Hopelessly lost?

Lifting one eyelid halfway open, Caste's eye trailed over to the male that was laying motionless against the tree. She wondered if he was acutally asleep or not. He was so massive, and he seemed to war driven. He had no qualms with killing someone, even a child. So she was certain that he was probably wary, even in sleep, about the world around him. She bet that if she tried to creep any closer to him, he would jerk awake and attack her without even thinking twice about it. It made her wonder exactly what would make him like that. Who had raised him? Or more of who had polluted him.

Caste went to the center of the area they were in, and kicked a mark in the dirt with the edge of her shoe. Then she hunted out a few large and few small branches and carried them back to the area she had marked. When she'd created a large enough pile, she pulled out matches from her bag and tried to get the wood on fire. As one branch finally caught fire, the fire spread through the wood and soon they had a small fire blazing in their new camp.

Caste stood up, leaving her bag against the tree, and stepped back toward the lake. She hoped that Prelettis was done bathing, because she didn't want to invade the girl's privacy. She stopped as gasped, seeing Prelettis dragging one of the 'demon fish' up toward the camp. Then she burst out in laughter, and when she'd calmed down some she marched down to Prelettis. "What in the world are you doing?" Caste asked, trying to sound stern and scolding. Then her face broke into a smile, and she chuckled and started pushing the fish from behind to help get it to the camp faster.

Noticing Caste turn her attention to the approaching Prelettis, Xion took this chance to unsheathe his razor sharp dagger. It was small, and nothing he would worry about them having, so with a flick of his wrist, tossed it in their direction. The blade was heavy, and flipped only a few times in its high arc before aiming to the ground. No more than 2 feet from Caste, and in Prelettis's general direction it stead in the ground. His arms rested once more on his knees, and his eyes closed, keeping to himself as the girls would go about their business.

" I want that back when you're done with it... " His words stern and forced, but too tired to care, soon drifting back to that absent and silent posture.

Caste took the knife and stared down at Prelettis confused, then shot a look in the Xion's direction. What in the world was she going to do with this. She watched Prelettis gasp over her dress and then run off, and wondered exactly where she was going. She stared down at the fish, triyng to figure out exactly how she was supposed to cook it. "Oh, I could sew your dress for..." Caste trailed off, knowing her words were being lost in the wind. Prelettis were already gone.

Caste sat down by the large fish and stared at the knife. Then she raised it shakily, and closed her eyes plunging it into the fish. She opened her eyes to see the blood pouring over the sides of the stabbed area. Caste gagged, and slowly pulled the blade back out of the fish. She didn't know why she stabbed the fish, she just guessed it might help her. It did help a bit as a matter of fact, and she slowly started peeling off the skin. She didn't have a clue if she was doing any of this right, but she had a feeling that Prelettis would eat the fish raw so it didn't really matter right?

After Caste had peeled off all the scaly skin, she sawed the fish up in peices and then stabbed the peices with small sharpened branches. The sat them close to the fire so they could cook, then sat back and looked at the what was left of the large fish. Her hands stunk terribly, but she laid back in the dirt feeling grimy and too lazy too move.

One of his teal eyes would perk open just as an means of entertainment at Caste's lose for understanding. The stab to the fish, the overworking motion to descale it, and then chopping it into pieces, what a haste. After the moments of watching her start to cook it, he could almost see one of them taking a bit and gagging on a bone, then spewing that milky center away as it's raw insides still stayed raw, and the outside, burnt.

" You're doing it wrong human girl... Next time, cut the tail off, then slide down from its belly to the open area the tail was at. Afterwards, in one solid thrust, use its mouth to pull the head and spine out the new opening. That will make it easier to clean out. Bones, guts.... " His words muttered off to silence before his eyes close again, laughing to himself with a poker face. These girls were clueless, even Xion new how to clean fish.

" And when you cook it, open it wide and set it flat with the bottom side towards the flame. If it's too close it will burn, too far, it stays raw. " His words cut off again as if ready to say something else, but halting himself from any further chance of striking a meaningless conversation.

Hearing Xion's voice, Caste sits up with an aching back, and leans her elbow against her knee for support. A her body shuttered violently at the thought of ripping the spine from the fish's body. As if the stabbing it wasn't enough. Caste clenched her teeth together, fighting her cringe. She closed her eyes and tried the kill the disgusting thoughts that were traveling through her head. When she felt a little less sickened she opened her eyes and let her eyes fall on Xion's form.

