A feud between Banns (Honovi)

[Honovi]

Honovi leaped off the bed as the brothel door slammed open, hurriedly throwing her cloak over Nethras and lifting him under the bed. Hurry hurry hurry! She tucked her weapons under the bed beside him, and ordered Makya and Kachina under the bed as well. She tossed a glance through a crack in the wall and saw the young recruit approaching their room and stripped off her boots and armour as quickly as she could manage, hoping that if she was wearing little enough clothing he might mistake her for one of the brothel's whores.

Armour hidden with everything - and everyone - else, Honovi straightened only a heartbeat before the door opened and the boy walked in. There was no need to her to feign alarm. Her eyes widened as she spun to face him, wishing not for the first time that she was ten years younger. When she was younger she could have passed as a whore easily, but she was very nearly forty.

Fortunately the boy was very young, very nervous, and very shy, flushing from the roots of his hair straight down to his neck at the sight of a woman wearing nothing but her smalls and a wolf pelt tied loosely around her hips. Still, there was a chance, and she untied the pelt around her hips with a smile, letting it pool on the floor. Fortunately for Honovi and Nethras, standing naked in front of the lad had exactly the effect she'd hoped for, his cheeks growing redder as he stuttered out an apology.

"Have you never seen a woman before?" she asked, brow arched. The amused smile playing at her lips was genuine as the boy stuttered at her again and backed out of the room, tripping over the door frame as he left.

Finally. With any luck the guards wouldn't check again and they'd be safe, so Honovi started dressing again. She could hear the guard captain talking to his men outside, each guard reporting that the only people they'd found hiding in the rooms were the brothel's whores. Good. Honovi hoped the boy who'd found them wouldn't get in any trouble for his mistake, but there was nothing else to be done.

Once the guards had left she pulled Nethras out from under the bed, sitting on the floor behind him so he could lean against her. Not long after that, the madam poked her head through the door and motioned for them to follow.

"Half my girls are elves, you know, and not one of 'em gets any sort of fair treatment outside these walls. Warms the 'eart to see such a tough old girl like you helping a lad out despite 'is pointy ears, it does. Come along now, we 'ave a long walk ahead of us and the tunnels ain't getting any brighter."

Tunnels. Joy. Honovi had never and would never admit it, but she was rather a bit claustrophobic and didn't like the sound of these tunnels even a bit. No matter. They had to get out of the village, and if they had to go underground to do it then Honovi would do it and be grateful.

"This will hurt, I'm sorry," she said, draping Nethras over her shoulders yet again. "Let's go."

[Nethras Alvar]

Just as the guards begun to search the brothel, Nethras was all of sudden surprised when Honovi threw her cloak over him, then before he knew it he was placed beneath the bed with her animals and some of their equipment. It was unexpected, yet it was cunning to do. If the guards discovered them all hope would be lost, either they would be hanged together or they would be killed on the spot. Lying under the bed, tucked with all else, Nethras had a hard time breathing properly. The warmth from the cloak made it difficult and even more so as he became more nervous while tension rose in the room. Hearing footsteps approach, Nethras thought about all things that could go wrong and as the stomach ached he bite the teeth together to withstand the pain. Oh how he wished things had gone differently, had he only kept a more vigilant eye over his sister then it all could have been avoided. However he felt lucky to have come across a human female such as Honovi, she was different and that she helped him meant a lot.

Being able to see barely from underneath the bed, Nethras eyes widened as he noticed Honovi undressed, pretending to be one of the brothel`s hookers. She was beautiful he thought and a very attractive woman, but as the door opened and the young guard entered, he again became worried and hoped things would go well. Watching the scene unfold, it became clear to Nethras that Honovi could act and with her charm turned on she managed to scare the shy teenage boy off.

Shortly after the guards left, and none clue about Nethras or Honovi`s whereabouts were ever discovered, they finally had the opportunity to move freely again. Being dragged forth by Honovi, the madam of the brothel entered and told of a secret passageway, a tunnel that led past the village walls. Why the brothel even had such a thing, Nethras did not understand, but he was thankful and it was good to hear the madam cared for elves and that she admired Honovi`s kindness.

