The gate lifted and all of a sudden Dounia’s neck was spurting blood. The creature came into view, half woman, half snake, fangs in the thief’s neck. Cairee cried, her body pulsing forward, wanting to push the creature off of her friend. She stopped herself just in time - that would only get them both killed.
Instead she stumbled back, trying to get out of the creature's range. Her job was to stay conscious so she could keep her teammates on their feet as well. Then she called out to Saiph.
Normally she asked for favours in a whisper. But adrenaline pumped through Cairee’s veins, and she wanted to shake the arena with the power of her prayer.
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From the north, ice collided with the creature's shoulder as Tymythy harried it from the west. With its' body turned Dounia struck out from the east, plunging a dagger into the back of her lung and a second up through the side toward the liver. Cairee shrunk backwards and beams of light emitted from her. They ran over Tymythy and Dounia providing warmth and understanding. Dounia's wound stopped bleeding. Tymythy's shoulder strain disappeared.
Now that the Naga could see you all its' eyes went wide with realization. Her voice was as soft as before, "Ah! Three will there be amongst the chosen. One who has forsaken their blood. One who has of their blood been forsaken. One who has, anew, their blood come to know. They shall be protected as of old by one who will bare tools of old, and in ancient vestment shall he be dressed!" She exhaled with a long painful breath that rasped with blood.
-
Above the entry gate one of the five bricks receded so that it was flush with the wall again.
As the brick moved all of the green slabs shot upward ten feet to be level with the red. Cairee was cut off from the others. Zahra was likewise sealed into a 10' x 20' space. Tymythy and Dounia were caught with the Naga. Only a 1' space existed between the pillars.
The poison was still in Dounia's system. It wrenches her guts as her vision doubles.
The Naga's tail coiled. She tried to keep her eyes on the spearman and the cursed girl with her daggers. She speaks something in an unknown language still with her cloudy voice. As the sight of her begins to fade she is momentarily open to attack.
Dounia nearly doubled over as a wave of pain and nausea swept over her. She wrestled briefly with her stomach, won, and straightened. The snake woman was badly hurt, and she could finish this now.
Again, she lashed out with both daggers. The first one was turned aside by thick scales, but the second one sank in deep near her spine. Dounia pulled it out with a grunt, only just then realizing that Cairee and Zahra were cut off from her sight.
Tymythy rounded a corner and caught sight of their foe once more, only to be immediately accosted by twin rows of snakelike needle teeth as the naga snapped its head in his direction, but the hunter deflected the assault with a swipe of his usriev’s shaft more with instinct than design. He arrived in time to see Dounia, hunched down and blood dripping down her neck, recover as the pulse of Cairee’s healing washed over them, then rip into the serpent-woman’s flanks with gusto, dealing a heroic blow if the creature’s pained hiss was anything to go by. Then a magical blast of conjured ice staggered it. Thus the give and take of a battle had began.
The naga spoke, but Tymythy ignored her words for the moment – there was too much danger here to risk getting distracted by vocal feints. The serpent-woman chanted and began to turn translucent again, clearly seeking to repeat a formula that had already served it well once. ”Oh no you don’t!” the hunter snarled and lunged, the wavy blade of the Fang of Justice bit back at his foe, sliding easily between scales to plunge deep into the naga’s long body. And whether he imagined it or not, he could have sworn he could feel a mental snarl of anger in his mind, one to match the naga’s pained grunt.
Tymythy yanked his spear out even as the naga faded from view again, muttering a curse. Thus hunt might yet become troublesome, despite the heavy damage Dounia’s blade and Zahra’s magic had already caused. At least the enemy was contained, at least for the moment, with him and Dounia in a small enclosure. So there were only some many places the naga could be hiding it, provided it didn’t try to scale the walls, and he hoped he would have heard something assuming it had attempted to do so. So Tymythy did his best to slash at the foe’s last observed location, but struck only air as their invisible foe either dodged aside… or was never there in the first place.
The Naga bolted for the relative safety of her cell. She moved with remarkable speed as the straw beneath her scattered. Tymythy and Dounia lashed out as she fled but only Tymythy hit the mark.
"SAAAH! The Argent Spear! Destroyer of Aeschylus and Hilarion! I shall kill you and take it back to my brothers and sisters to poison for our own use!"
She slunk into the far corner of her cell, barely able to breath.
"SAAAH! The Argent Spear! Destroyer of Aeschylus and Hilarion! I shall kill you and take it back to my brothers and sisters to poison for our own use!"
Seeing the incantation the naga attempted fall into glittering multicoloured sparks as its concentration lapsed, pressed on both sides by him and Dounia as it were, Tymythy wasted little time in jogging after the withdrawing beast as fast as his armour-encumbered body could manage. There was no telling what magical horrors the naga was capable of, given some time to weave new spells into being, even if there was obvious dangers in following a predator into its lair.
