Justin is finally back, more or less, to conducting normal business at the 
Tower. Not that he ever conducted normal business before, but, hey, there's a 
frist time for everything. When last Mirai was through she mentioned that as 
the nominal leader of the Blades, he ought to make at least a token effort to 
know exactly who he was leading, as he's evidently become /quite/ out of 
touch. So... currently, he's at the center of a rather large, but visibly 
narrowing void in the crowd of the Grand Hall, attempting not to loo like a 
deranged and damaged killer on a hair trigger.

Razz stood closely beside Justin, despite her having near to no business with 
whatever he's doing, being nothing more than an elite student. Right now, the 
elf girl is trying the best she can to keep still and no show how uneasy she's 
feeling, admist the crowds of people.

Chastain sits quietly, watching the others. Being a newcomer, he deems it 
wisest to listen and remain silent.

Eladria looks at Justin, and hails him, walking closer.

Justin is just about managing not to frighten anyone off, but he isn't exactly 
doing all that well at joining conversation.  He needs someone a little more 
outgoing, more gregarious, someone like...  Woo.  The luck is still with 
him.  "Kiran, come on, introduce yerself.  There are still those here who 
think we're nothing but caster wusses in the Blades."

Razz asks: Caster wuss?

Chastain says: Effete magicians

Eladria roars his big dwarven laugh, and draws his sword. "HA! These children 
wouldn't know a warrior if one beat them with their rod!" He steps up to where 
Justin is, before bowing to Razz, and lightly kissing her hand.

Justin chuckles quietly.  "Technical term, yeah.  What tank morons like him 
call us magic-users."  The assembled students seem to be loosening up, if just 
slightly.

Razz jumped, and jerked back her hand, and stepped to hide behind Justin.

Eladria blinked at Razz, and shrugs. He winks at Justin. "Women," he said 
knowingly. He turns to the Blades and holds his sword high. "Who wants to test 
their magic against my steel? Who is so sure their power is the penultimate?"

Chastain laughs softly and says, "Most of us sorcerers start out using magic. 
Eventually, the magic uses us instead."

Justin puts a hand back, to take Razz's, and steady her, and gives Eladria a 
glance midway between apologetic and exasperated.  "Never let the power use 
you.  That's what you're here to /learn/, a little /control/... Chastain."

Chastain nods and digs a books of cantrips out of his bag.

Chastain flips through the book to a chapter on air cantrips and begins to 
study, occasionally muttering in elvish.

Justin takes a long look around the crowd, and almost sighs.  "I have this 
feeling nobody's going to take you up on your offer, 'ladria."  In perhaps a 
fidgety gesture, he steps to the side, and back, past Razz, to take a seat on 
the edge of the table.

Chastain looks up from his book and says, "I find that the experience of death 
and rebirth is vastly overrated.

Razz turned, following Justin, and took a seat beside him. There isn't much 
that she can do or say here, really, she's only here because Justin is.

Eladria shrugs. "Then how about you, fearless leader? Surely you're willingto 
show these children why you're the leader and I'm not, right?" He raiseshis 
eyebrows a bit.

Chastain sighs behind his book, "Eladria, do you not think that Justin has 
better things to do than play domination games?"

Justin looks a little worried about that.  "Ehh.  Now might not be the best of 
all possible times, Kiran.  I'm not sure I can guarantee your safety.  Or 
hers.  Or his," he indicates, Razz and Chastain, in turn.

Razz blinks.

Eladria sighs, and puts away the sword. "You sure have been a killjoy sinceyou 
and the little woman came back half dead and half naked."

Chastain puts down his book and says, "You need not worry for my safetly. 
Simply tell me the risks, and I shall decide for myself."

Chastain sits back in his chair and says, in Elvish, "Besides, risk as been a 
constant companion since the lady Thagirion sent me to spy on Onrac."

Justin sighs, heavily.  "Well.  's your funeral.  You'll excuse me, Razz?" He 
stands, stretches a bit, and puts a sword in his hand, gods only know from 
where.  "Alright."

Chastain asks: Well, we all have to attend one, right?

Razz looked to Chastain, confused when he started speaking in a foreign tongue.

Eladria looks at Justin. "If you're too tired, old man, we can do this later."

Chastain looks embarrassed and says, "Forgive me, Madam. I still have a 
tendency to lapse into my native tongue in mixed company."

