XXX: Battle of Sudden Flame (XIX)
Yawne's first impression of the Burning Mountain was very nonplussed, it wasn't burning at all. More like, grey dull, desperately dull mountain. It was no wonder then the Nekxtskxe were so angry all the time. He would be angry too if he was forced to live in a grey world when a world of color, beauty, and lush green life waited just beyond his reach. It was no wonder too, why the Nekxtskxe covered themselves in dead things, for they were as dead things, the out side reflecting within. Yawne pitied them, high above in the bright light of the sun as one who flew in the winds on the back of Lawtaw and smelled the fresh air with the rain… What the Burning Mountain needed right now was a good storm. So naturally, he would storm the gates! Okay, maybe not, but still he had to find Jake. They had at least a few good hours head start on him, perhaps more, and when he learned they'd left he'd left immediately so it was only a matter of time before he caugh- a spear the size of Yawne's leg soared up to meet him.
EVASSIVE MANUVER ALPHA! Lawtaw went directly into a barrel roll. The second missile rose to meet their new position. Yawne snarled and lifted himself on his palms to do an Indian air motor cross kick, slapping the trajectory of the missile aside, redirecting but not trying to stop it so there was no force transfer. Lawtaw screeched, flapping hard to gain altitude but Yawne could just make out the crew bellow manning the gigantic freaking arrow launcher thingies, he knew they were compensating. So instead, DIVE DIVE DIVE! Lawtaw screeched in confusion only to take in air, and then drop into a sudden straight fall, like a dive bomber doing a bombing run. HELM TO ONE OH EIGHT! Lawtaw quickly side swept, going nearly vertical in her decent. Yawne stood up on his right leg, pitching her further into perfect profile, approaching the attacking ground crew like a fencer would and offering far less of a target. The crew quickly adapted to try and catch the two in a crossfire, but the combined weight of the larger rider and the unorthodox maneuvers caught the Nekxtskxe slightly off guard.
When the two spears came, fired at once, they fell in just behind the tail of Lawtaw and Yawne, clipping each other in a shatter of wood. Yawne roared into the wind, "HI~GHWA~Y TO THE~ DANGER ZONE!" and Lawtaw shot past through the split second opening in the defense network, skimming the ground with her belly. The Nekxtskxe quickly abandoned their stations, taking up short spears and arrows to give chase. Yawne and Lawtaw then spiraled to gain more height as they circled in behind the mountain. They knew they were being pursed, but if the guard were any indication, Jen or Juu, Jenn, jujubies or whatever her name was had to avoid their range and thus was probably circling far too height out of sight for Yawne to spot. None the less, Yawne kept his eyes on the sky. He had to find Jake and the others, he had to warn them. There was no way he could have gotten there ahead of them. If the guard were any indication, the Sampson would have to have landed and they would need to enter on foot, which meant -if Yawne had been lucky- he could have caught them near the base of the mountain. But it was clear to him, since he couldn't even find Jen circling above and keeping her distance, it meant she had no reason to get closer and they were already inside. He couldn't waste time trying to find and ask her either.
Well girl, I don't see a helicopter, do you? Lawtaw shrieked a negative, slightly agitated due to the odd smell and the memories it brought back to her. She had images of her past here, and Yawne sorted them quickly in his own mind. Yawne, unique among the Na'vi, had a deeper connection with those he bonded, able to drawn them in and see what they had seen; the last gift and remnants of Eywa's inception within him. This was how Yawne was able to show Jake his tortured imaginings, how he was able to drift with Peyral upon the storms, and now exactly how he would penetrate the Nekxtskxe strong hold. In his mind's eye he saw as Lawtaw saw, her rookery, and where the Nekxtskxe set their own Ikran to nest. Unguarded, for who would dare impose upon a nest of huge Cave Ikran? It was suicide for outsides, but Yawne was no outsider. True he had not been fused within the minds of any of the Nekxtskxe creatures because of their sheer distance from the battle. It would have been useless for Eywa to call upon they who dwelled deep in the earth as if she had tried to summon the creatures of the sea; Pandora's battle was held in the jungles, and there were more than enough of her children at hand to wipe away the Sky people.