"Would you please show me how to do this. I'm not always so great at understanding verbals instructions, but if you could so me just once, I think I could get it down." Caste bottom lips pressed up against her teeth, as she chewed on it nervously. She didn't want to upset him, but she really did not understand how to make the fish. The thought of ripping out it's spine still made her sick.

The raid had not gone well at all. It was an ambush, and a disastrous one for his side. There had been ten trucks of cargo, everything from weapons to rations. In retrospect it was pretty obvious it was a trap. It was a good two miles out of his territory in a grassland with rolling hills. He had to split his party up so they had a higher chance of survival. He had taken a route that would take him even farther from his territory, but he had thought that the route would be too out of the way for anyone to follow. If he hadn't lost his horse he might have made it back before anyone else, but his pursuers were persistant and ended up shooting his horse. He had to run into the woods, where he would then make his succesful escape, but not before getting shot. It had been a shot to the back, and his hunters knew a little something about him; the bullet was made of silver.

He escaped by covering his tracks in a creak, but his strength failed him and he passed out. The creak eventually flowed into a river, which was flowing through a forest towards a lake, but he didn't make it to the lake. His still form came to a halt on a rocky river bank, hours after he had been shot, hours after a silver bullet had passed through his body. A normal person would have died. But he wasn't normal, not by the standards of any race.

He was covered in blood, nearly dead, and the sky was colored the same.

" Well, with what you did to it already, no point in me teaching you. If the time comes I may show you, until then, deal with it. " He simply shrugged it off, attempt to sever any desire for her to feel that he's a 'friend' or even a helping hand of any sort. As far as he was concerned, they were now his property, slaves without collars but an ever watching dominant eye.

Nothing more was said, his words cut off with the unsettling silence about the place, and a keen ear to listen to Caste's every move or sound. In a way he wanted her to be uncomfortable with his stern sever of the conversation, and that awkward silence to follow.

Caste stared at him, her mouth snapped shut, and she silently watched him. She tilted her head back toward where the cooking pieces of fish were. Standing up slowly, she brushed her hands together trying to get rid of as much dirt and fish slime as possible. Then she turned her back to Xion, and slowly walked back down to the lake in search of Prelettis. When she didn't find her at the lake, she started to become worried. Her eyes proded the dark shadows the forest, wanting to find the small girl, and hopefully find her in one piece. Caste wouldn't forgive herself if Prelettis had been attacked, she should have never let the girl run off alone.

Upon spotting Preletti's hunched over form a little ways down from the lake, Caste was flooded with momentary relief. Then she went into a slight paniac, as she moved closer and smelled the rusty stench of blood, and them man laying there on the ground. Caste crouched down beside Prelettis, her eyes scanning the man's body, seeing the wound that was surrounded with fresh and crusted blood. "What happened to him..." Caste wondered aloud, then turned her eyes on Prelettis face, "Are you ok?"

His eyes fluttered and opened briefly. Images danced, but nothing was clear. Nothing but blue eyes and then black again.

When next he awoke everything was clear. Those blue eyes were joined by another pair, these brown. He would have moved, but he hadn't the strength. He was laying at the mercy of those eyes. He couldn't tell if his guns were still holstered at his sides, or even if they worked. His blades were sure to be on his belt, but that didn't matter. He wasn't even sure if his coat was still on him. He could steel feel his hands and feet, so in the very least he knew he was still intact, and also knew that he would survive. If he wasn't dead yet then he wouldn't be dieing anytime soon, lest the mercy in those eyes was a cloak hiding a dagger in it's folds.

Looking up into those eyes, his lips parted and words, half whispered, rushed out like knives. "I'll kill you," ran out of his mouth. His eyes then closed again and he fell down into a world of darkness.

Caste chuckled at the man's words. "I don't think you are in any shape to kill us." She said softly, as his mind drifted away from the present world. She glanced at Prelettis as she spoke, and then she twisted her lips to the side in deep thought. She nawed on her bottom lip, without thinking about it, and taste the blood pour from her lip into her mouth. If they left him here, he could die, if they took him back to the camp, their captor might kill him. Caste stopped chewing on her lip, and ran her tongue over the new wounded area of her skin. If she kept getting nervous like this, she'd have no bottom lip left.

"Alright, how about we sneak him into the camp. Hide him close by, and fix him up. Then you watch over him, while I go ask Xion if he can stay. If Xion says no, you have to get this man out of here as fast as you can. Hide some where, and don't come back ever. No matter what happens to me? You understand?" Caste said, her voice firm and serious. She rested her hands on Prelettis's shoulder as she spoke, peering harshly down into the girls eyes. Then she turned and looked at the man, and stood from her crouch. She stretched her legs a bit as they had begun to ache from crouching for so long.