Justin smirks, and with a bit of concentration and a syllable or two of chant, 
requests that the stone under Eladria's left foot go somewhere else for a 
while.

Razz nodded, and perked her ears up, listening intently to what Justin is 
doing.

Chastain reaches into his robes and pulls a slim silver case from up his 
sleeves. He flips it open and says, "Does anybody mind if I smoke?"

Eladria, his footing unsure, leaps back, sword drawn.

Chastain looks contemptuously at Eladria's sword, "Do you whip that out 
everytime you get nervous?"

Justin breaks into the sort of grin that makes people want to cover their 
necks, and advances a few steps.  "Chastain, please, don't distract him."

Chastain decides to put the cigarettes away since nobody has said anything. He 
nods at Justin and says, "All right."

Eladria spins his sword in both hands, moves forward, and strikes the ground 
with his sword. Ice falls from the heavens on to Justin!

Justin mutters.  More blows to the head, yay.  He supposes he'll just stand 
there until he thaws.  Not like there's much else he can do.  He begins a 
chant, though;  once he's got free action again, something heavy is gonna come 
down.

Razz turned to Chastain again. "What's happening?" the elf girl asked.

Chastain works his fingers beneath the table, as if he were weaving a cat's 
cradle without string. The air begins to heat as beads of water form on the 
ice encasing Justin.

Chastain ignores the elf girl's question, intent as he is on his sorcery...

Eladria rushes up to the Stunned Justin and swings wildly with his sword.

Chastain continues to exert his will as sweat begins to bead on the foreheads 
of all present and the ice continues to melt.

Justin frowns.  Dammit, Ela's hardly going to be impressed if he only loses 
through interference, so...  The melting ice shatters under the sword blow, 
and Justin crumples to the floor, letting the energy of the swing expend 
itself.  The last syllable of his spell leaves his lips, and a tiny pin 
materializes overhead, and rockets down towards Eladria.

Chastain ceases his casting as Justin frees himself, and mops the sweat from 
his forehead. He watches the battle...

Eladria looks at the pin, and moves to dodge, too late, and is struck bythe 
pin in his leg.

Razz frowned as the temperature in the room rose at a rapid rate. Wiping at 
the perspiration gathering on her forehead, she tugged at the collar of her 
robe and contined to listen in on the battle.

Justin sighs, quietly, and picks himself up from the dusty floor.  "Now then.  
I /really/ shouldn't have done that, I think."  He looks a shade paler (if 
that's possible).  He steps into Eladria's field of vision and 
salutes.  "Still game?  One blink for no, two for yes."

Eladria looks up at Justin, his legioldur twitching, and blinks twice, hard.

Razz nodded. apparantly Justin had paralyzed Eladria, somehow.

Chastain begins to concentrate, drawing upon the heat he had released into the 
room. The air chills, becoming crisp, as he gathers power for a healing spell. 
He raises his left hand towards Justin and releases the spell, driving healing 
energy into his body.

Justin looks none too happy with this choice.  "...as you wish, then."  He 
makes his sword vanish to wherever he got it from in the first place, and 
reaches a narrow hand out towards Eladria's head, and... pauses. "Chastain.  
Do not do that.  Please."

Chastain nods, "Sorry. I'll not do that again."

Razz blinked, wondering.

Chastain leans towards the girl and muttered, "Since he is our leader, I had 
tried to heal him."

Eladria seems to be moving, slightly, again, and bites at Justin's hand.

Razz turned her face towards Chastain, noting that the atomsphere     in the 
room has chilled. "He'll be okay," she replied.

Justin sighs quietly, something about meddling kids, and returns to whatever 
he was about to do to Eladria.  Better hurry, too, pin doesn't last too long.  
He snatches his hand away from the jaws of doom, and give the knight a shove 
at the shoulders, instead.  Love to see him catch his balance without use of 
his legs or arms.   Heehee.

Chastain nods and asks, "Did I make you uncomfortable?"

Razz blinked again. "Uncomfortable?" she asked. "Why?"

Chastain says: You were sweating before, and you just shivered.Eladria tips 
and falls, crashing loudly. By now, though, the pin has worn off, and Eladria 
gets back up, sword in hand.sayooc 's lips formed a small 'o' in 
comprehension. "That was you?"

Razz's lips formed a small 'o' in comprehension. "That was you?"

Justin's blade is in his hand again, and leveled at Kiran's 
face.  "Awww, /please/.  You used to mop the floor with me."  Hrm.  Methinks 
perhaps Justin's having a trifle too much fun with this.