Now that the Naga could see you all its' eyes went wide with realization. Her voice was as soft as before, "Ah! Three will there be amongst the chosen. One who has forsaken their blood. One who has of their blood been forsaken. One who has, anew, their blood come to know. They shall be protected as of old by one who will bare tools of old, and in ancient vestment shall he be dressed!"
The Naga's words caught Cairee off guard. Was it reciting a prophecy? About them? What did it mean that they were 'chosen'? She shook her head - now was not the time for riddles. She began reciting her next prayer, but before the first syllable left her lips the block in front of her shot into the air! She was trapped, and worse, cut off from her friends.
"Is everyone okay?!" she cried. She looked around her small cage desperately. The only way out was up. Not her strong suit. "Saiph help me," she muttered, not really expecting a reply.
But an image of Dounia came to mind, running towards the wall and leaping up, like a coiled spring let loose. Without thinking Cairee sprinted forward and jumped, trying to mimic this memory of her friend. Her fingers found purchase on the side of the wall and a foot found a crevice - she was able to scramble up! She heaved herself to her feet and looked around, trying to orient herself to the changed arena. Were her friends okay? Had any of the other gates opened?
Cairee saw Tymythy disappear into the cell. The Naga was nowhere to be seen. Dounia was holding her stomach with her forearms, her daggers in hand, as she sweated and fought off waves of pain. The sounds of Zahra were near, just past the next blocks.
Looking about at the other gates they were hard to see but seemed to still be closed.
And there was something else. In the now dimmed light of the stadium there were auras of light coming from blocks near the centre of the arena. It was coming from beneath some of the cubes.
Dounia had tried to swipe at the naga as she slithered past, but failed to connect. Tymythy ran past her, and Dounia stumbled after him.
The naga was curled up in a corner - it would be pathetic enough to stay Dounia's hand if she weren't close to vomiting from poison and blood loss.
Dropping one of her daggers into its sheath, she pulled the third one out and threw it at the cowering monster.
Dounia vaulted behind Tymythy's back, landed in the corner and threw her dagger. It arced clean and low and hit the creature in the chest sinking half way to hilt. The naga's eyes turned into circles, "The three. My brothers and sisters must know." The creature fell forward onto her belly. Her tail wriggled for a moment and went still.
Tymythy could feel Kizu'gina vibrate with a light ring. It felt like it was stretching after a fight. It felt like it was waking up.
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Zahra cried out in dismay as she gets cut off from her friends. She whirled around looking for a way out and sees nothing but walls. She focused on the gap and tried to catch sight of the naga. If she could just get a glimpse of her then she may be able to tag her with magic. But alas, she couldn't see anything helpful through the one foot gap.
She needed to get to her friends. If only she was a real dragon then she could fly over these barriers and rain ice down on their foes to protect those she cared about. Maybe one day but today was not that day.
She couldn't go through so her only option was to try to go over. She started at one end of her prison to try to get as much speed as possible. She ran for the corner with the idea to try to use where the two walls came together to try to walk up the wall.
But an athlete she is not and as soon as she tries to jump, she barely makes it off the ground, Then she remembers the climbing kit in her bag and opens the clutch to get something to help.
-
Zahra was trying to shimmy up the space between blocks when she heard a kachunk and the block she was touching with her right had dropped suddenly like it was released. The friction scuffed her skin. Half of the blocks that were raised fell with the full weight of gravity.
Including the one that Cairee was standing on.
The cleric floated in midair for a third of a heartbeat and then fell with it.
Dounia and Tymythy hear the terrible crash of the stones then they hear the subtle death-breath release from the naga.
Above the doors where they all entered the arena a second of the five bricks slides back to the flush position.
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Cairee stood on her block, surveying the arena. It looked like light was coming from beneath some of the some of the blocks near the centre. What did it mean? Did another foe lie in wait below them? Was the arena floor caving in? Did-
-and then she was falling. "Ooph!" The wind was forced out of her lungs as she hit the ground on her stomach. Her chin smacked the ground and she bit her tongue. But still, she grinned. If the ground had reset, then they must have defeated the naga. "Ith evethryone okaee?" she called out as she pulled herself to her feet. She could see Zahra, but the others must be in the cave. "Thhymythhhy? Thounia?" She leaned over and discreetly spat out a mouth full of blood.
She pointed to the centre of the arena. "Thara, look. Thomething'th new ith happening. Letth do the clothetht door nexth."
The naga’s body folded over Dounia’s throw knife but Tymythy, standing a pace away as he were, decided to take no chances and plunged his usriev into the serpentine body before leaning in to wrench out the knife that had felled the beast, then stopped and looked at the ancient spear in his hands. A spear that seemed more alive than ever before, gorged with the blood of the serpent as it were.
