OOM: All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness? -Part Two

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu intended to dance in the sky with Skellig the very next day, but events have conspired to prevent that from occurring. A raid on the village by former soldiers meant many wounded to heal and much damage to fix. Akatan's sister, Neferet, has a definite crush, an infatuation, with Skellig. She hasn't done anything but look and exchange some friendly words, but it still makes her brother FURIOUS.

For all that Euripedes was from a different time and place, a line he had Medea speak in the play of the same name still rings true: "I would rather stand three times in the line of battle than once bear a child." Even with Kreyu's magic, with Taweret's skill, childbirth is incredibly dangerous. There are reasons why Taweret's goddess image of She Who Is Great has elements of the hippo, the lion, and the crocodile, a fearsome appearance to drive off the many threats facing a woman giving birth. The second birth in a week began this morning and was still going on when the sun began to set. Not a good sign.

Skellig, trying to burn off nervous energy while Kreyu was working, happened across a few of the village men drinking. They said things about Kreyu they should not have said. That he was FEEDING on Kreyu, drinking her blood. There...may have been a fight. At least they don't think he's a demon anymore, you can't give a demon a black eye in a brawl with your fists!

It is truly night now, and Skellig can hear Kreyu's tired footsteps on the road...

(OOC: Warning for explicit adult content starting around tag 194.)

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[brave_kreyu]

Taweret's gaze is firm, solemn. "I will watch over your heart as if it were my own."

Her eyes flicker to the goddess image. "I know what you would do. Would you be HER hands tonight, in my stead? There are older laws than the laws of kings when She must protect those under her care from Men."

[27_53]

Despite his wings not being visible in this space, Taweret will feel a faint rush of air as he shakes them out against his back, perhaps even hear the rustle of feathers as an echo in her mind.

"I would consider it my sworn duty," he says, solemnly.

[brave_kreyu]

"Never before have I had to give a life my hands brought forth to HER jaws. I would not falter in my duty, but you are better able to see the matter ended quickly tonight than these old bones."

And it will hurt Skellig less, though she won't SAY that.

[27_53]

She doesn't have to say it. Skellig reaches once more and plucks a single (clean) feather from 'the air' behind him and offers it to Taweret.

"I give you this. If you fear she is slipping beyond once again," he shoots a sideways glance at Kreyu, who should not (and will not) be going anywhere. "Just think of me. I will return to help at once."

[brave_kreyu]

Taweret nods, takes the feather with all the care afforded to something holy and precious. "I will."

'It's all your fault, he attacked her because of you,' the arrow whispers.

'He nearly stole heaven from you tonight, condemned you to a hell without her,' Kreyu's blood speaks on his hands.

'He needs to SUFFER for what he's done," the fire crackles.

[27_53]

With that, and a final (for now) press of his lips to Kreyu's bloodied cheek, he rises from a knee and moves to the door.

He stops only to glare at the arrow that whispers at him from the puddle of blood (her blood, her precious blood) it rests in on the table.

"He will pay," he speaks, voice low.

Who exactly he is talking to - to Kreyu? to Taweret? to the voices? - is unclear, but it doesn't matter. He has business to attend to. He leaves the arrow on the table and takes his leave.

[brave_kreyu]

Akatan has been waiting for him, with a hunter's patience. He KNOWS he killed the witch, nothing survives a shot like that for long! But he wants the demon too. Skellig is barely out of the door when another arrow comes for him.

But Skellig knows the sound of them, now, and Akatan has lost the element of surprise. And Skellig is so very, very, angry. Akatan is perched on top of the wall that rings the town, a position that gives him an easy sight line to Taweret's dwelling.

'Blasphemer' the earth rumbles.

'He wanted your mate, coveted her. Wanted her to bed him, to bear his children, to be his prized wife' the well gossips, 'but she wouldn't have him after the night she kissed him.'

'Wise goddess, sensed the poison in him, even if she didn't know its name' the wind whispers in his ear.

[27_53]

Skellig easily avoids the arrow, moving with an unnatural grace out of its deadly pathway. (All it has done has given him an easier 'sightline' to his target, perched atop the wall.) The thunk it makes as its barbed head buries itself deep into the mud wall of Taweret's home is loud, even amid the echoes, the voices in his head.