Chastain blushes, slightly embarrassed, "Yes. I had tried to melt the ice 
encasing Justin discreetly, without conjuring a firebolt. So much for 
discretion, neh?"

Razz smiled slightly. "Mmhmm."

Eladria shakes his head. "So Aestus said earlier. I used to be much stronger, 
he said. Luckily, he was able to teach me a new trick."

Chastain pulls his case of cigarettes from his robe and offers one to Razz.

Razz heard some rustling and the opening of a box in front of her. Blinking, 
she turned down to face the box out of habit. "What's that?"

Chastain says: Cigarettes. Shredded tobacco rolled into slim paper tubes. 
They're often pleasant to smoke.

Justin wonders...  "What sort of trick?  Something that's miraculously going 
to turn the tide of this battle, no doubt.  Mind the coat, would you, this is 
a new one."

Chastain smiles and says, "It's a habit I picked up whilst living among humans 
in Coneria."

Razz blinked, recalling something she'd seen while she was still on her own. Curious, she nodded. "Okay."

Chastain gives her a cigarette and lights it for her with a snap of the 
fingers, "Just inhale slowly; take it easily."

Eladria chuckles. "It's just something that makes your magic worthless, that's 
all." He holds his sword up straight, and walks toward Justin.

Razz held the stick between her lips, and took a small puff. The result being 
her choking and nearly dropping the stick, hacking and coughing.

Justin grins.  "Oh.  Runic.  Mmh, I could've taught you that, all you'd've had 
to do was ask..."  Shifting the grip on his sword, abruptly, he steps in and 
flashes and feints in a dizzying pattern, circling ever closer.

Razz shook her head, and wiped a small trace of tears away from the corner of 
her eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't like it."

Chastain gently rubs the girl's back and says, "That's all right. It's an 
acquired taste."

Eladria walks closer, eyes visible through the steel close helm he wears.

Chastain gently takes the cigarette from her fingers and crushes it beneath 
his bootheel before offering a handkerchief.

Razz flinched from Chastain's touch, then looked apologetic. "I'm sorry... oh, 
thank you," she replied as she felt the handkerchief. "But it's okay."

Justin breaks from his whirling feint at what must seem an odd point, and 
brings the pommel of his sword down hard towards the back of Eladria's hand.

Chastain wonders for a moment why the girl flinched from his touch, and blames 
it on him being a near-stranger to her. He nods and slips the handkerchief 
back into his pocket.

Eladria swings his sword up, striking Justin's blade mid-strike.

Razz closed her eyes, concentrating on picking out sounds from Justin's battle.

Justin smiles sunnily, and brings a metal-plated knee up towards portions of 
the dwarf which were never meant to have knees thrown at them.

Chastain wonders if Eladria just got neutered...

Eladria is struck, hard, and winces. But he grits through the pain and throws 
a gauntlet-covered hand at Justin's face.

Justin is in no position to catch the blow, nor to avoid it entirely, but he 
can certainly take it somewhere other than swuare in the jaw.  His shoulder 
will do; he's good at bending with pressure.  And, having been layed out 
again, he takes the opportunity to hook one leg behind Kiran's, and line up a 
sweet kick on his knee with the other.

Eladria's knee gets knocked out from under him, but he isn't about to let this 
movement go to waste. He moves his sword to try to hit Justin on the way down.

Justin is tiring of this fight.  Luckily for him, he's completely insane, and 
has no compunctions at all about 'cheating the blade', as it were. Besides, 
there aren't any vital bits left there to wreck, and what's a little pain 
between old friends?  He doesn't even attempt to dodge the blow, gathering his 
power for other things.  It gashes his side, and scrapes to the stone floor, 
and he grasps the hilt with both hands and unloads some elemental force.

Chastain winces.

Razz's expression remains unchanged, as she saw nothing of the blade riding 
down Justin.

Eladria struggles to hold onto the sword, but instead has to let it go.

Justin once again picks himself up from the dusty, and now bloody ground, a 
little slower this time.  He kicks Eladria's sword to him, and bows.  "Call it 
a draw?"  He seems blissfully oblivious to the severe seepage on his left side.

Chastain looks from Justin to the elf girl and decides not to tell her what 
she missed.

Chastain seeing Justin bleeding, he tenses, knowing that this is going too 
far...