At a moment’s impulse Tymythy brought the wavy blade to the back of his wrist and slashed at his own flesh lightly, enough to draw some blood to mix with that of his enemy. The Fang of Justice had tasted the blood of its enemies. It felt… proper… to gift the spirit residing in it a small taste of that of its wielder’s as well. An offering as it were, from one partner to another.
With the melding of blood, memories arrived like a flood, too fragmented and passing too quickly for him to make much sense of them. But they all focused on the usriev in his hands. Kizu'gina, wielded by many hands over the ages, oft as a weapon on a field of battle against many a foe, occasionally held as a sceptre of authority by a ruler. Sometimes passed peacefully from one hand to another, occasionally wrested from the grasp of a dying wielder or claimed from the stiff hand of a corpse.
Tymythy gasped softly as he dragged his attention back from the river of recollections and back to the present. There was much to consider, it would seem, both with the quickening awareness of the weapon he wielded and in the prophetic words of the naga they had just fought. But both had to be pushed aside for a later time, for the challenge was only just begun, and the next fight would not wait on them.
”Masterful work,” he said to Dounia, handing her back her knife as the pair made their way out of the cage and into the arena proper. ”How you can do all that with blades so small, I doubt I shall ever truly grasp. But how fare you? The naga got you when it first appeared, did it not?”
They didn’t have much peace for conversation, though, for an almighty clatter of falling stones and Cairee’s call demanded their swift return to the arena.
Tymythy searched the Naga but found no knife. When he looked back it was already in Dounia's belted sheath.
Prem, "My gods Yoy'ya. Stop looking so serious. You know 'the Black Birds' are worth more than just a meal ticket. You should stop focusing on your precious bets and get to know them. I mean look at you! As serious as a banker. A little care from you and they'd probably move the sky if you were in danger and what are you doing? Pouting and strategizing. I don't think I've seen anyone so serious. Melt a little of that ice cloak your wearing and crack a grin, raise a cheer, do something!"
Yoy'ya, "Shut up!"
Prem, "What did you jus..."
Yoy'ya, "Dounia's been poisoned."
Prem turns his head so fast to look at the lake his own ear hits him in the face and he falls in the stands.
Zahra winced and rubbed her skin as the block dropped suddenly and grazed her as it sank. Realizing she was no longer trapped she began moving forward to get to the others.
Seeing Cairee on the ground she exclaimed, "Cairee!", and ran towards the cleric. She reached her hand down to help the woman to her feet. "I'm ok but are you?"
The sorceress craned her neck around as Cairee mentioned the light. "Maybe that's where the hidden items are that are supposed to help us."
"I don't hear any cries for help or sounds of a scuffle. I assume that means Tymythy and Dounia are also ok?"
"I don't hear any cries for help or sounds of a scuffle. I assume that means Tymythy and Dounia are also ok?"
”Unscratched. And the naga lies dead,” Tymythy answered quickly, taking in the new seemingly temporarily stable state of the arena and Cairee’s apparent injury. ”If the sand wasn’t flowing down the hourglass before, it surely does now. We need to pick and open the next gate soon.”
Dounia doesn't feel well at all. Thanks to Cairee's prayer, the blood has stopped flowing from her wound. But she still feels weak and fuzzy-headed.
She checks to make sure her thrown dagger returned to her (it had), and she grins weakly. Moving out of the cell, she staggers a little when she hits the sunlight. "Where did all the pillars come from?" she asks in confusion.
Dounia and Tymythy emerged from the Naga's cave. Dounia looked pale and woozy. Cairee rushed over to tend to her friend. She inspected the site of the bite, felt her forehead, looked at her tongue, and pressed on her fingernail beds. "How does this feel?...And this?...Follow my finger with your eyes..."
"...We need to pick and open the next gate soon."
"Let's do the closest so we don't waste time running around the arena," She suggested.
-
Cairee got to her feet and rushed over as Dounia and Tymythy emerged from the cell. Cairee looked over the wound.
Another brick slid flush with the wall over the doorway. Two bricks remained.
The the floor shifted again. All of the blue slabs shot upward ten feet. Zahra was thrown into the air off the slab she was standing on.
The arena went still.
Now that Zahra was up above everything she could clearly see two sources of light at the centre of the arena.
The Naga's poison had been fast-acting and had badly hurt Dounia. But it had passed through her system and would do no further harm. Still, Cairee worried about her ability to get through the three remaining battles. Best for Dounia not to realize that. She smiled re-assuringly. "I know you aren't feeling quite yourthelf. But you'll heal, though thlowly. The elven healerth will be able to help, and a few good night'th retht will have you back to yourthelf."