So it was Yawne found himself slowly circling toward the very lip of the mountain itself, drifting down into it's heart where a great hole in the side led into a sickle cave… and within, a thousand angry Cave Ikran, hissing and spatting. Yawne landed with Lawtaw among them, her claws scraping the grey rock her hackles rose high. Yawne took in all of them, the beasts far larger than a normal Ikran. Lawtaw was young compared to them, a child. They each stood nearly twice as wide, full grown, with claws the size of a human forearm. Formidable was not the word for it, they were living buzzsaws and did not appreciate Yawne's intrusion. A chorus of shrieks and howls buffeted the chamber, golden eyes and wedge heads snapped and focused. Teeth the length of fingers rattled, guttural hisses closed in. Yawne narrowed his eyes as he slowly got down from Lawtaw. Go on girl, circle if you can but stay safe.
Lawtaw hesitated as Yawne pushed her away, unwilling to leave her partner in this den of upset meat grinders. She hissed in return, flickers her eyes back and forth. Outnumbered and outmatched perhaps one thousand to one. Then Yawne brought his fingers up to his lips. Immediately Lawtaw began to back away, watching for any sign of attack even as she did, to then turn ruefully and take flight. The whole of the caves numerous jaws and eyes watched her go, then resettled on the intruder who did not smell as the Nekxtskxe. He was foreign and therefore meat. Hungry jaws, and angry gnawing teeth closed in, crouched low like winged panthers from hell. Yawne looked left and right with eyes and eyebrows… and whistled. A shrill so high the reaction was instantaneous, wings flapped, heads shook. He had long ago learned the trick to getting Lawtaw to behave if she tried to bully the normal Ikran. His whistle pierced the air like a frozen dagger, so strong -and practiced- he could continue the sound for as long as he had breath. The rookery shook and rumbled with the agitation of the Cave Ikran, the massive rush of scraping claws and widened eyes as their banshee shrieks gave way to panic.
The pain was enormous, and they had never before experienced such a sonic assault. Like a fox set upon chickens, the mighty Cave Ikrans scattered. Yawne continued to whistle as he began to walk forward, the Cave Ikran flowed around him, scrambling over each other to get as far away from the painful sound as possible. Their proud and majestic forms seemed gangly in their haste to bypass the painful shrill which closed in on them. Yawne did not wish to hurt the Cave Ikran any more than necessary, so as he neared the smaller opening the Nekxtskxe used to enter and exit, he quickly cut off. All at once the Cave Ikran fell in to take him, to prevent him from using that horrible sound once more, but their claws and teeth rent only air as Yawne's silver tipped tail whispered into the cave system proper.
The racket of scraping and hissing followed behind him, dwindling as he went deeper and deeper. Now he was in stealth mode. Yawne crouched low, heels raised and eyes focused. His silver hair flowed around him as he began to sneak. Dooo doooo doooo doooo, dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun, Do do do do, da do do do… Down endless corridors of grey until he was swallowed by solid darkness, his eyes adjusted to his own lights but he quickly covered them with the mossy film he found carpeting his steps all around him. Yet as he began to do so a light appeared at the far end, Yawne barely held in check his surprise as flowing up from the lower tunnels like an explosion, fire flowed past him. Since he wasn't incinerated, Yawne looked down at himself, now noting the grey smears he had rubbing over his stars were in fact, super cool blacklight tribal markings! Actually they were more accurately like finger paints, but none the less Yawne was jazzed by the awesome occurrence. Smiling wickedly he felt fierce and primal. WAAH WAAH WAAH WAAAAH, WAH WAAH WAAAH, Waaaaaah waaaaah waah waaaah; waah waah waah waaaah, wah waah waahh, wah wah waaaaah, waah wah duh waaah!
Like a cheetah in the night, Yawne creped and moved, fire in fire, with silver flashes from cave mouth to cave mouth. Dooo dooo, da dooo de doo, DOOO DOO, DA DOOO DE DOO…Deeper and deeper he went, soundless yet seeing none despite his precaution. He didn't even smell anyone. Quickening his pace Yawne sacrificed a bit of stealth for speed, he was clearly on the outskirts and needed to find at least a guard before he began sneaking again to find the people proper. DUMM DUMM, duuuuh, DUMM DUMM, duuuh, DUMM DUMM DE DUMM, Dooooo doooo, dooooo doooo, dooo doooo, doooo doooo…He would need to hurry indeed before Paul's strange effect caused catastrophe. Yawne leaped soundlessly down a sharp incline, Do do de doo, do do de doooo, DO DO DE DOOO~! and turned only to stop dead… he didn't know how he had missed them… his eyes flew open, his stance halted in the landing crouch. There, there, everywhere; crowded in tight bunches like squirming maggots, hundreds of Nekxtskxe blanketed in white powder, all turned their heads to look at him. Circular golden eyes, starred unblinking as they ceased pushing and digging at each other trying to hide themselves like a living carpet.