Eladria nods, and stands up.

Eladria offers Justin a hand up.

Justin reaches verticality, and salutes.  And... checkes his coat.  And 
smiles.  "You, sir, are so damn lucky you didn't put a hole in this." He turns 
to address the assembled crowd.  "Consider it demonstrated. ...Whatever we 
were demonstrating."  He scans the groups as he returns to the table;  A lot 
spread out, but obviously a lot more interested.  Those who are still there, 
anyways.  At least one student has fainted...  Oooh, just let /that/ get 
around.  Payback for Arkie.

Eladria picks up his sword, puts it awayEladria picks up his sword, puts it 
away, and sits down.

Razz turned to face Justin. "Are you cut?" she asked.

Razz asks: Where?

Chastain says: His side, where he took Eladria's blade.

Chastain begins to concentrate as he gathers power for a healing spell...

Justin shrugs.  "Nah, it's just a graze.  It's not even bleeding any more." 
Well, tell a lie, but, anyways, it's certainly not life-threatening.

Razz smiled at Chastain. "Thank you," the elf girl replied, then lowered her 
head and murmured, her hands becoming a bright, shimmering glow, and beat 
Chastain to the small treatment.

Chastain looks over the girl's work and nods, allowing the power he gathered 
to dissipate.

Chastain says: You're welcome, madam.

(Eladria and Chastain left at this point)

The doorway is suddenly shrouded in darkness. Standing in the doorway is a 
massive dmassive darkling, and behind him, apparently thousands more. It 
stepsforward into the crowd, slashing open several students, just before the 
rest of the hordes tries to fit in the doorway at once.

Razz's ears perked up, and she turned sharply to face the sudden screams of 
horror and agonizing pain.

Razz exclaims: What happened?!

Justin ... coughs.  Oh man oh man.  This is just great.  "...damned if I 
know.  You see to the wounded."  He draws blade and steps in, setting up to 
make life difficult for the demon hordes.

Darkling exclaims: Ha! You foolish children shall fall before the hordes of 
the Lord of Pain!

Justin does not exclaim, merely states, "Ha.  You hordes shall fall before we 
foolish children, who were apparently too much for His Lordship to handle on 
his own."

Razz blinked, and navigated her way to the cries of panic and pain. Calling 
onto white magic, she started a mass healing spell to patch the wounded up 
quickly.

Hundreds of darklings swarm into the hall, breaking the opening in the wallas 
they scramble through. The lead darkling lunges forward, but not toward 
Justin, at all, but for Razz. . .

Razz had barely been able to heal more than a couple students before chaos 
overwhelmed whatever little order that was left of the hall. Alert, the elf 
girl spotted sounds of... whatever those things are... coming towards her.

Justin has dealt with the likes of these before.  Last in Dreylan's employ, 
though...  down on their luck, are they?  One thing he does know, they're 
certainly not immune to a sword in the back.  If only he's fast enough.

Razz is not unskilled in the practice of white magic, no. A defensive shield 
flashed into existance around her, and Razz hoped that she wouldn't be ran 
over by any of the panicking students.

The lead darkling presses forward, pushing against he shield, as other 
darklings swarm into the hall. Most seem to be pressing in Razz's direction, 
though a couple and mopping up panicing students.

Justin begins to show a hint of that same grin he had before.  The first 
darkling dumb enough not to leave his path gets its head half-cleaved, and a 
searing storm of holy flame for its troubles.  "Razz!  Sanctify?"

Razz closed her eyes in concentration, and noted that there were no longer any 
more students around in a close distance. A great wave of blazing flames 
quickly swept over the darklings that were pressed up against the shield, 
scorching their bodies and melting their bones.

Scores of darklings go down, screaming in pain, but more continue to press in, 
taking their fallen comrades' places.

Razz chanted, and another flare of holy flames decimated the darklings 
surround her. "Where are you?!" she hollered.

More waves of Darklings fall, but they are falling closer and closer to Razz. 
So far, over a thousand Darklings have entered the hall, destroyed what was 
there. . .

Justin gives another darkling a taste of steel, and reaches the periphery of 
Razz's shield.  "Razz!  This way!  We have to get you out of here!"

Razz ran to Justin, grabbing hold of his arm.

Scores more darklings move to surround the duo, pressing in on them fast 
asthey can.