Without much options not being able to walk properly alone, Honovi had to carry Nethras again, a pain he did not want, but to which he nodded in agreement. Once he was thrown over her shoulder, he clung to his savior and hoped that the wound would not get any worse. Following the madam he watched the scenery behind their trail and as they stepped down into the tunnel it became obvious that their walk would be a dark one, had it not been for the torch the madam brought along. The passageway was wet, creepy, claustrophobic and somewhat mysterious, yet lucky for them the road seemed straight and it didn`t take too long before they reached the end.

Just as the light returned and as the madam said her goodbye, Nethras noticed something was wrong. It was great to be outside in the middle of the woods and finally free from the shackles of the evil humans, but what he felt in his stomach wasn`t good. Waiting to be let down, Nethras spoke weak. “Hmm Honovi…something is wrong.” He said, looking pale and sweat, while blood reapeared at the area of his wound, obvious that it had reopened.

[Honovi]

The madam did a great deal of talking, chattering on and on about the tunnels and the whores and the city, explaining every insignificant detail about the village and everyone in it to fill the silence left by Nethras' pain and Honovi's stoic nature.The minutes dragged on, and by the time they reached the light outside the village walls Honovi could feel Nethras' blood sticky against her cheek. Her mouth tightened, and when Nethras said something was wrong she could only squeeze his hand and nod.

"I know. Stay awake Nethras, we will stop soon I promise."

She kept up a steady stream of soft, soothing words as she walked. Over and over she told him to stay awake, stay with her, they'd be stopping soon, but they couldn't stop. Nethras' blood glued his clothing to Honovi's cheek, but they had to keep going. Honovi's legs shook, but they had to keep going. Her lungs felt like they might explode, and she was so tired she was doing little more than staggering from tree to tree, but they had to keep going.

Finally they reached their destination: a swift river with overhanging banks where they could hide for the night. She lay Nethras down on the soft sand as gently as her exhaustion would allow and knelt beside him, panting as she dug through her pack. Health potions health potions... she knew she had some in there but her hands were shaking, making a mess of her meticulously organized pack. But finally her hand closed around one of the precious vials and she propped Nethras up against her chest.

"Drink."

She held the vial to his lips, carefully tipping the contents into his mouth as she cradled him against her. He'd lost a lot of blood and was in very bad shape, his stitches ripped open from the long walk through the forest, and he seemed to be swimming in and out of consciousness. Honovi stroked his hair, whispering to him soothingly as her free hand searched in her pack for a poultice and bandages to tend his wound.

Laying Nethras back down carefully, Honovi stripped him to the waist and started a small fire to boil some water. While she waited for it to heat she set to examining the wound, removing the old bandages and probing the torn flesh as carefully as she could. It looked... bad. Very bad. Certainly a great deal worse than before with the torn edges where the catgut had ripped through his skin.

"You can sleep soon Nethras, but not yet. I will take care of you, don't worry."

Still she kept up the soft stream of comforting words, cutting away the old catgut stitches and pulling them free so she could wash his wound. She knew it hurt him, but it had to be done... and in his state, she wasn't sure if he could really feel anything at all. What he needed right now was a healer mage but she was all he had. Very well, she would do what she could. He might have an ugly scar but he'd live.

She'd make sure of it.

The water was boiling, ready, and she gritted her teeth against the heat as she dipped in a cloth to bathe Nethras' wound. The rag was quickly stained red, but it was clean, and Honovi did her best to patch the jagged edges back together before she tipped another potion into Nethras' mouth. After that she applied an elfroot poultice and bandaged it tightly before collapsing on the ground beside him in an ungraceful heap.

"Your burns aren't healed yet, either."

Propping herself up on an elbow, she started undressing Nethras all the way and bathed his burns, as well. She'd been right about those, too, when she'd tugged at his pants in the brothel. Whoever had hurt him had been careful to burn every part of him, down his hips, the inside and outside of his thighs, the backs of his knees... everything. Honovi washed each one carefully with cool water from the river, holding his legs across her lap as she worked her way up. They were going to turn into vicious scars. But then, he already had a great many of those.

By the time she finished with his burns, however, she'd done all she could for him and was desperately in need of a bath herself to wash away his blood. Pulling off her clothes and dousing the fire as she crawled out from under the ledge made by the riverbank, she sat in the water and started scrubbing herself clean. There was a lot of sweat, a lot of dust, and more blood than she cared to think of to wash away.

