The Girl and The Warrior(Ryo)

It was a fine day to be travelling. The sun was shining, a cool breeze flowing across the gentle rolling hills close to the Mondolin mountains. The East Undine ran parallel to the road Vala travelled along, leading all the way out to the coast and Edaria, where she had just come from. The red headed heanta watched the road ahead carefully, as she approached what appeared to be a junction. Indeed a waystone was planted just ahead, with the directions to Edaria to the south, Zendar to the north and dungard to the east carved into it. A sunlight Sigil was carved into the rock, signifying who was responsible for the markers that guided travelers in the area.

As Vala reached the junction, she noticed movement ahead. She pulled her bow from her back, and tried to string it, when a voice from behind spoke. "Drop it missy." A harse voice said. Vala turned around to find a pair of bandits, a man and a woman, with bows of their own aimed at her. More bandits emerged behind her, and to her right, blocking the roads north and east. She counted atleast eight, though not all had bows. Some had old spears, rusty swords, a club and a pitchfork. Vala tilted her head slightly and frowned. "Seriously girl, drop the bow. We don't want to kill you if it can be helped." The woman said. The man chuckled. "Maybe we do."

Vala shrugged and dropped the bow. "Good girl. Any Other weapons?" She asked. Vala shook her head. "I don't need weapons." She said to the woman. "Good, throw us your coin purse, and we'll leave you be." The woman said. The man looked at her. "I say we take her. Sell her to Karem." The woman shook her head. "No way, we talked about this." She snapped back. "I won't trade slaves." She said. The man glared down at her. "Just this once. We'll get a fortune for a pretty thing like that."

Vala shook her head. "I don't think you have enough men for that." She said to them. The two turned to look at her. "What?" The woman asked, the man simply sneered. "I mean, you didn't bring enough men to take me down without me ripping out your throat. Seriously, ambushing a heanta with only eight badly armed bandits. Are you idiots?" She asked them. The woman gave her a good look and took a step back. The man growled. "Your no heanta. You've no horns." The other bandits shifted around her. Even if there was only eight, this was still going to be somewhat of a challenge. "No, I dont." She said with a wicked smile, revealing her sharp kanines. She flexed her fingers and her claws slid free. "But I don't need horns to rip out your throats and feast on your flesh."

He hadn't been traveling very long across the unfamiliar path between cities outside of Kyrias, his pack filled with various things he'd found, but nothing truly of importance towards his trade. It was like any other day for the man, a chill breeze to keep him refreshed as each step reminded him of how far from home he truly was. He was whistling a tune to himself when he noticed in the distance the group of people ahead of him, while he'd normally be interested in figuring out what was going on, he noticed the drawn weapons and their backs turned to him, the attention deftly placed upon a single woman ahead of him. He wasn't the one to give charity to anyone being ganged up by bandits. He'd simply take a path through the beaten path too avoid the bandits so obviously trying to stake out the roads, but this didn't seem like any normal highway robbery. The thieves were the one's worried.

He couldn't contain his smile from the tree line when he heard the man talking of slave trade. He now knew for certain regardless of what happened to the woman he'd step out and turn their amazing haul of a day into a rather horrible day to be anything but a heanta. His smile grew even larger when he heard the lone woman mock them, "I don't think you have enough men for that." He was just out of earshot of the man, or was it he didn't truly care about the bandits response. He was solely enticed by the woman's remark, did she truly think that a sole human could stand against eight others without so much as a weapon in her hands. She must have been capable of more, he understood humans had developed their own martial arts but nothing as grand as the heanta's to his own knowledge. ""I mean, you didn't bring enough men to take me down without me ripping out your throat. Seriously, ambushing a heanta..." , it was when she had said heanta his smile seemed to fade. Any enjoyment he was about to get out of a race he didn't truly care for had vanished. He knew simply how this fight would end. He dropped his bag in the tree line and stepped out.