Moving behind the man, Caste's judged his body size and then she turned her eyes up to their surroundings to figure out exactly where they were heading. "Alright, let's carry him up the hill." Caste moved around infront of him again and bent down and pulled his arm over her shoulder, and then looked at Prelettis. "Get his other arm, we'll lift him up, and then decide how to carry him from there."

He was half awake when the brown eyes grabbed his arm. He woke fully with a start, throwing himself from their grasp. He reached for his gun, faltered and hit the ground with a thud. His body was racked with pain. He could feel his flesh stitching itself back together. It was a painful process, it always left his body useless until the regeneration was complete. If the bullet that hit him hadn't been silver he'd have healed while floating down the river, but instead his body had to force all the silver shards out first. If the bullet hadn't gone through him he'd be dead already.

He looked out at the two sets of eyes from his huddled position. In a few minutes he would have regained enough strength to defend himself. The pain was getting too much to bear. The damage to his body had been worse than he'd thought. An organ must have been pierced by the bullet. It might take a few more minutes than he had originally thought. As he lay there, noiselessly fighting his way through the pain, the darkness overtook him again.

Caste stepped over to Prelettis, and stared at her for a moment, her fingers trembling. She clenched them up into a fist, and went tense for a moment. "Forgive me, but this is for the best." Caste raised her hands and unbuttoned the first few buttons on her blouse then quickly pulled it over her head. She ripped the small pieces of cloth that still covered Prelettis and replaced it with the blouse. She pulled Prelettis ripped up shirt over her own self, then quickly did up the buttons on the blouse. The blouse fit Prelettis as well as it had fit Caste, and she stepped back and smiled slightly. It really was freezing out here, especially only wearing this small skimp of shirt. "Watch him." Caste said, and then she turned and headed back toward the lake where Prelettis had left the hoody Caste had given her.

Spotting the hoody, crumpled on the ground, Caste picked it up and shook it out. Then she quickly yanked it over her head, and was flooded with the warmth, and protection it offered from the bitter wind. Caste was running now, her skirt flying out behind her in the wind. She rolled her eyes and groaned, why hadnt' she changed into some jeans before heading out into the woods. She was trying to get back to Prelettis and the man as quickly as possible, even if he was hurt, he still sounded dangerous and he wanted to kill them it seemed.

Leaning over, resting her palms against her knees, Caste panted loudly as she stood beside Prelettis and the man. "O-oK. I'm back." She huffed, and then stood up and coughed. Oh great, now she was probably getting a cold as well. She moved to the other side of the man, and glided her should in underneath his arm, and then pulled his arm around her neck. "Are you ready now? Hopefully he won't wake up this time." Caste wrapped her other arm around the man's waist to help support his weight better. "Oh, and I didn't exactly cook the fish right. So dinner might be late...or not at all." Caste snorted, and shook her head with an exahuasted sigh.

Visions of the past flooded his dreams. Blood covered hands. The harsh desert. The clash of swords. All visions of violence and hardship. One would be hard pressed to find a memory in his mind that wasn't filled with grief and pain. There were a few. Times when his clan rejoiced at the discovery of a new oasis, or a birth. He never fully included himself in those joyful occasions however. He was a merely a bystander to happiness.

His vision half cleared when someone pulled on his arm, but the pain rooting itself through his body wouldn't allow him to move. He was at the mercy of two girls, something he had never seen as a possibility in his life in the desert, but he was far from that place, in a land he did not know.

Caste grunted slightly under the weight of the man, he was rather large expescially for two exhausted girls to carry all the way back up to the camp. They were dragging him up hill now, and Caste's eyes shifted from the path ahead of her, to Prelettis face as she spoke. Caste thought about the last time she'd seen blood, and it brought back mememories of when Noah had stabbed her arm. It probably wouldn't be best to discuss that with Prelettis right now, lighter happier topics would be best. Like Family.

"Yes, I do have family. Two brothers, Ashiko, and Region. Region is the youngest. We live with our mother, or well we did. I haven't seen them in a long time, but I plan on going home as soon as I can figure out how to get there. I can't really remember the name of my village, so I don't know how to find my home." Caste's smile wavered with sadness, and she slowly turned her head back toward the path infront of them. "What about you?.. Miss Tiger girl?" She joked in a soft voice.