Justin isn't messing around here.  No time to lead carefully; he takes a solid 
hold of Razz's arm, draws his blade back, and releases a blast of elemental 
force, levelling one hordling, and immediately dashes for the vacant spot, 
hauling Razz behind him.

Razz held onto Justin's arm for dear life, running closely behind him. A 
darkling swiped at her, but only managed to catch a corner of her robe, which 
tore off, thankfully. Razz felt cold sweat breaking out over herself, but she 
kept going without a word.

More darklings dive toward Razz and Justin, tearing at their clothes and 
bodies.

Justin scrapes to a halt in a momentary clearing in the thicket of bodies, and 
musters his energy.  Heat begins to build, and a hissing droplet of red rain 
falls from nowhere onto the back of his hand, and then a downpour of liquid 
fire opens up, briefly, across the whole of the hall.

The darklings scream out in pain, charging forward in a last effort to stop 
the rain from falling.

Razz shut her eyes as the shrill screams of the assaulting creatures attacked 
her senses of hearing, but she never relented her grasp on Justin.

Justin could give two shifts and a fork less whether they stop the rain 
falling or not, /there/'s that opening they need.  He jerks Razz in front of 
him-- a bit roughly, he'll apologize when they're safe--, drops his sword, 
picks her up, and sprints for the window.

Razz wrapped her arms around Justin's neck without question, and braced 
herself from whatever that Justin is about to do.

The darklings howl and chase after the couple.

Justin pulls out the energy for the final sprint from... somewhere, and makes 
it to the window.  He takes a tighter hold of Razz, and...  Up, through the 
window, twist, and...  the landing isn't too bad; it's only a half-storey 
drop. Hopefully he managed to break Razz's fall sufficiently.

Razz tightened her hold on Justin when they started falling through air, her 
heart pounding, and suddenly there was an odd twist in her belly.... A 
small 'oof' was all the sound that Razz made in their landing.

Justin uncurls, after a moment, and takes some time getting his breath 
back. "...Are...they coming?"

Darklings, still screaming from the rain start pouring out of the window.

Razz's lips twisted into a sour smile. "I think so..."

Justin has a lot more he can throw at them, though, now that he's outside, 
and, er, in his elements, so to speak.  But, perhaps the best thing to do is 
get away from the Tower before either he knocks it down or they do.

Justin leaves west.

(they run around the forest)

The shadows around you start to rise from the ground as a Darkling takes form nearby.

Darklings crash through the trees, making plenty of noise.

Razz bit down on her lips as she suddenly doubled over, a sharp cramp twisting 
in her belly.

Justin skids to a halt, and circles back around to put himself between Razz 
and the demons.  Goddamnit, no good, no good.  "Razz!  What is it?"

Razz dragged out her response between clenched teeth. "My stomach... it 
hurts...." she clutched a hand over where her womb is, and forced herself to 
stand up. "It's okay, I can go on..."

The roar of Darklings are getting louder now, and closer. They're 
probablyright behind you.

Justin squeezes his eyes shut a moment.  God damn it /all/.  "Okay.  We've got 
to keep moving.  Come on."  He takes her by the arm again, and tries to find 
another path south.

What sounds like an army, a massive host of darklings, is searching the 
forest. A familiar, almost human voice is shouting. "Spread out! Quickly! 
Bring the girl to me! The man is yours, but the girl most go unharmed!" 

Razz nodded, and held onto Justin, following him the best she can. Beads of 
sweat rolled down her chin.

The hordes scream, louder! They're almost on top of you both!

Justin stumbles to a halt.  Screw it, they can't run forever.  "Razz?  Can you 
shield yourself?"

Some of the trees nearby seem to be moving more than they should be. . .

Razz nodded, panting, then swallowed. "I think so."

Justin nods, likewise.  "Do it.  This is going to be intense."  Thus saying, 
he stops, lets go of her, takes a few steps away, and begins.

The nearest trees, in this impromptu clearing, start to quake, as they are 
ripped clear from the ground. Surrounding you both, the horde begins a victory 
howl, and advances in traditional villanous slowness toward you.

Justin grins, grimly, and... lets it loose.  No shaping, no control, barely 
any direction, he's just channeling the raw elemental power of the forest.  
And the forest is none to happy about having its trees and grounds hacked up 
by hordlings, it seems.  Pity them.  They're not going to be enjoying this.

Razz called up the strongest shield that she could manage, at this point. It's 
hard to concentrate though... she's in so much pain...