It must have been Paul's powder, blanketing their scent as well; nature's kind way of making sure nothing preyed upon those struck as they fled and hid in blind panic. It seemed the whole village of Nekxtskxe had crowded into this one room, surrounding him where the walls created a natural bowl, a route without escape; a dead end. "…blaaannng…" Yawne said sucking his lips into a small 'x'. All at once they fell upon him screaming wildly. The white limbs meshed together like an insane white beast of nightmare. Yawne did his best to fight them off, but a thousand hands gripped him and stopped all possible movement. He was lifted like a body surfer, golden eyes flashing among wet red mouths, as they bodily carried him through a cave system- their fear given common enemy. The Nekxtskxe were no strangers to fear and mastery of it was just another fact of life. However, when overcome, when forced to face it without control or even the hint of comprehension, fear has only two options. The first is flight, and the Nekxtskxe had run to the farthest reaches of the cave systems, to the very last bastion. All that remained was the second option: fight.
This the Nekxtskxe knew well, it was their very breath. Yet the Na'vi were communal, even the Nekxtskxe, and instinct alone spared them from slaughtering each other in their trapped terror. So when an enemy appeared, as one, the Nekxtskxe were able to turn all of their fury upon it. Yawne didn't stand a chance. If it had perhaps been Omaticaya, his greater build and hard won stamina might have prevailed him against a mob, but the Nekxtskxe had nothing but conflict to drive their lives. Where physical perfection ruled, matters of the mind, heart, and art fell to the wayside. Yawne struggled but he might as well have been Fay Wray fighting off a horde of natives ready to sacrifice her to Kong. Their feet stamped the ground, white powder fell around them like a cloud, undulating shouts of triumph and rage struck the walls. They carried him, some drawing blood with the force of their grip alone, in a rush like a long white river. Down, down caverns of darkness and far into the depths of the Burning Mountain. It was a certainty he was done for, but the mob had purpose, they were at their heart a people naturally bent by generations of outright dogma to follow the strongest.
Even at their worst the command structure was the most ingrained principle within their minds, at best the perfect form of control. With a thrash of limbs, like some kind of demonic centipede, the Nekxtskxe deposited the thoroughly manhandled Yawne down upon the ground… at the feet of a crouching Na'vi giant. Kerusey, perhaps the mightiest Na'vi on the whole of Pandora, lifted his head. His expression was not set, it was locked. Iron could not budge the utter determination the Lord of the Burning Rock Clan showed. His eyes fluttered, sometimes, but this was the only indication of the war within the King's mind. He was raised from the first to be the strongest, the bravest, and thus thousands of years of honed tradition came to bare in the Olo'eytukan's steel skull. Even forced as he was to feel fear, it was as if a limb had betrayed him, and he all but cut it from him. Now, only shame and anger at that shame filled him. Shame his heart had twice betrayed him, he had fled, and his mate -Tirey the Bone Queen- had attacked him.
Now before him lay an enemy, an Omaticaya, for it could not be one of his own. Kerusey saw only something which he could vent his impotent rage upon, and his iron hands reached outward, shaking from concentration and fury. The howl of the crowd encircling him pounded in his ears, adding to his irritation, to the fuel of his murderous lust. Fingers which could pierce concrete tightened around the weary neck of Yawne, and began to squeeze. Yawne's hands shot up, his eyes bulging as this new threat drew his entire attention. The pressure and force alone were enough to instantly stop his breathing, his chin and shoulders began to tingle as if falling asleep. But Yawne was well practiced in holding his breath, a handy skill he had just recently utilized to swim through underwater caves. His eyes locked onto the hard hating eyes of Kerusey, and suddenly the battle was joined. Yawne knew from simply taking in the sight of the gigantic white monolith, he had no chance of breaking his grip with strength alone. So Yawne went for his third specialty. Surprise tactics.
Using the superior strength and leverage of the one above him, Yawne went MMA on his blue As~'he stuffed his crotch into the larger opponents face with a thigh lock. Kerusey's dim understanding of events could at least recognize when there was a sudden blockage of his airways and the foreign musk of another male Na'vi overwhelming his nostrils. Blade sharp eyes widened in the sudden odorous onslaught, and his instinctual reaction was to release Yawne's neck and try to remove the grip around his face. Yawne of course would have been risking something very dear to him if Kerusey had been in his right mind, for it was a very easy bite position, but Yawne had noticed of course the white powder and the dilated eyes of his attacker. None the less he was at a loss when Kerusey was about to grab his legs and probably split him like a wishbone, then, inspiration hit. With the release of Yawne's neck he found his body swinging downwards, and with his thighs planted firmly around Kerusey's face, he continued the arch in-between Kerusey's legs… momentum did the rest. Kerusey's mighty frame not only fell forward, it was flung, in a head-scissor take down.
