Chapter 7.
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Edited on January 7th, 2015.
The place was in ruins, wires lay snapped and buzzing with electrical current sent out in sparks by the humidity of the air. Raidre sucked in her breathe, a fire fight had happened here and it was recent. You could still smell the discharged blaster cells in the air and it was the only thing that could explain this much evaporation when it was chilly outside. Silence reigned, which was cause for worry. Mako gave Raidre a look that told her that the slicer thought the same. Blasters drawn and ready, the ladies advanced cautiously, until they saw a prone form by itself.
"Oh no." breathed Raidre.
"Torian!"
They ran after Mako's shout. He was on his back with a lot of holes, some of them bled, some of them did not. The wounds that didn't bleed worried them more, cauterized wounds were bad. His electro-staff lay next to him, forgotten. His eyes kept trying to roll back into his skull as he tried to sit up and look at them. Was he crazy? He needed to lay down and get medical attention, not sit up and get back to hunting! Raidre looked at Mako, the girl did not need to be asked and she prepped her med-kit. Raidre looked back to an injured Torian, and she hated what she had to do next.
"Torian, where's Jicoln?"
Torian gave up trying to sit up, which was all the better, he was bleeding profusely from the gut from all his efforts. An arm lay extended towards the two women, it broke Raidre's heart, but she had to know if the area was secure.
"Got cocky. He's tricky."
She wanted to yell at him, why had he not waited? They worked well as a team, this issue would have been settled if he had been a bit more patient.
But how could he wait?
She was not insensitive to his position, she could never fully appreciate it or understand his feelings, but she could relate. When she had found the scum who had murdered her parents, she had not waited either, she had gone in and did the deed before her mind had even had the chance to process the whole ordeal. Torian Leaned on his side and managed to roll so he could at least look at them. His eyes wore heavy lids, and blood ran down plasma burns on the side of his face. One eye was swelling fast, half closed. He was sweating and pale, almost gray.
"Electronet put him down, but-used it to cook off his munitions cache."
Torian looked up to Raidre, pleading with his eyes.
"He's running. Don't let the trail grow cold."
She wanted to slap him and it took all of her will power to restraint herself. But in the end, with all his injuries she doubted he would have felt it anyway.
"Better the trail goes cold than you."
"I'll be fine… ", he coughed up blood. "Just get him!"
She gave him a glacial stare.
Yea… right.
He frowned up at her, as if she was not understanding something basic.
"He's hurt, bleeding, running. Deep tracks, bloody mud, straight lines… even you could follow."
Oh, that was rich, because now he doubted her tracking skills too.
"We are finishing this together, Torian." She hissed through gritted teeth. "It's not up for discussion."
"So close…"
He fell back and Raidre rolled her eyes. Mako and Raidre knelt by Torian's prone form and went to work. It was a blessing the Mando'ad(1) was out, it would make their task that much easier, they had to cut out any cauterized flesh before they could inject the kolto, otherwise they risked things healing closed, and then he might be missing something essential like blood flow in his enteric aorta. Mako handed Raidre the vibro-scapel, Mako was good, but she got squeamish with this kind of stuff.
"Hold him down."
Mako reached out and clamped down on Torian's prone form. "Yes, boss."
Raidre quickly glanced at the holes, cutting away at his clothes and opening the puckering wounds.
"Well, well, well, lucky guy."
Only one area needed to be cut away, and it was not anything near as sensitive as his aorta. She was quick, it woke him and he cried out. Raidre wasted no time, she injected him with all the kolto they had on them. For a time he just shook and twitched as the kolto raced through his body and accelerated his healing far beyond what should have been possible. For a time, the ladies watched him.
"We need to make camp for tonight, he won't be up for a while."
Raidre nodded to Mako, of course, she was right, but they could not stay here.
"Wait here, I'll find us a spot.
Wood cracked and a hot light flickered in his face. Torian's eyes were heavy, it was difficult to open them. But he forced through the drugs in his system and pushed himself into a sitting position. Raidre sat across from him, prodding the fire, fanning its flames, keeping it alive to warm them all. Mako lay nearby, fast asleep. Torian looked at her, jaws set tight, body coiled with anger.