[Nethras Alvar]

Hanging over Honovi`s shoulder did not give much of a view on what was going on and neither did it feel so well, the stomach ached Nethras and he could feel the blood pouring out of him and onto his rescuer. As she hurried up the paste and told him to hold on, he could hear how exhausted she got by carrying him so far into the forest. The further it took for them to find a place the worse it became, and when Honovi finally picked a place near a swift river with overhanging banks he was laid down carefully. Nethras looked pale and he felt very weak, his sight was again fainting and he hoped nothing worse would happen. Desperately in pain he looked back at Honovi worryingly and as he lay on the bare ground, he could see how stressed she seemed when she begun searching for a potion.

Once she got it, she came back quickly and held him up to help him drink, with a slight nod he agreed and drank the potion without question. When Honovi cradled him he felt cold and he shivered, but feeling the potion help made him smile a little. If he was going to die than at least it would be in the free forest with a friend, a beautiful woman even though she was a human. Swimming in and out of consciousness he took little notice of what was going on around him, but feeling her touch made him feel comforted.

Nethras remained silent as she did her work, and he tried to stay awake the best he could. It was tough, however with a fire lit, another potion and some treatment for the wound it became easier and he was thankful. Almost not noticing what had happened he came to realize later that she had undressed him, and that he for some time had been naked in her presence. It was awkward, yet it didn`t seem to bother her that much as she cleaned him with cloth dipped in water. She graced his skin carefully with it and she seemed to study his burned scars again, it fascinated him and he wanted to withdraw from what was happening, but he couldn`t.

He knew she probably had questions about them, although she did not ask. Instead after helping him, she took off her clothes and went to take a bath. The sight amazed Nethras and he felt almost spell bound, but what he discovered as the blood, sweat and dust ran of her body and into the water, he was surprised to see she too had scars. In the moon light they became visible; she had a long straight scar diagonally down her back, matching short scars on left side of back and front below ribcage, jagged scar from the back of her left knee to the front of her hip, burn on her left side, four jagged scars on her right calf, several short scars on left side of lower back and much more. What she must have gone through over the years must have been dangerous, and seeing her scars made his seem like nothing. If she had endured that much, then he knew he would last as well.

“Where did you get those scars?” Nethras asked with a whispering voice as he watched her in awe and shock as she bathed, then withdrew his sight and looked elsewhere once he realized he was steering. Becoming shy as he started blushing, something that was not dignifying for a man like him.

[Honovi]

With all those burns Nethras was the last person Honovi expected to take an interest in her scars, but apparently she'd read him wrong. Most of them had stories, true, some of them long, a few of them interesting, but they were spread out over the course of a lifetime. Honovi shook her head.

"I am a mercenary."

What more answer could he need? No mercenary was without scars, and she was self destructive even by the standards of her profession. Surviving the Blight alone meant some brutal scars, and some of the jobs she'd taken even after that had been... interesting. The same mage who'd given her the burn scar had healed some of the worst wounds she could boast surviving, too, if her life wasn't strange enough.

That's just what happened to people who surrounded themselves with mercenaries, she supposed.

"Sleep. We have to leave early tomorrow."

Tucking her lionskin cloak around Nethras for a blanket and resting his head in her lap, Honovi started stroking his hair and humming softly to help him sleep. He was so young... But not a child. No, not a child, not with those eyes. They looked very old, very tired, a hundred years of pain dammed up behind them and something in Honovi's chest tightened. He was much too young to have eyes like that.

Once he was finally asleep Honovi gently removed herself from Nethras' side and lay his head on her pack so that she could gather their clothes. It had been a long day, and they desperately needed washing. Blood stains were hard to get out but she did the best she could, and soon all their clothing was laid out on some rocks to dry. Pleased with her handiwork, Honovi stretched out next to Nethras and dozed until the first rays of light or Makya's warning cry would wake them.

---

Honovi is humming this lullaby to Nethras

[Nethras Alvar]

Nethras should have known, certainly the scars came from her dangerous job, being a mercenary as she was. Still he found it both shocking and interesting that she had so many of them, and they were all visible in the moon light. From where Nethras lay watching Honovi`s movements he listened intently to what she had to say even though it was short, and he agreed to that they should get some rest. Having suffered greatly that day, he now found himself incredibly tired and thought it would be good with a night`s sleep. Getting tucked in by Honovi in her lion skin cloak was comforting and even more so once she allowed him to rest his head on her lap, with a smile on his face he slowly closed his eyes and drifted off to the sound of Honovi's hum.