"Did you really believe the woman to be traveling alone. Do you not understand what her hornless visage means to us?!" He stepped up alongside the woman, noticing the feared looks upon the bandits as bows were aimed at the two of them, he had approached with his hands up originally, each with his drak'nar already on before leveling them to his chest. "Unless her word says, you each will not live to leave this place now for this foolish transgression. Slave trade? He spit on the ground, "Not a single one of your worthless hides would be worth being slaves beneath my feet simply because of the poor blood running through your veins. Now choose, do you value your current hoard and companionship between your merry band, or would you dare chance that only a few of you will walk away from this encounter between two heanta ready to stand their ground against a transgression as simple as highway robbery."

Vala prepared for the attack that was about to come her way, even as the bandits seemed to back away a little. However the man who had wanted to take her prisoner was not convinced, and he drew back his bow to fire. But at that moment, someone emerged from the woods and spoke, drawing the attention of the bandits. A heanta had emerged from out of the blue, and though Vala was shocked, to her credit she kept her face passive. He spoke, chiding the humans for thinking she was alone, and Vala managed to adopt an air of command, as if indeed she travelled with the heanta. "Its about time you got back." She snapped at the heanta.

The bandits took the two heanta in, and started to back away. However the man didn't seem phased, and loosed his arrow anyway. At the same time, a spearman rushed towards the new heanta, attempting to gore him, however the others seemed frozen. Vala ducked to the side as the man charged forward, casting the bow aside and ripping a sword from his scabbard. The woman tried to grab him as she shouted for him to stop, however he slipped from her reach and closed the distance on Vala, who met him with a kick to the, red hair flowing behind her. The man was thrown to his back, his sword flew from his grasp and before he could even attempt to rise she put her foot across his throat and pressed down hard enough to restrict his breathing.

"Enough fooling around." She commanded. "Everyone drop your weapons, or my warrior carves you up. Trust me, he is as dangerous as he looks." Some of the bandits took the oppertunity to run, but the others dropped thier weapons, already defeated. Vala looked at the woman. "You seem sensible, and I'm feeling generous so I'm going to let you live. You should consider a career change. You caught me in a good mood." She said. The woman nodded and looked down at her companion. "What about him?" She asked quietly.

Vala looked down at him. "I would be doing you a favor if I killed him." She replied. She looked at the heanta behind her. "What do you think, are we hungry for human today?" She asked. The woman was shaking as Vala turned back to her. "Please..." Was all she said. So Vala lifted her foot, and allowed the man to get away from her. "Walk away. The lot of you. Go home." However, the man didn't seem content to simply go, and as he got to his feet he suddenly spun, slashing at her with a dagger.

Vala threw up her arm at the sudden attack, and the blade sliced deep into her forearm. Rage and bloodlust clouded her mind, and as man went for a second stike, Vala struck first as fast as a Viper, claws lashing out. She ripped open his throat, spraying blood across the ground. She looked at the corpse, the blood running down her arm, and to the woman. "Why the fuck aren't you running." She growled. Every instinct told her to pounce, but the woman simple turned and sprinted away, her bandits scattering in all directions.

Vala took several deep breaths, her hands trembling as she watched the humans run. It wasn't because she'd killed somebody though. She'd killed plenty of people. It was how close she'd come to slipping over the edge into the heanta bloodlust she tried to avoid. The desire for wholesale slaughter. After several moments, once she was composed, she turned to the other heanta, looked him up and down, glanced at his Drakna, and gave him a feint smile. "You have impeccable timing. I mean, I could have handled it, but atleast only a few of them needed to die." She said. She kept an eye on him as inspected the wound on her arm, It was deep, but healing slowly, the blood already slowed to a trickle. Sloppy, getting cut like that.

"So, do you know how to use those Drakna, or are they more for show?" She asked casually. Her own Drakna glinted in the sun, the guantlet like weapons much less noticable than was common. instead of spikes or blades as was common with some, they were simply comprised of small plates that protected the back of her hands and knuckles, with thick diamond shaped ridges.