"He is not worthy," he mutters, anger building in his tone as he slips sideways into shadow, out of Akatan's line of direct sight, out of the line of fire. "She would not bear his children, she is my mate."


Akatan wishes for the demon.
The demon he will get.

Skellig simply appears atop the wall with a rush of air that is strong enough to force Akatan back, knock any arrow he may have had nocked from the string of that bow.

He will seek his vengeance.

[brave_kreyu]

Akatan was not expecting him to appear like that, to knock the arrow off the string. He swings the wooden bow like a staff, trying to land a blow on the demon. "Die, damn you! I've already killed the witch, you should be gone!"

[27_53]

The damn you stings his senses and he would normally react outwardly, a dull ache behind his eyes (just another headache, take down some brown and some more of those pills and push it off) but there is so much of his Light and her Karma still flooding his senses, her blood and power coursing through his veins - that it simply rolls off without any reaction.

(He could get used to this, this much POWER.)

"I will not go until I am through with you."

Skellig stalks forward and grabs the bow, yanking it from Akatan's grasp and tossing it aside. He is tempted to simply shift his hand, allow his talons to break free and slice through flesh right here, have this asshole bleed to death atop the wall.

But that would leave too much evidence.

"And I want to go fly."

Firm hands grab Akatan by the bicep and shoulder; he spins him to face away so he can't strike back, then throws them both off the wall, plummeting towards the ground below.

(It isn't far, but falling is never fun.)

At the last instant, Skellig beats his wings, kicking up a cloud of dust and sand before he heads towards the river.

[brave_kreyu]

Akatan struggles in his grip, his terror loud as they approach the ground.

The struggle slows as Skellig gets higher off the ground, as Akatan realizes just what would happen if he fell from this height.

[27_53]

Skellig does not waste time in getting them to a height at which Akatan would most certainly perish from, if he were to let go of him.

It is when they near the banks of the river, moonlight shimmering off the surface, that Skellig does just that. There might be a bit of a shove involved, to 'assist' gravity. It is not fully over the river, however, that Akatan falls - because owls do not swim.



Reluctantly (but only because he wishes to cause more suffering before he snuffs out this thread) Skellig dives soundlessly after Akatan, breaking the fall (this time with talons dug into his shoulders) and landing atop him, Akatan meeting the earth firmly, face down.

[brave_kreyu]

Akatan screams when Skellig's talons dig into his shoulder, draw his blood. Something in his nose breaks, cartilage or bone when his face meets the earth.

The blood smell causes the crocodiles to stir slightly. No predator is going to turn down a free meal, and there are a LOT of mouths down here.

[27_53]

With a knee still pressed firmly into Akatan's spine, Skellig reaches up and quickly unties the amulet from around his neck, tucking it into a fold of his kilt.

And then he fully flares his wings, stirring the earth around them up a bit before he growls and uses one hand to 'flip' his prey face up on the earth.

(Even the crocodiles hesitate, briefly, at the sense of THIS predator.)

He is a fearsome sight, like this. So few have seen this anger, this rage, this fire in his eyes.

[brave_kreyu]

Akatan's eyes widen at the sight of his wings. The owl is a symbol of death, of mourning, and with that fire in his eyes, he's utterly terrifying.

He tries to scrabble backwards, away, does what so many do when they are out of other options. He BEGS. "Please, have mercy. Please."

[27_53]

"Have mercy?!"

He shouts, a flock of nearby nesting birds startled and screeching as they leave their roost in the grass and seek safer ground. His growl is quickly broken by a laugh, and Skellig is shaking his head watching as Akatan tries to crawl away, begging before him.

"Have mercy on you, the one who tried to strike down my mate--" He hauls back and spits on Akatan's retreating form, stalking after him. "You tried and failed, by the way...you would ask that the owl have mercy on you?"

[brave_kreyu]

"Please. I'll give you anything you want, anything!" He's even more desperate now.

Yesterday, Akatan would have sneered at Skellig confirming what everyone already knew. That he was bedding the witch, had taken her for his own. But this is not yesterday.

[27_53]

"There is no mercy to be had, for you."