The darklings are falling like flies, but more and more keep flooding the 
area, diving for Razz.

Justin is the sole limiting factor, here, in the assault on the darklings. As 
long as /he/ holds out, there's plenty of elemental power here. He's going to 
burn through long before he exhausts it.

The darkling hordes continue to be mowed down, as fast as they are created.

The drizzle stops, but the clouds stay.

The overwhelming numbers of darklings mount their fallen brethern for a faster 
route to Justin. The tumble over and over, until one finally strikes him, 
ending the elemental display. One grabs him, and holds him up, as the others 
are about to rip him to shreds.

Razz could not see what was happening, but she knows that something's wrong, 
very wrong. "Justin? Justin!" she cried out, and when no reply came, started 
carrying out a plan that she had been formulating. Pulling out a dagger from 
the folds of her robe, Razz raised it to her belly and screamed. "Crulath!!! I 
know you can hear me! Stop or I'll stab myself in the stomach right now!" To 
demostrate her point, she clenched her teeth and sliced across her stomach, 
and the robe fell open, revealing bare skin with traces of blood seeping out.



The darklings freeze. All of them. The lead darkling walks up to Razz, and 
shifts form, to Crulath.

Crulath exclaims: Stop!!

Razz's eyes took on a near hysterical light as she turned to face who she know 
is Crualth. Trembling with fear, she pressed the tip of the dagger to her 
stomach. "No, YOU stop! Stay away!" she screamed.

Crulath stops in his tracks. "All right. I'm not coming any closer. Let's make 
a deal, here. You want Justin unharmed, I want the child unharmed."

Razz ran, quickly to Justin's side, where she remembered him last. She found 
him, and lifted up his head, holding it with one free arm. "STAY AWAY," she 
growled, her eyes wide and unfocused, producing an eerie effect.

Crulath looks at the darklings, and the back up. "I can strike him down, Razz. 
If you push me, I will. I can shred his soul. But there IS a way to stop 
that. . ."

Razz's face twisted into a frightening snarl. "You wouldn't, because you know 
that if you do, I will make sure that there's nothing left to save 
Delel."

Crulath chuckles. "And if you make sure there's nothing to save Delel, 
I will do that. So you can see, we're at an impass."

Razz hissed, and held Justin's head closer. "I want you to stay away," she 
growled again, an almost savage looking coming into her face.

Crulath looks at Razz, and ponders for a moment.

Crulath disappears for a moment, and returns bearing Runic Ore

Now adequately protected he looks down at Razz. "Here's what we're going to 
do. I will heal Justin, and leave him here, under a temporary paralysis 
poison. You come with me, until the child is born."

Crulath says: Then I reunite you both, and I never see you again.

Razz shook her head violently. "NO, you leave me and Justin alone, and we go 
back to the tower and heal ourselves."

Crulath says: I don't think so. Let you kill the child at your leisure? Not a 
chance.

Razz hissed again. "Why would I want to kill my own child if you're not 
threatening our lives?"

Crulath asks: You expect me to believe that you will truly care for the child 
of your rape?

Razz was filled with blinding rage at the mention of the child's origin, tears 
of fury splashed down her flushed cheeks as she pressed the knife down to her 
stomach even harder than she had before. "I HATE YOU!" she 
screamed. "Leave /now/ or there will be no child!! I MEAN IT!"

Crulath looks at her, and recognizes her desperation. "I am attuned to the 
child. Should anything happen to it... I will destroy both of you instantly!"

Crulath growls and disappears, the darklings disappearing with him.

Razz trembled violently, gasping, choking with tears of rage and suffering. 
The hand that had been holding the knife spasmed, but she dared not put down 
the knife, fearing, guarding.

Justin feels, somewhere deep down, and in a very abstract manner, happy for 
having torched himself holding off the Darklings.  He now has a very good idea 
of what the Power must do to Razz every time it uses her.  Hey, for a little 
while there he was even blind.  Or maybe just face-down in the dirt.  He 
really has no idea.  His mind is the only thing working, and thus his limited 
psi sense is the only sense he has, and all he can hear with that is Razz's 
distress.

Razz didn't know how long she's been sitting, strung like a bow, trembling and 
shivering from fear and desperation. She still has the knife pressed to her 
stomach, fearing that Crulath might return any moment. "J, Justin?" the young 
elf asked, almost pleading.

