Horse could tell the hivers were looking at him strangely. But he couldn't bring himself to care. He'd been standing against the wall of the shop, sobbing into his hands for the past hour. That image filled every corner of his mind. The hive trader screaming at Horse and Prowler to GET OUT, GET OUT as Prowler's blood soaked through Horse's tunic and into his skin. Prowler, the red rainwater washing golden-green blood down their torn-open chest, their shallow breaths fading into a death-rattle.

Horse saw the hive shopkeeper walking towards him. "Are you still waiting to trade, shek?" they chirped, a smile across their bug-like face.

Horse glared at them in disbelief, sniffling and wiping his nose off on his arm. "Y...yes, I'm here to trade," he stammered out, tone laced with sour sarcasm. "I'm here to buy bandages for my pal, Prowler- wait, nah, I can't." More tears pooled in his eyes and he gritted his teeth in an ugly snarl. "Because YOU wouldn't let me buy bandages for 'em when they were bleedin' to death in your Okran-forsaken shop."

The shopkeeper stared back at Horse blankly, empty-eyed. Horse stared back at them.

"You're not so fuckin' stupid you'd forget, right?" he hissed. "That hiver in black robes I was carryin'? The one you wouldn't let in y-"

"The Lost One?" The shopkeeper said, their tone a clipped cheerful that made Horse's blood boil. Their voice dropped to a hateful, deathly whisper. "No Lost Ones are allowed in the Hive."

Horse stamped his foot and the shopkeeper didn't even blink. "Their name was Prowler, you self-centered bitch," he shouted, "and they MIGHT BE ALIVE NOW IF YOU CARED ABOUT ANYTHIN' EXCEPT YOURSELVES."

It was then that two hive soldiers grabbed Horse by the arms. He kicked and howled in protest, but the shopkeeper just watched as he was dragged out of the shop and thrown to the muddy ground outside.

He sat there, staring up into the shop as the soldiers walked back in.

Eventually the water soaking into his pants forced him to his feet.

He trudged over to the pack bull, Beef, who lay comfortably in the mud. The Nobodies never hauled alcohol with them, and they wouldn't keep it on their slow pack bull. He'd have to buy some from the hivers. He couldn't see his friends coming back for him, he'd be lucky if those long-necked monsters hadn't killed them all.

Tears welled up in Horse's eyes as he rifled through Beef's bags. "I'm no fuckin' treasure hunter, I'm no fuckin' fighter, I'm no fuckin' adventurer." he hissed through gritted teeth, tears spilling down his cheeks. He slumped over the bull's back, his lean frame trembling. "I'm- I'm no shek, either. I should've… should've just left myself to rot on a goddamned sand dune."


Maeve looked out across the sands, and the horrible beast was nowhere in sight. She sat on the ground, balancing an unconscious Green in her arms.

"I think we lost the gutter," Fish said, looking out over the sand.

Iron was uninjured but had gone silent. He stared at the rock outcroppings they'd taken shelter under, rhythmically petting the head of the pack beast.

Maeve's eyes still scanned the desert one last time before she sat down, laying Green across her lap. "Keep an eye out for Holy patrols too, please…" she whispered to Fish.

Stone towered over the whole group, even the pack beast, his hulking form still as death. His back was turned to all of them.

"Of course," Fish replied with a tired grin to Maeve. Fish looked up at Stone. "Did ya see anything?"

Stone looked over his shoulder at Fish. Through his visor, Maeve could make out a stormy expression that scared her.

Fish started to say something, but Stone cut her off. "Where is Ruka? You said you would find her and I don't see her."

"Uh… well I did find her, but…"

"Where is Ruka?" Stone whirled around and glared down at Fish.

Somehow Fish's expression turned to a deathly calm. "I did find her, I did see her, or what was left of her. She was lyin' in a puddle of blood bigger than her body and she wasn't movin'."

"Did you go to her and check for a pulse?" Stone retorted.

Fish shook her head and held up her hands. "No, I didn't! No shek could bleed that much and live! I'm no medic, I wouldn't have been able t-"

"Ruka would NOT die so easily," Stone said, taking a step towards Fish. Still holding her hands up, Fish looked oddly calm. "You didn't even try to save her."

