Usual copyright disclaimer goes here.

Yeeeeesss! It's almost summer time, baby cakes! 12 more days of school excluding exam days and I'll be lounging around on my computer and desk, plaguing myself with Diablo II Expansion, writing this fic, and drawing my hand off. I'll probably take off a few weeks to go to my Uncle's rice mill and plague myself with all the nature. Oh happy days…

Enjoy this chapter, enjoy Kurast's setting that I've imagined to be exactly like the jungles of Thailand and er…the floating market in Bangkok as well. If you feel like a chat, you can always e-mail me at watercentaur@mail.com or homeworkonfire@hotmail.com. Cheers, and goodbye!

Chapter 15: Diablo's Mark

Kail refused to speak to her all through breakfast.

Even as she knocked his wooden wine cup down as she took a spoonful of steaming rice from an iron bowl, he calmly swept the red liquid away and resumed eating. She tried to make a soft conversation with him as the others were engaged in their own activities but he ignored every word she said.

She finally gave up and decided to listen to the others, whom were all crowded around a low wooden table, lying down on cushions and blankets. Another citronella candle was burned to rid of mosquitoes.

"Moran, have you met Asheera yet?" Thorn asked.

"No," she politely looked at the other woman across the table. She – Asheera - was a very tall woman, almost Kail's height with very beautiful eyes that were slanted at the edges. From the way she talked to the large python that curled around her bare neck and shoulders, Asheera carried a sexual aura and it seemed like Thorn was very attracted to it.

"Asheera," the woman lifted her cup. "Head of the Iron Wolves."

"Moran," Moran lifted her cup in return.

"Natalya," Thorn said, pointing with his head to another girl with a short bob cut and wearing armor. "Assassin."

She smiled grimly. "Hey."

"Welcome to Kurast, Sorceress," Natalya said. "I heard about your heroic feat with the sea worm."

Kail pushed himself up, knocking down his empty plate. He picked it up and looked around. "Anyone want a tour of Kurast?"

"Kail, it's raining out," Nikan said.

He looked around until his eyes nested on Moran. "Even better. It's just a drizzle." A smile curled on his lips and she felt a chill go up her back.

His eyes aren't smiling.

She looked away and reached for the heavy cloak behind her. She wrapped it around her shoulders and stood up.

"Why not," she finally returned his gaze, giving him an icy grin as well. "It thrills me that you'll even step in the same boat as I."

"Moran," Ollan gave her a warning tone as he said her name.

"Why not," Kail hissed at her as they walked out of the dining hall.

The rain was becoming worst by the minute.

Moran huddled deep into her cloak and pressed closer to the others for warmth. Kail, with his shirt off and his long hair askew in the wind, was struggling to push the boat through the water. The others held close together and carried weapons in case of any surprise attacks as they sailed through the river.

"Can't see a blasted thing Kail," Thorn shouted through the wind. "Maybe we should go back."

"What do you think I'm trying to do," Kail gritted his teeth, veins appearing on his arms and chest as the muscles struggled to push the stick through the mud and move the boat.

"Here, let me try," Thorn stood up and the boat rocked, nearly sending Kail off balance.

"I knew this was a bad idea," Nikan mumbled.

Thorn shoved at the stick hard. "I think it's stuck. Lovely Kurast river mud."

He pushed harder and the stick broke in two.

"Damn it!" He said. "What now?"

"We go get another stick," Kail said, removing his boots.

"Wait! But isn't it dangerous to go in the jungle?" Moran stood up.

"No, we're still close to town," he hissed at her.

"Kail, it's still – "

"I'll be fine," he said. "And the water's not tainted badly." He dove into water with a small dagger.

"Kail – "

"He'll be fine," Thorn rested a hand on her shoulder.

"No – " She blinked against the wind and the rain. "We can't just let him go alone – " She saw the dark figure rise up on the other bank and disappeared into the jungle.

"Leave him," Nikan huddled deeper into her cloak and rested down. "I'm going to sleep if you two don't mind. He'll be back any second and I'm tired."

"In the rain?" Moran asked.

"I've had worst," Nikan grinned.

Tired as well, Moran shut her eyes.

She woke up what felt like hours later, soaked to the bone and very cold. "Where's Kail?" She asked.

Fear rippled through her.

Ollan, Nikan, and Thorn were all asleep at the bottom of the boat, very calm and still, almost corpselike. A vine of some sort had curled around their limbs, pining them down.

"Oh no…" She gasped and looked at her own legs. Luckily, they had only formed around her ankles and no where else. She pulled out a knife and slit at one of the green shoots.

Three new vines sprouted from the cut and wrapped around her fingers.

She jerked them away while they were still young and looked at the others. "Nikan! Ollan! Wake up!"

No response.

She tried wrapping her hands around the shoots and releasing fire upon it, but at the rate of the rain and wind, it wasn't going to work. If she put any more firepower into the shoots, she was going to burn off a limb or two.

She needed to find Kail.

She shut her eyes and wrapped her hand around her knees. Her head throbbed.

Kail. Kail. Kail.

Shock rippled through her body and blackness overcame her.

The darkness blinked out in less than a second and she found herself standing in the jungle. Something crashed into her and she was hurled onto the forest floor with the cloaked figure.

