Light, I want to kill him… he's not supposed to make it this hard! Curse him! The whistling blades came to a sudden stop resting on his cheeks, just below the marred flesh where Mentiri's eyes once were.
"Light blind you, Mentiri," she spat before she realized her mistake. Her tongue always managed to get away from her, but she refused to blush. "The Light blind your inner sight, if it hasn't done that already." Lavenda bit her lip, wanting to strike out but not able to make her arms move.
"Arg!" The sound escaped from her lips as she turned, facing the bleak landscape behind her. Ragged nails dug into calloused palms as she wrestled with her composure. Coolheaded reason won, fortunately for both of them.
"It's not fair of you to tempt me so, Mentiri. There is far too much blood on my hands already, innocent or not." She stared into the clouded sky, welcoming the light rain that washed into her eyes, taking away the beginnings of tears. What is wrong with me? Years of building up walls, and one moment brings them all tumbling down…
"Just because someone has scars already doesn't mean a new one hurts less."
xxxx
As Nikolai headed towards the two dark figures, he now realized that the two were talking. With this realization, Nik stopped short of tripping on a large rock in the way of his foot. You idiot! You don't know if they are friend of foe, yet you're just standing here waiting for them to recognize you? Idiot! "Oh hush you bothersome cur!" Nikolai cursed as he kicked himself in the shin. "Gah, Myarhena is so much better company than yourself. When was the last you saw her Nik? a few weeks ago? Hah, fool, she's gone too. You failure."
"Eh, let's forget about how pathetic I am and see if I can't figure out who these people are, and what they're doing in this light forsaken land." He sheathed his swords under his cloak and proceeded to creep closer towards the two people. He got within about 20 spans of the unknown people, placed himself in some rotting brush, and watched, listening. He saw the party with the weapon drawn look upwards and back behind her, as hea had just realized it was a 'her' from the voices he heard, and began to catch the slight bits that were carried to him.
"It is not fair of you...much blood on my hands...innocent or not...doesn't mean a new one hurts less."
"Well, it seems they know each other very well. I think I will lie here a minute longer to see if I can find anything out about the tall...dark...oh light! It's Mentiri! Wow, he looks like seven hellfires washed over him. Maybe I can get closer..." With that, Nikolai got on his stomach and tried to creep a little closer to find out what was happening to his lost friend.
xxxx
"Just because someone has scars already doesn't mean a new one hurts less."
Her words seeped and dripped and petrified within the tombs of Mentiri's dying mind, crackling and twisting like a dreadful serpent, tonguing the back of his eyeless gaze. He felt a swelling tumor of guilt flooding the depths of his black heart a newer color...perhaps it's birth pigment. Was I always so black? His mouth opened as if to say something, but what to say to her? What could he possibly say to her after all these years to comfort, apologize, relent...her scars?
"What can I do to heal your scars?" Mentiri asked, his voice sounding more tender than he had predicted. He saw the glowing golden woman look up, and all her eyes shown blinded Mentiri's True sight, forcing him to snap his inner eyelids shut. His fists clenched and he felt new red blood rush over it's dried brown predecessors, his body wavering with the weakened state it was in. He extended his red hands to her as he stumbled to one knee, feeling his thoughts escape him. It was a turbulent rush of swirling blues and grays, billowing up into majestic peaks of subliminal beliefs and knowledge to create a masterful milestone on which he tried to stand, but was to weak to lock his footing.
"What do you want me to do...to heal your scars?" he asked again, his voice a hoarse whisper now.
"What do you want..." The glow began to flutter in his vision, the blackness that had always enveloped him seemed to be forcing the beautiful gold from his sight. He looked into Lavenda's eyes with the meshy dry scar upon his face, begging her with his mind to hear his thoughts.
I'm so tired of this darkness.
xxxx
The back of her neck seemed to burn in his eyeless stare till she couldn't stand it anymore and turned, then looked instead at the ground. The tattered piece of black cloth lay in a puddle of darkness on the damp ground.