He wasn't fully awake until halfway up the hill. By that time he had regained a large amount of his strength and with a sudden burst, thrust his arms down and jumped back, grabbing the dagger that was sheathed in the back of his belt. He drew it slowly so that even if they couldn't see him draw it, they would definately hear it.

He was in no mood for games. No mood for playing. His senses were back and it was dark. That meant that the majority of the clan that had survived the ambush should be back at camp by now. By the look of the land it would take him at least half a day to get back. The camp would be in a panic before he got back, thinking him dead. He knew they would wait a few days before declaring him dead, but the rumors would fly.

He half-remembered the two talking about another member of their party. He was in too much of a rush. He needed to stop and think, but with the unknown at every corner, he couldn't afford to slow down. If his strength were at full, he would have changed right there, torn them to peices and then been off towards camp, but attempting a transformation now would just sap his energy and leave him passed out on the ground.

With his free hand he felt his belt, both guns were still there, functionality questionable, and his coat was gone. He had spare coats and guns back at camp though, all he needed now was to get there.

He turned his attention back at the two girls and said, "where am I?"

With the final girl gone to find the "Fisher" Pre, Xion would finally rise when Caste left hearing distance. His body was quiet, removing the adamantine armor to thud into the ground and dig a well suited sink into the ground. His form was near naked, black flat skin shadowing well in the darkness and taking on the scent of the surroundings. While that girl, not bright or warrior born, Xion could smell the prey hunting Wolfs on her trail. She left the fire, and with it, it would be obvious the hungry wild would be curious and watching.

The pack leader, larger than the rest and seasoned with an elder look to his hiding stance was bushed with a wide mane of salt and pepper fur that bushed around the wide head and shoulders. Blue eyes, it was beautiful for such a feral intelligence, but just as deadly and tactical. Xion's scent would be caught, and no sooner the pack of 7 would turn to their new prey, circling him, watching him, swelling their mane and gritting teeth. They wanted to intimidate, a means to prove this was their territory and this impostor, Xion, was going to pay. Their bodies pounced with fangs and claws, but in the shadow, quiet and long past Caste's ears, they would die. Heads would roll, bodies twisted and snapped to pull apart with only intestines to connect their previously whole forms. This would be a warning, the soft audible yelps and the now bitter quiet. No birds chirping, no wind whispering, and the forest was silenced.

Blood coated over his arms and body, splatters that slapped in heavy coats to tear down and soak to the floor behind him. He now held the scent of blood and creature, but the stance of a man. Tracking, he would stay in the shadows of the forest, far long the edges and out of the visibility of their human eyes he would find them again, with another. His feet would press firm and quiet between the twigs and leaves closing distance between himself and the two girls with the injured man. Teal reflecting from the darkness, dancing in the pitch black like haunting nightmares to sway with his steps.

He would remove himself from their view, the man jumping back with weapon ready, and Xion lifting the back of his hand to blunt the back of this male's skull. The bone was compressed and dense to a steel like strength just before the impact would happen, wanting to possibly crack the skull, even the slightest.

Caste jerked back, as the man pulled away from them moving into a lethal manner. As Prelettis moved over beside her, Caste raised one of her hands and rested it lightly on Prelettis's shoulder in some sort of reassurance. A smile flicked across her lips, in spite of the predicamnet they were now in, at Prelettis's words. "Yes, it does seem like we are being threatened by men often. Maybe it's my fault, I wonder if I brought this curse onto you?" Caste joked, and then turned her eyes up to man to see Xion approached behind him.

Stepping back, Caste pulled Prelettis away from where Xion and the man were standing. "It's probably safer if we stand back a little. And Pre, if he wants to kill this man don't try to jump in and safe him, we can't help anything we aren't as powerful as our captor." Once again, Caste voice was firm and harsh, and her fingers tightened on Prelettis's shoulder in a restraining gesture, just incase she should be tempted to try anything.

As the brown eyes looked behind him he started to turn, but the next thing he knew there was a great pain on the back of his neck and he was staring into the void again. He hit the ground with a thud, his dagger falling helplessly out of his hand, his blood stained face now in the dirt.

More visions danced in front of his eyes. A nurse. A man. Red water everywhere. Covering the nurse, the floor, his hands. The man, finely dressed, looking down at him. His eyes wide, mouth open. Staring down in shock. More faceless shapes move in behind him, take steps back in horror. The boy is confused, is scared, is crying. The images fade and all he can see is swirling lights.