"What the – "

The cloaked figure stood up, and she saw nothing but blackness inside his hood. "You shall not catch up with me, Warrior," it hissed. "The Dark Wanderer is always too fast for you."

The black figure suddenly exploded into a cylinder of light.

"AHHHHHH!" She screamed.

Some sort of a creature, a cross between a dog and an iguana, flesh colored with razor sharp teeth burst from the light and landed on her legs. Screaming, she kicked it away, only to find two more coming towards her.

Spinning to her feet, she shot a ball of fire at the nearest one, sending it flying five feet into the air. She kicked the one gnawing at her legs, breaking its back.

But the third one leapt for her throat and held on tight with its long, sharp fingers. She felt the nails dig into her skin.

Coughing, she tried to fend it off, but it was too tough for her. Too strong.

"Aaah!"

The beast on her neck screamed and dropped away. Moran stumbled forward and someone caught her.

"Kail?" She said in between coughs.

"How on earth did you get here?" He gasped. "Are you all right?"

"I – I was on the boat – then I found myself – "

His eyes widened. "You teleported."

"What?"

"You moved from one place instantly to another!" He threw his hands into the air. "Moranah – I mean…"

"I don't know how I did it," she said. "But the others are in deep trouble. Vines – we were sleeping, and when I woke up they were covered in vines! It's holding them down or something, and they won't wake up."

"Poison vine," Kail said. He suddenly lurched forward and grabbed his chest.

"Kail!"

"I'm all right," he panted.

"No, let me see," she forced his hand away and found an oozing, fresh wound under his collarbone. "What happened?"

"The Flesh Beast's tail got me," he pointed to the dead creature. "I'll be fine."

Stepping close to him, she placed her hand next to the wound, feeling the warmth of his skin. Shame and mixed feelings ran through her. "You had to hurt yourself so many times because me."

"And you hurt yourself in order to save our worthless lives as well," he smiled and took her hand, planting a small kiss on her fingers. "I guess it's only fair. Thank you."

She didn't dare look at him. "Kail…"

He took her chin and forced her too look at him. "I'm sorry I acted the way I did this morning."

Plonk.

"OW!" She grabbed her head and looked up. Something blue and gold whizzed by her again, squawking loudly.

"Stand back, Moran," Kail scooped up a large rock in his hand. The blue-gold creature gave off another squawk and dove towards him.

Kail reared back and threw the stone hard.

The creature dropped like a stone from the air.

"What is it?" Moran stepped close and looked at the dead animal. It was some sort of bird – perfectly normal except for a set of razor blades in its mouth.

"Unique Hell Fowl," Kail said excitedly. "You have anything sharp?"

Moran felt around her body and came up with a small dagger. "This is all I've got."

"It'll do," he jammed it hard into the fowl's stomach and split it open. Red blood tinged with green oozed from inside its guts and Kail reached in.

"Oh, disgusting," Moran said, but kept her eyes on his hand.

"The price you pay – for this," he pulled out something green.

It was a rough jade statue, nothing more.

"What the – "

"Don't ask," he grinned at her. "Come on – don't the others need us?"

Fear rippled through her, as she thought of her friends, all tangled up in the boat.

"Well?"

Moran wrapped the blanket around her and tried to wipe her runny nose as Alkor, the alchemist, and Rhatli, the blacksmith, looked at Ollan, Thorn, and Nikan. She and Kail had dragged the three unconscious heroes in their boats back to the Kurast Docks. With some difficulty, and with the help of the others, they managed to free them from the vines, but an hour later, they didn't know what to do to make them lose the shade of green that was creeping from their lips and forehead and regain consciousness.

"It looks like a type of vine the Druids use in order to poison their enemies," Kail said from somewhere huddled in his blanket as well. He sneezed and sniffed. "Damn it."

"Here," Moran pushed the steaming mug of banana tea at him.

"Know a lot about Druids, don't you?" Alkor said while searching through his pots of remedy and medicine.

Moran saw Kail stiffen from the corner of her eye. "I think you should focus more on the poison than what I know and what I don't know."

"Whatever you say," Alkor stooped down, stroking his gray beard. "Well…I don't know what to do."

"Can't you give them some antibiotics? I mean…ah, something to fight off the poison? Maybe when the poison's at a weak state, they'll regain consciousness."

"That's a good start," Rhatli said. "But it'll be better if we know the source of the poison vine."

"Why?" Moran asked.

"When a snake bites his victim, the cure is to inject the victim with the snake's poison," Kail said, sipping his banana tea. "You have heard of that haven't you?"

"Sure," she shrugged. She's heard of it but she never knew how it really worked. "You know, when I ah…teleported into the woods, I ran into this…this guy wearing this long black coat. He called himself the Dark Wanderer, and that's how those flesh beasts – "

Kail jumped from his blanket and grabbed her shoulders. "You saw what?"

She flinched. "I – "

Kail let her go and reached for his dry clothes. "Moran, get dressed. We're hunting down the culprit."

"What? You know who did this to the others?" She gestured to the unconscious group.

Kail stopped. "Yes. I do."

"Who?"

"Diablo. Diablo Himself."