'And I'd rather not owe you anything else'

Tav · #48

"I must admit, this is. . overkill, as you put it. I mostly just wanted to show off my arcane skill." Dravlin said, leaning back on the boulder. His next statement was much more cryptic. "I apologize, Lady Swix; I didn't intend to refer to you as a thing- Thinghood is a more complex matter for me than it would be for most sentients."

#49

Markus, feeling relieved but focusing on the messy task at hand, looked through his pack to find some bandages, and a small but worn stick.

"I'm going to need you to lie down, either flat on the ground or propped up against a rock or tree, then bite down on this. Pulling the bolt out is going to hurt like hell, you need to be braced."

#50

"Huh" Swix said, looking at Drevlin with a mixture of curiousity and confusion. But she could ask later. The woman nodded at the mercenary, got up from her sitting position, took the worn stick from him and then walked over to a nearby tree.
She lay down there, carefully so she didn't jar the injury. Propped up with with the plant behind her she put the stick in her mouth bnd waited for hm to come and remove the godsdamn bolt.

#51

Markus said nothing, for there was nothing to say. All he could do was quietly walk over to the injured woman and concentrate. Pulling off a glove, Markus revealed a intricate, but sturdy looking clockwork hand. He took a moment to adjust the tension on the hand and when he was satisfied he crouched down next to Swix, placed the hand around the bolt.

In one quick and powerful pull, the bolt was ripped free, as if he was pulling nothing more than a thread from her shoulder. Working quickly he began to stem the bleeding and bandage the wound before blood loss set in.

#52

Though Swix had been warned about the pain 'hurting like hell', of course there was no question of that happening, she still jerked slightly when Markus removed the bolt so easily. Her back slightly arched, face twisted in pain with her eyes squeezed shut and a scream coming through as more of a whimper as she bit down hard on the stick before her body relaxed again. Her wound let out a fresh spurt of blood after he'd removed the object of course, though it was quickly tended by the mercenary it still managed to soak her black dress. Even so, she still had her eyes squeezed shut. but this was to do with something else.... At the removal of the offending object and the second shock of extreme pain she'd had today she could feel something.... stirring, and she had to concentrate. Hard.

'Nonononononononono, not now, not now, it's fine, everything's fine' she repeated in her head, a sort of mantra to reassure something else. Oddly enough only now she regretted letting 'the primordial force of darkness', as Drevlin called it, out with no form of control. Now she was struggling to keep it at bay whilst Markus was helping her out. She just hoped no patches of the stuff were showing up on her skin. On her dress though, they'd barely be noticeable before they disappeared.

#53

Markus was about halfway though the bandaging process when he noticed a small patch of skin go dark, then go back to normal.

"damnit damnit DAMNIT!"

Whatever Swix had done before was happening again, and this time it was plainly obvious it wasn't her doing. Maybe the pain was causing it, maybe she was panicking, it didn't matter. All Markus could do was work faster and reassure her.

"Common, you can do it. It's only pain, brief pain. Not long now, not long nooow..."

#54

One of ES's eyes seemed to twitch whilst Markus gave his reassurances, even though her eyelids were still squeezed shut the tic could be seen.

'Everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's fine' she repeated in her head, constantly, calmly, hoping noone would do something that would break her concentration. Hoping what she felt stirring would listen to her 'If you do that then everything will most likely be ruined! The whole plan, gone!
She felt a disagreement, and a slightly stronger push, making her bite her lip as she pushed back. It was futile, and she knew it-but it did give the stirring darkness pause and mild surprise. 'Fine, I'll admit it. You'll ruin it for me! just... just trust me on this. Everything's fine'
That seemed to work better, although she had the very disturbing echo of a laugh that could make even her shuddeer bounce around her mind.

The dark patches didn't show up anymore, and ES's eyes opened-briefly showing that her irises had gone dark but that too receded quite quickly. She was herself and she was back in control again. The woman took the stick out of her mouth and looked at the mercenary crouched next to her, the echo of the laughter still bouncing around her head. Well, there was only one thing she could do about that...
"Thank you" she said genuinely, resisting turning the smile she was sporting into a smirk as the laughter abruptly stopped.

#55

Markus was damn near exhausted at this point.