The floor shifted and Zahra was suddenly ten feet above them. This game wouldn't let them rest for a moment. They needed to move fast. "We'll go ahead and study the gate," she said. She took Dounia's hand and hurried towards the closest gate.
Tymythy twitched when another series of coloured floor sections suddenly shot up, launching Zahra into the air with casual ease. Clearly the arena itself was a threat to their health, not only the creatures trapped in their cells. But the high ground offered its own benefits as well.
Tymythy took off towards the raised slab on his right, scampered up the wall half-way before launching himself to the pair of blue slabs next to it, easily vaulting himself on top of the pillars. Scanning the arena from his better vantage point, he proceeded to follow Cairee towards the next cage.
Zahra felt the floor beginning to move under her feet and managed to keep herself upright as she maintained her balance.
Having the view of the stadium she did, she definitely saw the lights at the centre of the arena that Cairee had mentioned. She knew that time was precious before the floor began to move again so she decided to run to investigate the light. She was in a position to help the others so even though she didn't necessarily want to run off by herself, she needed to know if the lights were a threat or a help.
She called down to the others, "I'm going to see what the lights are. I can run along the raised blue blocks until they change. Since we've gone through green, red, and blue, I'm hoping that it'll be yellow next. Maybe I can get to yellow if they raise while blue descends to limit hurting myself. But who knows what will happen."
Zahra leapt from raised slab to raised slab until she was in sight of one of the light sources. Looking down at the southern face of this blue slab she could see an alcove and it was lit up internally. The alcove was tall and she could see inside.
There was a backpack of old dusty leather. It looked mundane and weather-beaten.
There was clearly another light source on the western face of the nearby red slab but she didn't have an angle to see if there was another alcove.
Dounia allowed Cairee to poke and prod her for a moment. She finally shook her off, just as the healer pronounced her on the mend. Frowning, she complained, "But I'm dizzy."
Then she tried to shake it off - if Cairee said she'd be okay, then she'd be okay. And she knew that if the cleric could have helped her, she would have.
Cairee took her hand and pulled her towards the next gate, and Dounia jogged to keep up. The floor moved and pillars shot up, and she finally understood what the giant mechanism was under their feet. They were blocked from moving, but she was pretty sure the yellow ones would be going up next. "Wait, Cairee. I'll boost you up."
She pushed Cairee from below, trying to get her up onto the block. She then used the corner between two blocks to give herself a running start up to the top.
Keeping in mind the chance of the slabs changing, Zahra quickly moves forward on the blue blocks but sticks close to the side bordering yellow.
As she moved, she thought about what she saw. If she went down to get an item, could she get trapped? Could she get squished? Could she get out?
Dounia threw her back against the block and made a cradle with her hands. Cairee scuttled up with effort and the desert thief bounded up after. Tymythy was just ahead but loaded down with spear and breastplate and the two women just passed him on the raised slabs.
Zahra was visible at the centre of the arena looking down at the slab bases.
-
The fourth block slid flat against the wall above the entry door.
The entire stadium rumbled.
All of the yellow slabs shot upward ten feet. Light was being emitted from the north face of the yellow slab but only a foot was between them and Zahra could only see that another alcove existed, not what was laying inside.
She moved diagonally northwest and could see clearly the alcove in the side of the red slab. Resting on a red cushion was a small silver sceptre. Part of the shaft was wrapped in blue stained leather. The top ended in a silver hand holding rings, both longitude and latitude, to form a globe.
It would be another three heartbeats before the slabs would move again. If she dropped down now she would be surrounded by blocks on all sides. She would have to climb out.
-
Dounia and Cairee rushed over to the edge of the last block and could see the pull chain from their perch.
Tymythy followed now twenty feet behind.
-
-
The last of the bricks over the entryway slid flat against the wall.
The great machinery under the slabs kachunked and all of the red slabs fell smashing into the ground.
Tymythy rushed to get to the Gate marked I and had a clear view of the slab under Cairee and Dounia fall. The two women went down after it. He got to the end of the slabs and hung off the end to drop to the floor.
Zahra wobbled as the floor of the arena shuddered. The block disguising the unseen alcove opened up and with a little craning of her neck she could see a red cushion with a pair of grey gloves sitting upon it.
”Zahra! We are about ready to open the gate!” Tymythy shouted to the mystic at the distance. ”If there is something there for us, either grap it now or let’s come back for it later!”
Dounia felt the faintest of vibrations under her feet, and sensed that their block was about to fall. She cried, "Look out!" just as it fell. She launched herself forward as it began to fall, hit the ground in a roll, and popped back to her feet. She spun around to see if Cairee had been able to land all right. At least the poison isn't making me clumsier!