Justin still isn't hearing, and is barely seeing, and HOO GOD don't let's get 
started on talking, but he appears to be getting sensation back in his limbs.  
Only a good thing in that it shows they aren't dead.  However, they hurt 
enough that he about wishes they were.  He manages, with what seems to him a 
monumental spasm of effort, to roll on his side and assume fetal position.

Razz took a deep, shuddering breath, and chanted with her teeth chattering so 
hard that it's hurting her jaw. Placing a glowing hand over Justin, she 
started healing him as fast as she could in her shaken state... with the knife 
still sticking against her stomach.

The rain worsens, and its becoming a bad storm.

Justin shakes, slightly, in the sudden downpour, but it feels good on his 
scorched-seeming flesh.  With Razz's help, he can almost move again, and the 
first thing he does is take hold of her hand.  The one with the knife.

Razz emitted a small scream, and tried to jerk the hand out of Justin's grasp.

Justin jerks his own hand away almost simultaneously, but reaches for the hand 
with the knife again.  Not graspingly, this time, though, not at all.

Razz , strung as she is, realized that it was Justin who was reaching out to 
her hand. This time, she allowed him to take her hand, but did not relent her 
grip on the knife. "Justin?" she asked again, an edge of hopefulness tinting 
her question.

Justin makes a rather valiant, if unsuccessful, attempt to push himself to a 
sitting position.  "Aaaaaaaghhhhhhh...  I know /exactly/ how you've felt."

Razz reached behind Justin to support him, and, being high-strung, completely 
missed Justin's meaning. "What?" she asked, her voice still a bit shaky.

The rain becomes even harder, and is a driving storm.

Justin's reply is lost in a hiss of pain, and by the time it clears he doesn't 
really have any better idea of what he said than Razz does. "...what?  No, 
nevermind.  Where are we, and do you think there's anything resembling shelter 
around?"

Razz shook her head, the rain plastering her hair against her face. "I don't-" 
suddenly her words were wraped abruptly into a wrecking sob, and her shoulders 
dropped, and her hold on the knife laxed, and the relief of tension in her was 
so sudden that she could not help but tremble and wail.

Justin takes this opportunity to get the knife away from Razz, first.  And, 
taking a long look around, he can just about make out that they're in the 
forest, and it's the middle of the night, and it's a rainstorm.  Really 
helpful.  He should've payed more attention when they were fleeing.  God, he 
really hopes Razz is okay.  That isn't... aw, crud, yeah it is her 
blood.  "What happened?"

The storm thunders one last time, and seems to abate, as though the 
knife'sremoval appeased some twisted god.

Razz gasped for breath, choking a bit. "I - you, I think the demons were going 
to kill you, an-and so I held up a knife to my stomach and told Crulath that 
I'll stab myself if he doesn't go away."

Justin blinks.  "That's...  you aren'--" Wait, that's her blood on his hand, 
and her hand, and the knife, so obviously she is serious.  But... "That much 
sacrifice?  I'm hardly worth it." 

Razz's lips parted, and she looked very lost. "Why aren't you worth it?" she 
asked.

The rain lets up a bit, and becomes a drizzle.

Justin almost shrugs.  "I'm...  I don't know.  I'm not such an important 
person that you should risk your child's life, and your own, just for me.  I 
don't matter so much that I'm worth both of your lives."

Razz could feel the last of her tears leaking down her wet face as she 
spoke. "What are you talking about? How can you say that you're not important? 
Didn't you tell me that when you love, you can only love a few people?" Fresh 
tears started welling up in her eyes again as she cried. "I love you! You're 
the only one! What am I suppose to do without you?! I don't want to go back to 
the time when I was alone! Who's going to hold me and protect me? Who's going 
to be with me when I'm alone and scared? Who's going to be with me and guide 
when I don't know what in the world I'm suppose to do?" The young elf covered 
her face with her hands and sobbed. "What part of that don't you understand?!"

Justin never did anything to deserve to get hit with this much pain and grief 
all at once, so help him.  He doesn't even have the strength to put his arms 
around her, or the breath to even begin a reply...  He sags forward, into 
Razz, on the verge of tears himself.

Razz sat, with her knees spread and her feet behind her, and supported Justin 
as he fell on her. Sobbing quietly, she laid her head on Justin's shoulder, 
and remained still, not having the strength to say or do anymore.

In the mud surrounding the both of them, a runic circle is inscribed, asthough 
by an invisible hand. Someone doesn't want them disturbed.