Chased and exiled (Rashka)

[Arcill]

Early morning as the sun rose in the distance, Arcill could be seen running down the hills from the Frostback Mountains. It had been a horrible night and a night filled with death and pain, now he was running to escape two other Avvars which was chasing him and they came at him in great speed. Earlier that night there had been far more chasing him, but he had stopped them, one by one until only two was left. Arcill found himself tired and wounded, an arrow was stuck in his back and he felt drained of blood. It became almost unbearable, but he had to continue should he return one day and bring vengeance to those whom had killed his mother, father, and friends and loved one.

He jumped across fallen tree trunks and from stone to stone, then suddenly out of nowhere one of the Avvar`s came jumping at him from above, striking with a club in the hand. Arcill managed to grab the man without being further harmed and with all his strength he placed his face onto the stone and after smash, after smash the head of the Avvar was nothing else but soup of a crushed skull. Meanwhile the other Avvar came chasing down the hill only to witness his friend being killed by Arcill, Arcill glared at him with anger and he decided enough was enough; it was time to end this.

Slowly Arcill rose from his knees to stand straight, looking at the Avvar with an bloodthirsty look, then as the Avvar came running at him with a spear, Arcill stepped aside, managing to break the spear but failed to avoid their bodies clash. And with a great smash, they both fell over the tip of the stone and they rolled down hill. The Avvar who had attacked Arcill died as his body hit the stones over and over again, while Arcill continued to roll. His body was hit several times by branches and a few small stones, but he survived. Then as Arcill hit the bottom of the hill, he remained unconscious, unable to move and close to death.

[rose]

Kneeling over the body of a fallen Chasind filled the huntress with dread, he was not the first to have been found dead, it was no longer just her clan that was being attacked it seemed. Closing his eyes she stood up, looking around, there was no-one around now but she could still feel the heat coming from this body so he’d only recently been killed. Crouching down and picking up her bow she found herself looking around cautiously, she wanted nothing more than to find whoever was doing this and stop them.

Her heart was heavy with guilt, deep down she knew who had done this to the scout, and she knew that she could have put an end to this before it had even begun but she’d faltered. The sound of running quickly drew her from her thoughts , her bow was in her hand and she was fully alert, listening for any noise that would tell her exactly this intruder onto her peoples land was. Sliding her bow over her shoulder and into its holster she quickly moved over to a tree, climbing it with ease and running along the tree bridges. Her eyes soon found the bodies that were tumbling into the wilds.

The huntress already knew that one of them was dead but was pretty sure the other was still alive. Climbing down from the tree she walked cautiously towards the fallen warrior, his lack of movement worried her slightly so that she crept closer, he was out cold and relief washed over her. Rashka knelt beside him, studying him for a moment before going and collecting some herbs from nearby. The arrow was still protruding from his back and it needed to be removed, walking back over with the herbs she shredded them with her fingers before very quickly pulling out the arrow and placing the herbs over the wound to stop the bleeding.

Rashka looked around, the forest was silent and that worried her slightly but she kept calm, as she always did, losing her head would do nothing after all. “Wake up…” she whispered softly in the common tongue. There was no way that she would be able to carry him by herself but none of her brethren seemed to be around to help her take him back to the clan so that left her with one option. She needed to wake him up. “Can you hear me?” Her eyes moved to the dead body, the unconscious man had clearly been being chased but why? He was not of her people, he could have easily been an enemy but she couldn’t just leave him here in this state because there was a chance that he wasn’t an enemy…

[Arcill]

As Arcill lied there unconscious on the ground, feeling the cold earth beneath him, he could sense a presence approaching. He was tended and cared, and the arrow was removed without him knowing it, blood streamed as the arrow was drawn out, but was healed by healing herbs. Nothing else ran through his mind than a distant world, as if he was in the fade itself, surrounded by spirits and demons. His unconscious mind led him to a vengeful thought, seeing sights of what horrible things he had witnessed during is his entire life, the loss of his loved ones and especially his wife. Then a voice was heard, a voice that was telling him to come back to the world. Slowly his mind returned and the unconsciousness faded. With a heavy breath Arcill awoke, grabbing the shoulders of the person who had been caring for him, drawing his knife without thinking and held it against the person`s neck. It was a reaction he had developed while living in the Frostback Mountains, a reaction that many times had saved his life from dangerous assassination attempts.

Finally awake, Arcill looked into the eyes of a woman and he could see she was not one of his kin, she was different. In fact he felt weak as he had rushed against her, but noticed he had been taken care of. Why he thought? Why would she care for him, when he had done nothing in return, did she belong to the rival clan? Was she there to tend him before anyone would begin torturing him, Arcill sure did not know the answer, though he knew the ways of the Avvars. They could sneak passed the most skilled guard and still they would not be noticed, they were known to bring great fear to the lowlanders and often had they kidnapped its people, making them slaves of their tribe and family. Arcill looked at the woman with great curiosity and he thought she perhaps could be one of the lowlanders, the slaves of the Avvar, but he could see no one else around, it was only him and she and it seemed as if he had not moved anywhere since he fell from the cliff. Though Arcill was still suspicious and he would await her answer, before removing the knife from her neck.