Yawne got to his feet into a defensive pose, coughing harshly as he rubbed the red dots on his neck, and the crowd stared in confusion as their mighty leader was tossed aside like a ragdoll in the impromptu luchador wrestling move. Like a flash Kerusey was on his feet and charging the smaller Na'vi again. Yawne's eyes turned into orbs as he quickly side stepped and dove forward with heels baseball slide style to lock in pinion around Kerusey's shins, then flipping over forward and using his momentum to throw Kerusey in a heel drag takedown. Once more Kerusey found himself forcibly somersaulted forward. Yawne rolled to gain distance, catching his breath in a wet wheeze. Golden eyes whipped back and forth, seeing their great and mighty leader- the all powerful, recovering from the power of another who still stood. Again and again their heads swiveled, unable to comprehend… but somewhere, deep within, that command structure began to slightly raise it's eyebrow.
Kerusey lifted himself, shock hammering through the haze of his mind. Lost? Lost! He lost! Even in the slightest, this, attack on the pride and honor of the Nekxtskxe Lord redoubled his efforts and control. Fear now harnessed, for fear of seeming weak in front of his people, and the watching eyes of his ancestors. Kerusey slowly regained a small part of his senses. "…yyyyou…" he growled, the slur turning guttural. Yawne took a step back. Kerusey blinked, trying to clear his vision. He saw before him, a Na'vi like none he had seen before. One covered in scars, some as thick as his fingers; the white lines crisscrossed nearly every inch of his skin, like lightening across the sky and his skin itself was gray, like a storm cloud. Yet oddest of all, his loose and flowing hair: pure silver. "Ssssssssssilver hair." he hissed. Yawne narrowed his eyes, trying to keep watch on Kerusey and the crowd of white bodied Na'vi surrounding him. He stood out among them for these traits, like a storm cloud, but he was also marked traditionally in the fire touch; not masterfully, but ceremonially, the fire of the lands to cover the lights of his soul.
Before Kerusey, stood a traditional challenger. "Another challengessss me!" he snarled, mind thickly starting to clear and more and more control beginning to take hold.
Yawne shifted his eyes back and forth, he was guessing Kerusey meant Jake. It became obvious to him, something went wrong. Yawne frowned, "We did not come to harm you, but we need the burning stones badly, for the sake of all of us."
"You come, for my throne!" Kerusey said drunkenly, accusingly.
Yawne's brow wilted, "What? No, we do not! We seek only the fire stones and once we have them we shall leave these lands in peace!"
Kerusey finally stamped his foot, hard. "NO! No peace!" he violently pointed directly at Yawne, beginning to feel his body respond as a wave of euphoria filled his limbs with new life; but to the Nekxtskxe, euphoria was a combat high. "Your Olo'eytukan challenged me, ME! KERUSEY! Olo'eytukan of the Nekxtskxe! but you, YOU! Upstart in Nekxtskxe fire! You are Omaticaya, not Nekxtskxe, how dare you try to challenge me in the traditional flames! For this I shall find your king, I shall crush him, and if he flees, I will have won and the Nekxtskxe will march upon the Omaticaya and take what it rightfully ours!" he roared, echoed by the howl of the crowd. For Yawne, all was silence; it was apparent the Nekxtskxe were recovering from the fear- he could see it in the clearer, hungrier eyes- he couldn't let them descend upon Jake, not when it was obvious Jake had scattered them and needed more time to get the fire stones. Yet even if Yawne stalled them, the Nekxtskxe would clearly take this incident as an attack and by any excuse, wage war anew upon the Omaticaya… and they could not fight two wars at once.
His chest felt heavy as the words of stone rolled from his heart, "I am not Omaticaya…" Kerusey paused in his roar, glaring; the crowd quieted. "Though I have lived the best years of my life, free, and loved with them, I never became one of the people… I, I have always known I did not truly belong among them, or anywhere… but I would rather die for them a thousand times before I let you threaten them!" Yawne stomped his own foot, eye's sharp, fist pointed forward and silver hair flowing around him reflecting the light from the cave as living fire, "I, Yawne, challenge you Olo'eytukan Kerusey; for your throne, for your people, for the Nekxtskxe lands."