When the first arrow flew he had begun to make a move to assault the humans, but his hornless counterpart had already begun her own assault and he had no qualms with allowing her to solve this on her own. He simply stood his ground with a new found smile across his face when the man collapsed to the ground. "What do you think, are we hungry for human today?" He took a moment to consider the previous situation, he wasn't against eating a human, but he had recently had his last meal and it'd be needless. "You did seem keen on letting them go before I got back, give the poor sap one more chance to prove he has what it takes to not kill himself." After he spoke he wasn't overly surprised to see the woman let the man up, but it never failed to amuse him how stupid humans really could be. He hadn't even realized he was holding a flaming sickle ready to tear through the mans shoulder before he fell limp to the ground. He turned to look at his companions, "We gave him a chance, he chose the ground. You all can clearly see how this'll end if you don't disperse, and as my companion said, 'Best you find new jobs.' Cause I'll remember your faces, and if I see any of you again as highwaymen, your heads will be mine."

After the bandits had run he watched the woman take a couple moments to gather herself. It wasn't normal for a heanta to be shaken after a battle, rather to enjoy the battle. He took his time to ponder it a bit more, maybe it was part of her hornless visage, it was at that moment she'd turned and looked him up and down. "I was simply traveling this trail myself when I noticed the situation." He was interested in just how deep her wounds were, but nothing serious as a heanta herself she'd heal up just fine. When she mentioned his Drak'na he smiled a bit. He felt proud in having made them himself, but knew that they gave him away immediately. " You could say they were for show, but I'm part of Clan Rakoris myself, so I'm rather use to using them when I have too." He raised his chin at her own Drak'na, a brow along with it. "How about yourself. I haven't heard of any hornless being trained, but I also haven't been back to Kyrias for a decent while." He motioned her to follow him if she wished to keep talking while he retrieved his bag and made way back to the road.

The heanta explained how he'd come to be there. He eyed her wound and seemed to scan her over for more, though she was otherwise unhurt. There wasn't much concern in his face, which was fare considering the rate it was healing. Vala was slightly relieved when he mentioned he was from Clan Rakoris. Considering recent events, where she'd taken down a group of mercenaries hired by Saivene Marin to kill her, she wouldn't be surprised if he'd been sent to try kill her too. However Clan Rakoris were close freinds of Clan hornless, and while she didn't one hundred percent drop her guard, she was a bit less wary.

The heanta mentioned how he was unaware anyone from clan hornless had been trained with Drakna. "My mother was quick to notice where my talents lay, and sent me to train with Jakken Rakoris." Vala explained, sure the man knew who his own clan leader was. "I'm Valatrix, but please call me Vala. As you may have guessed by my lack of horns, I'm the granddaughter of Ren The Hornless, and daughter of Celaena The Hornless." She told him as she picked up her bow and followed him.

"So, who are you traveller?" Vala asked him. "I'm interested to know what brings you so far south. And yes, thats rich coming from me, but still." She said. She was far more talkative than usual, especially with another heanta, but she put i down to the solitary travel, and maybe the fact that he didn't say anything about her seemingly shaken appearance after the fight. Most heanta would call her weak for such a display, though she would be quick to kick them in the jaw for calling her weak..

As soon as he heard of her mother having Jakken train her he raised a brow, which hornless would have that much sway to warrant the leader training their offspring. It took only mere moments for his question to be answered as well and his single raised brow turned into two, a face of astonishment. "Not any hornless, but a direct descendant of The Hornless. He nodded taking a moment to consider the woman again. She didn't seem anything special, but he supposed Ren was nothing special himself until he displayed it.  "Simply a warrior caste heanta that found his way into the elite, though I find no fun in their entertainment in the city, and seek my own out here in the world. Sigdrifumal Braene, though I'm use to being called Sig. So Valatrix, you wouldn't mind me asking how you found your way out here."

He'd already brought them back to the way stone he had previously been traveling to, while listening to her he was attentive to his surroundings, looking for any interesting tracks he might spot, or possible interests for his craft. Once they'd arrived he stopped and waited for her to finish talking herself before beginning, "Not to be much of a bother, but our heritage does plague my mind, and while I love traveling outside Kyrias. I've never been much of one to memorize the other cities and towns of this world. I do enjoy their history though,..." He turned and pointed to the way stone, as if the words on it were a foreign language completely, "Which direction were you headed? I've no real destination as long as I don't expire before hand, and maybe you could enlighten me on some history of the locale as we travel as well. You could also ask me any other questions you might have."