"You're welcome." He replied between heavy breathing. "The least I could do."

His fatigue was more mental than physical, but it felt the same either way. Looking around, the light of day seemed to be fading, and he decided it might be time to suggest setting up camp for the night.

"I don't know about you guys, but I could do with some rest. The light is fading anyway, it might be best to set up camp and wait till morning."

Whilst the other decided on what to do, Markus tended to his hand. It was getting stiff again, and he couldn't seem to adjust it anymore. He'd have to be careful for now then, he could easily crush a hand in it's current condition.

"Stupid bloody clockwork contraption..." He muttered under his breath.

Tav · #56

Dravlin said nothing, watching the entire incident silently, just. . .staring, morbidly, until Markus muttered about his hand. Dravlin snapped out of his reverie, and had this to say;

"Why clockwork? I've found that clockwork isn't as intuitive as living wood, or soulsteel. With a dozen gold and a sentient being to sacrifice, you could find any artificer worth his salt who could make you a brand new soulsteel hand."

#57

"Clockwork was the best I could get hold of at the time, it was cheap and did the job."

Something about what Dravlin said got to him though. At the mention of a sacrifice he suddenly felt very angry, and he could explain why.

"And frankly I would rather go without a hand than kill someone for a damn HAND!"

He clasped his non metal hand around his mouth after that. It wasn't the killing he had a problem with... he thought, it was the sheer needlessness of such a sacrifice. It was only a hand. Still, he felt near embarrassed at his outburst. Markus opted to just turn away, and hope he wasn't pressed on the subject.

#58

ES sat up properly, the injury still twinged a bit, but nowhere near as much as it had.been, and the bandage Markus had put on it seemed to be doing it's job very well. But she definitely needed a new dress now.

The woman held her head with her right arm, she shouldn't have done that, she shouldn't have pushed back, but it wasn't listening. She had to. Didn't change the fact she was going to pay for it later though.

ES's attention soon snapped back to their little group when the mercenary yelled at Dravlin, eyes narrowing slightly.

"The night's my kind of time, but that... animal that I picked up earlier looked particularly nasty. If you want rest you're probably going to have to set up some sort of watch... Unless either of you knows how to make a shelter that could keep them out" she said, a little less of the usual arrogant hostility showing through in her tone. She winced when the tree she'd previously broken in two finally gave way and crashed down into the ground "... 'least we'll have firewood... I'll get it" she said, mock-cheerily and then rushed off as fast as she could towards it and away from the awkwardness.

Tav · #59

The veiled figure tilted his head during Markus's outburst, unable to understand why. A mercenary would kill someone for money, but not a hand? What made money more valuable than one's own body? Humans were strange, Dravlin drew from the outburst.

"I. . .apologize, if I've offended you." He said, hastily trying to repair his relations with the man. "Of course, soulsteel isn't the only option. If you can find a good healer, I'm sure they could regrow your original hand; and at no cost of lives. I just never found engineering to be very useful, myself. But to each his own, no?"

As he spoke, concentrating on not saying the wrong thing, he didn't notice 'Lady Swix' walking off.

#60

ES stopped by the destroyed ground that had been further ruined by the broken, snapped tree that now lay in the centre. Behind that she could just see the body of the predator that had come to rest in an unnatural position. She really had come over here for the wood, but leaving Dravlin and Markus together seemed like it could be a volatile mix and she had no wish of getting in the middle of it. Nor did she want to call on the darkness so soon after what had just happened either, and if it did turn out that they couldn't work out their differences, then she'd go back to find one or the other there. At least here she wouldn't get caught in the middle.

Now, what was she here for again? Oh yes, that's right, the wood, but... The woman eyed the body, trying to think what to do. Would it be there in the morning? Probably not. Could she find another? From Dravlins words earlier, more than likely. In her present condition? Not a chance. Later, maybe. Was it a smart idea right now? After freaking the mercenary out so well he claimed he wasn't thinking rationally, definitely not. Dravlin probably wouldn't mind though.

Probably better to come back when it was darker and the others were asleep, to see if it was still there. If not she'd go and find another later. But not now.

The woman forgot about the carcass for the time being and instead began gathering as much of the wood as she possibly could.