Maeve gently laid Green down on the sand and stood up, wincing at her injuries.

"Saving her would've been more risk," Fish said, taking a step back as Stone clenched his fists. "I'm sorry that Ruka's dead, if I'd tried to…"

Fish trailed off as Maeve pointed her staff between the two of them. Her staff was a flimsy weapon, but Stone looked ready to punch Fish in the face and it was all she could think to use.

Stone turned his accusatory glare onto Maeve and she flinched. "I'm… sorry, I don't want a fight breaking out over this. A lot of shek would rather die in battle than flee… right?"

"Don't speak to me of shek beliefs, human." Stone snapped. As soon as the words left his mouth, though, his shoulders drooped and the hate faded from his face. "You're… you're right. Ruka would have rather died in battle than live with the memory of such a great defeat..."

Maeve lowered her weapon.

Fish brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "If there's one thing I learned from growin' up in cannibal country, it's that there's a time to save the doomed and a time to let 'em go." She walked over and knelt down to examine Green. "None of your wounds look too bad… except Green's leg. Rather, their lack of one"
The hive archer's right leg had been snapped clean off below the knee, and their bandage-wrapped thigh was so bent and misshapen it barely resembled a limb. Maeve only then noticed that hiver blood was golden-green and smelled oddly sour.

Fish winced, wrinkling her nose. "Well, they'll be fine. But they're not gonna be walkin' til we can get a prosthetic. I'm no doctor, but I know we should amputate what's left of this leg."

Maeve nodded, a metal leg like Scrap's arm flashing in her mind's eye.

Stone folded his arms across his chest. Maeve saw the tears under his visor before she heard his sobs.

Iron stood next to the pack beast, gently stroking its leathery head, mumbling something-or-other to himself. The hive soldier sounded like a lost child.


Drake was signing something to Suns, their expression grim and full of rage.

"I… didn't get any of that, I'm sorry," Suns said, shifting Seox's weight on her shoulder.

"They said 'I hope those goddamn bandits get eaten alive by those monsters'," Molly said, her voice cracked with fatigue.

Suns raised a brow at Drake, who now stood with their hands on their hips. "I don't know, Drake, that's a bit harsh. Aren't they just starving people?"

Drake let out a humorless, harsh bark that made Suns jump. They threw their hands up in the air as if to say who cares, wincing at their aggravated wounds.

Mako, meanwhile, was looking out out over the desert and back towards Vain. "Well…" she forced a smile, "I don't see any beaked bastards. So once we find everyone, we'll all go home, yeah?"

Molly looked up from where she sat on the sand, examining her right leg. Scrap was laid out on the ground next to her, their chest wrapped in bandages. "Yes, we can go home. If you like hobbling across the desert, that is. You, Drake and I can barely walk."

Drake grunted in assent, then spat. A blood-covered tooth fell out of their mouth and onto the sand.

The smile slid from Mako's face. She was also too wounded to walk far. "Okay… let's see who we got here then." She looked over her group. Everyone was beaten, bruised, covered in blood and mud, and everyone who was conscious looked close to collapsing. "Me, Suns, Seox, Scrap, Molly, Dusk, Drake, Spine… Unlimited…" Seox, Scrap and Spine were all unconscious, being carried by their companions. "I saw Iron, Stone, Maeve, Fish, Green, and the pack beast back there... then Horse was carrying Prowler back to the village with Beef before everything went to shit…"

"So... that means we're missing Ruka." Suns said.

"Uh. We're on Holy Nation soil now," Dusk spoke up, looking about the desert sands. "We've gotta look out for-"

"Where's Ruka? Fish said she'd get her!" Suns said. She glanced back at Dusk, who was glaring at her. "Sorry…"

Molly stood up with a grunt, her leg wrapped in bandages. "I think… if Fish didn't pick up Ruka, then she's beak thing food. Those things eat their prey live."

A cold, melancholy silence fell over the group. Even the towering pack beast, Unlimited, seemed to have fallen silent.

The quiet was broken by Dusk awkwardly clearing her throat. All pairs of eyes turned to her.