Sig seemed surprised by her revealing she was Ren's granddaughter. She wondered if he'd encounted many other hornless heanta, since most in the clan were infact hornless only in name. She and her mother were the only ones with the strange defect that had passed from her grandfather, though by all accounts her great grandfather had had horns, so it seemed to have started with Ren.

Vala didn't mention it however, and simply shrugged when Sig asked her why she was so far away from Kyrias. "Call me Vala. I'm travelling, seeing the sites, getting away from Kyrias for a few weeks. I Find city life a bit dull." She explained. Sig then asked her about where she was headed, and mentioned he wasn't well travelled around the Area. "Sure, I'll help you out. I'm heading North to Zendar. Its a small village with one of the best Inns in the freelands. Its pretty well off, which might be because its near a major road going from Zadartis to the east into Mondolin. Its only a few hours walk from here, if you don't know where your going next by all means tag along. Just keep in mind, I'm fond of the humans there. I won't tolerate attacks against them. "

She explained. Continuing, she went on to explain about Edaria"South will take you to Edaria, a city run by an Asentari named Aline Drexara. Edaria lets everyone within their walls. There are heanta and eldari who live there side by side in relative peace for years. It's been like that for years, and I think its survived because everyone there is willing to stand up to protect their home." She said.

"There's a river crossing to the south that'll take you out to Oleas, the road also leads to Zedartis, though i think going by Zendar is faster, it depends on where you plan to go from there." Vala crossed her arms to think. "Where you go is up to you. Oh so tell me, how did you get into the elite caste? Must be a pretty interesting story."

He had heard her the first time she had asked him to call her Vala, and he felt ashamed she had to repeat herself because of him having called her by her full name for his own sake. When she mentioned that she found city life dull he nodded in agreement, that was why he was out there after all. Upon her explanation of the Village of Zendar he made a mental note of it being in the freelands, obviously some colorful individuals he could meet there. "...Its only a few hours walk from here, if you don't know where your going next by all means tag along. Just keep in mind, I'm fond of the humans there. I won't tolerate attacks against them. " He quickly chirped in, "I'll gladly tag along, as for being fond of the humans, I find it rather strange. Churns my stomach a little, but I won't attack any unless they attack first, or are clearly villainous in nature, they might make a nice snack."

He continued walking Northward with Vala, hoping his previous statement didn't grind her nerves too much. He had eaten just a few days prior and wouldn't need to eat for a few more, though if he really was hungry he could have made a meal of the bandits corpse they left behind. The explanation of Edaria off in the South piqued his interest. A city of Asentari and Heanta, he was slightly more surprised he hadn't heard much of it himself. For how much he loved to learn various bits of information he didn't quite have the best mind for remembering it all. Though always being in range to be punched in the face makes it rather hard to retain information between concussions. "Edaria sounds like a wonderful place, it also sounds like a place I'd be interested in seeing sometime." Her explanation of Oleas and Zedartis were both rather quick and undescriptive for the most part.

It was then that she asked a question that made him stop for a moment and think, "Oh so tell me, how did you get into the elite caste? Must be a pretty interesting story." He continued again with a smile on his face, as he began to recount the tale, "I came to fancy a woman, it just happens she was an elite. It wasn't until I had really gotten to know her that she mentioned it to me. I believe the first time I ever ran into her was actually out in the magma fields of Kyrias. She was taking on an adult magma mauler on her own, I wouldn't have even considered her needing the help but, she's a tiny one I tell you." Sig turned to Vala stopping and laying a hand flat about roughly five feet up his own figure before continuing, "After the fight was over we exchanged words and continued on our way. Now what really sold the deal was not only did we chance upon each other once, but we did it several more times, and never did we plan to meet again afterwards. Fate just continued to throw us into each other, and eventually she had found her way into my heart, so I did what would be considered a power play from a warrior caste to marry an elite." He shrugged his shoulders, before sounding less cheerful speaking of the next portion of his tale, "However, her father had a few requirements for me to marry his daughter. First I'm the only remaining detail of my previous family, you could also consider what I do a sort of self-exiling. I do wish to avoid my father-in-law and whatever wrath he might throw upon his new son-in-law, but I've heard good things of Jakken from her." He turned to look at Vala, trying to gauge how she felt about walking alongside a man who had killed his own family to marry a woman, and in turn become an elite. "So do tell more about that wonderful Inn in Zendar, does it play music and serve decent mead and meat Vala?"