Next morning the sun peeked through the leaves and branches of the forest, hitting Nethras with warming rays of light, which woke him up. The first thing he saw was Honovi lying next to him stretching out, apparently she had been awake a long time and she had cleaned the stain of blood from their clothes. It was appreciated and he knew removing blood was not easy, they always got stuck somehow.

Then as Nethras smiled at Honovi, thinking how lucky he had been, his ears started twitching and he could hear footsteps in the distance, followed by barking dogs. “They are here? They have expended their search? What do we do?” Nehras spoke nervously, knowing immediately who it was. With fear of them coming upon them anytime soon he looked around the camp to spot them, and he tried to stand, but failed. He was still weak and he could not walk properly, getting away from those who approached would not be easy. After having failed to rise, Nethras bit his teeth together to withstand any more pain and he turned to look at Honovi with worried eyes, pleading for her to do something.

[Honovi]

The sun had already been up a while when Nethras finally woke, but Honovi hadn't dared wake him with wounds like he had. Besides, it was still early for anyone besides herself, and between Makya and Kachina they would be aware of any would-be pursuers well before the pursuers were aware of them. Instead she'd dressed and cleaned her weapons, and even made several arrows while she waited for him to rise.

Kachina growled low in her belly and Makya's warning call sounded in the distance the barest moment before Nethras' ears began to twitch, and Honovi put her finger to his lips when he spoke to shush him. Then, when he tried to stand only to collapse back on the ground, she put her hands on his chest and pressed him firmly down as she leaned in close. He had lost too much blood after he'd been stabbed and was foolish even to try lest he undo all Honovi had done to repair the wound.

"They would have started looking last night. Be silent, and don't move."

Her cloak, the dusky red striped with black and grey of a red lion, provided Nethras with ample camouflage and warmth as Honovi slipped off into the forest. She trotted smoothly between the trees, Kachina at her heels, too softly for clumsy, half-deaf northern ears. Chasind were silent hunters and Honovi had always been among the best, and she got close enough to touch the men searching for them without any of the four noticing her presence.

Idiot northmen.

Each of them had some complaint, some reason for not wanting to keep looking, and had Honovi not been looking for some sort of useful information she would have been pleased. As it was, she was able to glean little more than the fact that two of the groups had dogs - one of the complaints being that the dogs could find the fugitives better than any human search party - and that this particular group was entirely hopeless.

No matter. Honovi had trails to lay.

She raced back to the river where she'd left Nethras and hastily changed his bandage before disappearing back through the trees, dirty bandage clutched tightly in her hand. Once she deemed herself far enough away she started leaving signs: snapped twigs, deep footprints, even the occasional thread or strand of hair caught on a branch. Nothing big, just enough for their pursuers to think they were on the right trail, and the whole way she trailed Nethras' dirty bandage behind her to leave his scent for the dogs.

Over and over she crossed her own trail, confusing it as thoroughly as she could over as wide an area as she could before finally heading back to check on Nethras. Still there - good. But she couldn't keep carrying him, she wasn't as young as she used to be and they couldn't risk tearing his stitches again. Laying flat on her stomach to lean close beneath the overhanging riverbank, Honovi whispered in his ear.

"If you lean on me, can you walk?"

[Nethras Alvar]

Hearing the approaching footsteps and the dogs barking in the distance, Nethras was carefully laid down by Honovi and told to be silent, which he agreed to by nodding and then watched her run off. Why did she leave, was she going to fight them? What just happened? Nethras wondered as he looked around terrified for what was to come. He sure hoped she didn`t leave him, if she did it would be typical human behavior, he thought. Minutes went by and nothing happened, it got silent and the more Nethras waited, the more worried he became for Honovi and his own life.

Looking in the one direction, Nethras was startled when he heard a voice in his ear and when he turned to look, he noticed it was Honovi who had returned and she asked him if he could stand. He did not know if he could, at least it had failed earlier, but he could try again, and thus in response he looked at her, and with a slight smile he answered. “I can try…”

Just as he said those words, he carefully leaned forward as he grazed his teeth together in pain, before he pushed himself up from the ground. It was not easy and many times was he about to fall again, however with Honovi`s support he managed and with another nod as he kept his gaze on her, he spoke. “Let`s move…”