“Who are you? Why do you care for me? “Arcill spoke with a dark voice, almost savage like, with a glare that would intimidate any person. He wanted to know what had happened since he fell, though most of all he wanted to know who she was. He could see her white hair and her strange clothes, unfamiliar to those of his tribe or any other Avvar, and it made him wonder.

[rose]

The huntress watched him, not even flinching when he held a knife to her throat, it wasn’t the first time and she highly doubted that it would be the last time either. Her eyes looked straight into his, yes he looked intimidating but she’d stopped the Fade from claiming him and it would be easy enough for her to grab one of her arrows and stab him with it, not to mention the knife that her hand had already curled around the hilt of. If he did kill her she would take great satisfaction in the fact that he would be hunted by her people and caused immense pain, what was this world coming to when someone holds a knife to your neck for healing them. Noise caught her attention and she glanced off to the side, wolves had smelt blood and were prowling the shadows but they kept their distance, wary. Was her father among them? It was a possibility but she suspected he wasn’t for the knife wouldn’t have still been at her throat if it had been. Her eyes returned to the barbarian before her, when he spoke she rose an eye-brow at him.

“Well I’m the person who stopped you from bleeding to death but you can call me Rashka.” The Chasind brushed her white hair back over her shoulder and looked down at him. “Because you are no enemy of mine. Yet.” In other words, ‘keep that knife at my throat and you will be’. Where their difference made him suspicious they made her curious. She’d never seen someone like him before, he was no Chasind or inhabitant of Ferelden so where was he from? “Where are you from? You’re not of the Chasind or I would know you.” A big strong man like him would have been very high on her list of possible suitors…Just thinking of that accursed list made her inwardly groan. Her eyes moved back to the shadows, listening carefully for any sounds of movement. She’d done what she could to heal him but her father would be able to fix him up properly, but did she dare take him back to their camp? Could she trust him? No, she couldn’t, not yet. The work she’d done would keep him alive and possibly allow him to move on but wouldn’t stop the pain from returning, at the same time she knew that if he would be vulnerable…And if he was being followed…She was going to have to take him to her father.

Turning her attention once more back to him, she narrowed her eyes at him as if looking deep into his soul, he could glare and snarl all he wanted but he would get no reaction from her, Rashka did not show weakness to any man. “Can you stand? The Shaman will be able to fix you up properly, what I have done here won’t keep you alive long if you’re being chased.” If he couldn’t stand then this was going to be a real pain since she had no chance in hell of being able to carry him.

[Arcill]

Sitting up looking at the woman in front, Arcill listened to every word she said as he held his knife close to her throat. Getting to know her name and where she came from made him even more curious, though it did not explain clearly to him why she had chosen to aid him. If a person had been found wounded in the Frostback Mountains, none would have cared; they simply would have left the man or woman to die in the cold weather, thinking they were weak, and even now Arcill thought he was weak for letting this happen to him. His entire tribe had been attacked, they had been betrayed by their own and his family had paid for it with their lives, even his wife, and it all was because of Arcill`s desires to unite them against the Fereldens, because some Avvars wanted to live the life they had. It angered Arcill, and he sneered at Rashka, though decided to trust her enough for him to remove his knife from her throat, slowly drawing it from her as he looked at her with intimidating eyes.

“I am not Chasind, I am an Avvar…of the Frostback Mountains, and my name is Arcill.” He answered her question with a deep voice, staring at her as he too listened to the noise that could be heard in the distance. It made him wonder, could his enemies still be looking for him? Even after all the dead bodies he had left on his trail down the mountain hills. Well if they were coming, then he sure would not allow them to kill him, he would fight until his vengeance had been complete. Although the noise did not seem to come from humans, it seemed to be something different, something close…wolves perhaps. Arcill sheathed his knife back into his belt where it had come from, and he was not afraid of what was coming, if there was anyone, he would fight them, with or without the knife, knowing that he had killed people and animals before with only his bare hands.

With the gaze from the Chasind woman upon him, Arcill felt as she was looking into soul, searching it, and he felt his body was trembling of bad memories and pain. Being asked whether he could stand or not, Arcill choose to try and see if he could. Carefully he began to stand up, feeling dizzy and weak, the wound where the arrow had hit bled as he rose to his feet, but the pain he could handle. It was his pride that was hurting the most. Even falling and rumbling down the hills had taken it`s tools on him, although he ignored all of it. He managed to stand and he took a deep breath, biting his teeth together as he pushed the pain aside. Arcill then watched the landscape that lied before him and he was pleased that the woman could have a place for him to stay; even he was reluctant to trust her. “I can walk…”He spoke deep, moving his gaze toward her, seeing how small she looked compared to him, believing she was a beautiful female and very unique considering her hair color and clothes.