"We're in Okran's Gulf now," Dusk said. "We gotta look out for paladin patrols. Especially since our preacher is out cold." She shifted the weight of Spine across her shoulder and gestured at Seox, who was limp and unconscious.

Drake coughed very loudly then began signing at Molly. Molly nodded. "Yes, I agree. We should regroup with the others as soon as we can… walk faster than a limp."

Suns let out a frightened whine. "Don't the Okranites take slaves?" she whispered.

Drake nodded.

Dusk shifted Spine from her shoulder to in her arms, cradling the unconscious hound. "I think I can run. I can go and find the others if someone else carries the dog."

Mako looked at Dusk, raising an eyebrow. "Ain'tcha an escaped slave? Wouldn't the guards recognize ya?"

Dusk shrugged. "Fuck if I know, I had longer hair last time I was a citizen. And less scars." She gently set Spine down on the sand. "I know how the Holy bastards walk and talk. I've got less chance of getting enslaved than some of you."

Mako nodded. "Well, godspeed then, have the winds at your back and sand in the paladins' eyes."

"I saw them running off towards that city!" Suns said, pointing to where walls could be seen in the distance.

Dusk chuckled at Mako's comment, nodded to Suns, and took off across the sands.

Mako watched her retreating form, staring blankly, her thoughts going empty. This song and dance felt so familiar. An mission into strange lands, gone horribly wrong...

The sound of leather shifting snapped her back into reality. She looked over to see Molly and Drake digging through Unlimited's backpacks. "There has to be sleeping bags in here. That's where we usually keep them, right…?" Molly muttered to herself.

Mako stared blankly at her companions, the people she called herself leader of, her thoughts drifting elsewhere. She'd been here before. Iron would know all too well, though he'd forgiven her for it.

"I'm sorry for all this," she said to her companions. "If I'd told us all to go back to the village, this wouldn't have happened. Ruka's likely dead, y'all are beaten half to death, and it's all my damn fault."

Molly shook her head. "Don't beat yourself up over this, Mako. Everyone gets unlucky, and today was our unlucky day. Death comes for all of us, by beak or by blade. I've seen warriors with more mettle than all of us combined die, just because someone got a clean shot through their heart."

Mako looked down at the desert sands, disbelief written on her downcast expression.

Suns let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Hey, don't shek from the Shek Kingdom think it's better to die in battle than to lose a fight and live? I bet Ruka went down swinging and taunting those things! Maybe that's how she wanted to go out! ...If she's dead, of course…"

Drake nodded and flashed Suns a thumbs-up.

"Don't count your pups before they're born," Molly said. "But yes, if Ruka is dead, I think it's a death worthy of a shek warrior."

A faint, reassured smile made its way onto Mako's face. "Y'know what, you're right. Hell, I'd bet Horse, Beef, and Prowler are waitin' for us back at the village."


CHARACTERS:

- Horse (he/him), male Shek. Has red markings on his face and horns.

- Prowler (they/them), Hive prince.

- Beef, domestic bull.

- Maeve (she/her), Greenlander woman. Has long straw-colored hair and bangs.

- Green (they/them), Hive drone. Average height.

- Iron (he/him), Hive soldier.

- Unnamed pack beast, garru.

- Fish (she/her), Scorchlander woman. Wears assorted ninja rags on her body and face.

- Stone (he/him), Shek man. Has broken horns, is very tall and muscular.

- Ruka (she/her), Shek woman, has broken horns.

- Drake (they/them), Shek, mute. Has a tall, lean physique.

- Suns (she/her), Shek woman. Has a short, stocky physique.

- Seox (he/him), Greenlander man. Wears ninja rags and has short messy hair.

- Mako (she/her), Greenlander woman, has a mohawk.

- Molly (she/her), Scorchlander woman, wears a beanie.

- Scrap (they/them), Hive drone. Small and thin, has a prosthetic left arm.

- Unlimited (full name "Motherfucker Unlimited"), elder garru.

- Dusk (she/her), Greenlander woman. Has a pale complexion and bright red hair in a loose bun.

- Spine, elder bonedog.