"How long?"
Raidre looked up, those eyes were far colder than he had ever remembered, he did not much care that she was angry right then.
She let him get away.
"Three Galactic Standard hours."
"Rangir(2)!"
Raidre sat silent, but her eyes dropped a couple degrees.
"The kolto's treated most of the major damage."
"Should have left me. You've given the traitor too much time."
"You're welcome, by the way."
He seemed to remember himself and winced. "Sorry. Thanks."
He sat in silence and stared at the flames. Raidre said nothing, but got up and picked something up. She handed him a plate with some freshly cooked meat, greasy and seasoned with crushed peppers.
"Here." She said as she handed it to him. "We leave at first light, so eat up."
It smelled good, might not have been made with heketles, but it was good. He took a chunk and chewed on it. Bits of hard ground pepper gave the meal a pleasant flavor, almost spicy. He made a point to bite the spice to heighten the heat on his pallet. She watched him eat his first three bites and then moved closer to cover his bare shoulders with another cover, Torian bristled.
"Not a kid!"
She almost smiled at him, but ignored his annoyance and covered him again. "No, but you're a terrible patient, now shut up and stay warm. You don't want to sit out the hunt tomorrow?"
That silenced any further protests from him. Torian ate in sullen silence, feeling more silly than angry. In the end it was the shame eating at him, and he was just taking it out on her. Once the food was consumed, he sighed and looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
She looked up from her datapad and at him. She shrugged. "Don't worry about it, just try to remember your survival instincts from now on, okay?"
Torian frowned, but nodded. "Get some sleep, I'll keep watch."
Raidre laughed, a warm rolling laugh. Torian looked up and watched the mirth transform her face, it took years off of her. She wiped her eyes as she sighed.
"Yep, terrible patient."
Torian frowned. "But-"
"Go to bed!"
He frowned at her some more, they stared at each other, trying, in vain, to convince each other of the validity of each of their individual points of view, but in silence. She stared back, unaffected by his glare, not fazed by his attempt to intimidate her. He in turn grew to respect her even more. Still he stared as a realisation dawned on him, he did not want to part with her. When all would be said and done tomorrow morning, he wanted to continue his journey with her. Would she want him though? Her eyes softened all at once, so much intrinsic sincerity.
"Please, Torian? Get some rest? For me?"
He winced and groaned all at once. He lay back and covered himself with the covers she had laid on him. He noted that his armor lay next to him, his chest plate serving as his pillow. Nothing else was said between them. Torian was too angry to trust himself to be polite. His anger was misdirected and he knew it. So he saved it for the traitor tomorrow. Raidre was quiet for a time, Torian was dozing off when she began to hum an old tune he knew all too well. He fell asleep to her gentle voice singing the Gra'tua Cuun(3).
NOTES:
1 Child of Mandalore or of Mandalorians.
2Rangir literally means: "To hell with it!"
3Gra'tua Cuun literally means 'Our Revenge'. The Mando'a lyrics are as follows:Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.
Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a. Taung!
Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.
Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a.
Aruetyc runi'la solus cet o'r prudii an.
Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.
Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a.
Aruetyc runi'la solus cet o'r.
Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.
Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a.
Aruetyc runi'la trattok'o.
Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, Vode an!
Motir ca'tra nau tracinya.Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a. Taung!
Bal kote, darasuum kote,
Jorso'ran kando a tome.
Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, Vode an.
The Basic translation is as follows:
Those who stand before us light the night sky in flame.
Our vengeance burns brighter still. Taung!
Those who stand before us light the night sky in flame.
Our vengeance burns brighter still.
Every last traitorous soul shall kneel in our shadow.
Those who stand before us light the night sky in flame.
Our vengeance burns brighter still.
Every last traitorous soul shall kneel.
Those who stand before us light the night sky in flame.
Our vengeance burns brighter still.
Every last traitorous soul shall fall.
Forged like the saber in the fires of death, Brothers All!
Those who stand before us light the night sky in flame.
Our vengeance burns brighter still. Taung!
And glory, eternal glory, We shall bear its weight together.
Forged like the saber in the fires of death, Brothers All.