And Skellig is kneeling now, suddenly at Akatan's side, one hand firmly resting atop his chest. He could listen for the sound of his prey's heartbeat, but there is no need to, not with how close he is and how hard the man's heart is hammering in his chest, so very close to those talons.

"I have walked alongside many men on their path to greet Death," he continues, leaning his face in closer. "But I will grant you no such honor." That hand is pressed harder into his chest, talons just barely tipping the surface of his chest. "No, you Akatan...I will leave you to meet Death alone."

And then without further preamble, Skellig reaches his other hand up and grasps Akatan's jaw in one hand, swiftly snapping his head and severing his spinal cord, breaking his neck.

Mercy is to be found in a quick death.

[brave_kreyu]

Akatan goes alone to meet Death, his body an empty shell. The crocodiles are restless, hungry. If he leaves the body here, no one will ever find any identifiable piece of him.

He has had his revenge, but he will pay the price for it. Kreyu's blood, her karma, still sings in his veins, will keep him going long enough to get back to Taweret. But what has done here has little Light in it, if any at all, and so much Dark.

[27_53]

Skellig grasps the shoulder of Akatan's corpse, talons digging tight as he lifts it from the earth and drags it through the dirt and grass to bring it just a few feet closer to the river.

"An offering."

He bows his head and then lets the body crumple where it falls, turning on his heel and walking away, not looking back. He contemplates flying the distance, but he needs to calm down - he pauses briefly, collapsing near a field of taller grass, vomiting up a mouthful of bile and blood as the world spins around him, Darkness threatening. But he finds Her heartbeat again, amid the noise, and dons the amulet again before he makes it back into the village.

If anyone is awake at this hour, they do not see him. It is easy enough to shift attention, change directions. He isn't exactly sure how he gets to Taweret's home, but he does.

The embedded arrow in the wall is left for the morning. For now, he knocks lightly. (She will know it is him. He is so very tired.)

[brave_kreyu]

"Skellig," Taweret greets him as she unbars and opens the door. "Come in, sit a moment." Taweret has poured him a mug of beer.

There's also a bowl of water and some clean rags. "May I help you clean up?" She doesn't ask what he did, won't. Sometimes, it is better not to know.

Kreyu's heart beats steadily, her breathing easy. She's recovering faster than a human would, it seems. Or maybe he just poured THAT MUCH light into her.

[27_53]

Without making a sound, he drops himself into the offered chair, nodding his consent as he reaches for the beer mug. His eyes fall to Kreyu's form in the bed, watching intensely as her chest rises and falls.

Satisfied (for now), he drinks.

He is suddenly very thirsty. After several swallows, and once Taweret has started to clean the dust off of his arms, he feels himself start to shake, the adrenaline wearing off. His breathing quickens to a silent pant, mouth firmly closed.

He clenches his hand into a fist.

"It is done," he grits out after a moment. Part of him knows he does not NEED to say it, because he would not be back here if Akatan was still alive. "I left him for the crocodiles."

[brave_kreyu]

Taweret pours him some more beer. "Neatly done. I would almost think you had trained in Her darker mysteries."

"I would have needed to dose him with a very particular tea to disable him enough to allow me to give him to the river."

Her expression takes on a touch of dark humor. "One I had made only twice before." She works on cleaning him up some more. "It was not for Kreyu alone that I visited that night," she confesses.

[27_53]

Skellig huffs a laugh under his breath.

"I cannot say I would cast blame upon you," he mutters quietly - his body still trembles, but his voice is steadier as she works to rid him of the grime and blood that coats his skin. His tone is wry and amused. "A stranger arrives in the heat of the day, and allows your valued apprentice to lay claim to him? I would be worried also."

Even with Kreyu's blood and Karma still coursing through his veins, there is so much Dark in his body that he is in a great deal of discomfort, as she touches him. He works to hide it, but he is truly sore.

(The black eyes are fading, as are the marks on his skin, the bruises and scratches from the fights. But some wounds take longer.)

[brave_kreyu]

"I thought you might understand," Taweret replies. "But I could tell, from her reactions to you while mostly asleep, that you were not a threat that I needed to protect her from."

"You are in pain, dear. Is it a physical thing, or something else?"