Vala listened to his story, as he spoke of his wife and how they had met. She knew heanta married into clans, but it was rarely for love. However it seemed that that was exactly what this was. Of course, there was usually no such thing as a happy story with heanta, and this one was dragged down by the fact that Sig had killed his parents. However when he mentioned Jakken's name, she was a little bit confused. He didn't seem like the kind of male to order someone to murder their own parents. She did consider that he might have done it to remove Sig's loyalties to anyone else and similtaniously prove that Sig would be true to Bryn.

Even though Sig never said her name, Vala knew it was Bryn. Jakken only had one child, and though they had never been freinds they had met a few times while she endured Jakken's training. And she was as tall as Sig claimed, standing shorter than Vala and that was something Vala didn't forget, since she was also tiny by heanta standards. "Well now, I really am surprised I've never met you before, Sig. I've met your wife several times however, while training with Jakken, but I suppose if you were trying to avoid him it does explain why." She didn't mention his parents. She didn't understand it, nor could she ever bring herself to kill her mother, not that she thought she could ever even manage to do it. She guessed it was a warrior thing, another part of heanta culture that was brutal by design to weed out the weak.

"It plays music, serves the best mead in the freelands and the meat is good. I tend to do my own hunting, but the kitchen will cook it, aslong as its not human. Which I don't eat. To stringy." She said.

Vala listened to Sig speak, before speaking her own mind on the subject. "Heanta are good at looking down on their own. We keep our kind as slaves, but kill anyone else who dares to try the same. Its as if we are only allowed to extend such cruelties upon ourselves. Even among the elite there is seperation, hatered. Its a wonder we've managed to not be wiped out by the other races, but I suppose when your bred to kill survival atleast comes naturally. I've lived with a target on my back because I've no horns on my head, like my mother and grandfather. Like you, I'll kill anyone who challenges me, even if sometimes I'd rather not do it." She replied.

He paused a moment, before continueing to follow and asked her why she going to the village. It was to late to be evasive, so she told him as much of the truth as she dared to, without mentioning her friendship with an eldari. "Its almost like home to me. I've spent the last few years in the freelands away from Kyrias, most of it spent here with freinds. I was planning on going home soon, but I've gained the attention of someone in Clan Vandel, and she wants me dead. Or maybe the warlord does. If so he'll probably send his beast after me. I'm probably not safe in Zendar, but short of hiding on the sky islands of edia there's not many places I can go to be safe from that." She explained. "That being said, I'm not hiding. If he comes I'll fight. But its not as easy to see danger coming when its everywhere in Kyrias."

Vala frowned when he suggested doing something rather crazy and dangerous on her behalf. "Well hang on tell me what you plan to do before you run off." She said. As he handed her the map. She marked Zendar on the map and handed it back to him. She listened to him explane that he would challenge Korroth to a spar to get an idea of the man's powers before coming back down to tell her everything he learned about the hound. Vala sighed. "Korroth's not known to leaving even sparring partners alive Sig. We've litterally just met and your suggesting pulling off a suicide mission to learn more about him." She shook her head. "I don't like it. I don't like putting other people in danger for me, not when I'm not fighting along side you atleast." She said.

But by the crazy look in his eye she had a feeling he wasn't going to change his mind. She sighed again. "If you want to do this, I can't stop you but you better not die. I have a feeling Bryn might blame me if she finds out why you got this crazy idea.. As a word of advice, if you beat Korroth, don't kill him.. You won't make it out of the city. The warlord likes his pets, and losing his hound won't sit well with him." She said.