"What can I do to heal your scars?" Lavenda's head snapped up, unable to believe the compassion that filled his voice. Of course, he has feelings now… And if her head made any sense at all right now she would want to kill him for making her this confused but instead a little feeling kept niggling on the inside of her head where she couldn't get to it and it made her hate him but at the same time there was…
love…
His whisper brought her back as he fell to his knees before her. Mentiri's 'eyes' bored into hers, pleading with her.
Light take it all!
Just as he seemed about to tumble forward onto his face, Lavenda dropped to her knees beside him, catching his shoulders. "I don't know what I want, Mentiri," she breathed, more to herself then him. Despite having no eyes to show it, he seemed unconscious, or so close he might as well be. Too busy with her internal struggled to notice before, she examined his torn body, taking in the freshly bloodied hands and parched lips.
"Oh, Mentiri," she murmured, "What am I going to do with you?" But it seems like this goes beyond the merely physical…
xxxx
Falling to his savior's arms and grace, Mentiri found something of a piece of peace inside, and smiled. Lavenda noticed this and faintly smiled as well. The sweet scent of adventure and happiness flooded his nose and he chuckled softy.
Do you...do you still care about me?
"Do you…still..." he shuddered, trying to make out the words. He suddenly longed for his body to be in a condition worth battling, so that he could stand before his past strongly. But as it turned out, Mentiri was shattered and beaten...and now his past was the only thing keeping him alive. Or even caring for him, for that matter.
"What are you trying to say, Mentiri?" the angel asked, looking into the deep scar as if he had eyes. Very respectable, thought Mentiri, You are the first to see this in many years.
"Tell me!" Mentiri felt ashamed that he could not function as he should, especially now that a chance he had been battling towards had finally come. Irony, irony. Now that he was here, at a moment he had dreamt about and prepared for the last few years, he could not grasp it, do what he imagined, or even speak.
Mentiri thought he could see in the distance two forms, one upon a horse and the other pacing. In his state nothing could be sure...see! They were of shadow! Mentiri struggled to get to his feet, partially succeeding by holding on to his angel's shoulder. One was a new evil; he had never encountered this being before...the other...had a certain familiarity about it.
"What is it? What do you see?" she asked. Mentiri trembled a finger to point ahead of them, to the two evil beings that approached.
xxxx
From his place in the dead bushes and grass Nikolai watched the events unfold. Suddenly, Mentiri was on his knees. He looked as if he had been beaten at his own game, then beaten again for good measure, and then again to see that he never tried again. He heard Mentiri mumble something strangely inaudible, as he struggled to his feet, being braced by the woman. With both their backs to him, he saw Mentiri's hand rise to point off in the distance at something. Alright, enough of this waiting in the bushes, Mentiri needs help, and as many friends as possible, it seems.
Nikolai made it to his feet and proceeded to make his way over to the pair. "Mentiri! Friend! Would you like another shoulder to lean on?" He made sure to keep his arms open so the woman hopefully wouldn't think to run him through with something rather sharp.
xxxx
Lavenda about jumped out of her skin at the sound of a voice behind her. Instead, she picked up one of the spears she had dropped- dropped!- and half-turned, making sure to still hold up Mentiri.
Light blinded, that's what I am… Light-blasted wind had to go and blow in the other direction!
Before she had even finished turning, she saw his open arms, weaponless. "If you say you are a friend of Mentiri's," she called, "Come quickly. There's been a shortage lately, I suspect." Unable to spare a further glance at the man she dismissed as no threat- probably no help, either- she looked along Mentiri's arm at the figures approaching.
"But what is it, if you know?" she murmured. "You do know, don't you?" She didn't press for an answer; it was obvious most of his energy was going into staying conscious.
Do you think you can protect me, Mentiri? As you tried to do before? A brief whinny was carried on the winds to her sensitive ears, at least proving the beings that human. But then, Halfmen were that human.
As the man struggled again to get to his feet Lavenda rose with him, slinging one arm around his waist to keep him up.
"I don't suppose you're any good with a spear?" she called to the newcomer, who had come up on Mentiri's other side. "Or perhaps a Healer in disguise?"