[Under the Colony]
After falling through the rotten floorboards of cabin number eight, Rylan lands hard on his back amist dust and the bones of the long-since dead.
Horrified, he quickly scrambled to his feet, rubbing his back gingerly. "What the....." the words died in his throat, afraid that he would tip off whatever had left the bones here, as his ears strain to pick up any sound.
Hearing nothing but silence after awhile, Rylan stumbles over the ankle-deep pile of Rihan bones, searching for the equipment bags that had fallen with him. Finding them both, he frantically searches through them for a light-rod. "Fvadt!!" his arms slump down to his sides in defeat. Glancing upwards, he could see the light coming through the hole of the floor he had fallen through, but he couldn't reach it from where he stood, nor could he climb the earthen walls around him.
"Well....I must be in io of those tunnels that the Dae'hfir had told us about." Rylan unknowingly thought outloud. "The place where the colonists hide away from the monsters....maybe this is just a...." he gulped at the thought, "....a graveyard of sorts. If I keep moving, I may find somebody further down the tunnel." It was that thought that made him pick the bags up again and cautiously head off.
After ten minutes of walking through the near total darkness of the phosperiecent earthen walls, the only signs that Rylan found that anyone had lived down here at all were the piles of bones he had landed in, and some five badly decomposing bodies that looked to have been cut apart with somekind of sword. Whatever had happened down here....looked to have happened some time ago. More than likely, he was alone down here....the remaining colonists must have abandoned this tunnel, and built themselves another somewhere.
Now more concerned with finding a way out of the tunnels, then worried that any thing nasty was down here, Rylan continued his underground hike. After rounding a bend in the tunnel he traveled, he came rather unexpectedly upon an entrance to a room. Peering cautiously into the room beyond the tunnel, was a slender, youthful man, dressed in a dark crimson cape, and what almost looked like a black armour covering the rest of his body. The man sat casually, drinking from a wineglass upon an elaborately carved golden-hued throne, one leg tossed carelessly over one of the padded arms of the seat.
Rylan pulls himself back into the shadows, his eyes searching for a way that would offer him a way around the holowed out chamber of the tunnel without being noticed by the stranger relaxing leisurely on the throne. He raises a brow, as he looks at the nobel-looking man. There was almost something.....familiar about the man, but Rylan couldn't put his finger on it. Though his curiosity is peaked by this, Rylan doesn't step forward or say a word, he just readies the weapon in his hand.
Calmly, as if knowing that the boy has been there all along, the well dressed young man speaks while running a finger around the rim of the wineglass, not even bothering to look up in Rylan's direction. "May I help au?" His tone is one of sheer boredom, then he suddenly sits up, leaning slightly forward, and calls out cheerfully enough. "Au know, it's na very nice to just come walking into a guy's room without even knocking! Really!" the young man scoffs, "That's just rude!"
Rylan hangs his head for a minute, feeling like an idiot, as he had believed himself to be as quiet as possible. He shrugs and sighs, "Well....we can start with who au are...and what au'rh doing here....and what the Areinnye is going on. That might help." Rylan smirks, but still doesn't step forward from the shadows.
The young man took a sip from his wineglass, then tapped his lip in thought, "Hmm....What is going on...." he mused outloud, "Well it all started a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....."
Rylan rolls his eyes, and leans up against the earthen wall, bracing himself for a long-winded tale, "Forget the speech..." he grumbled back, "I meant what's going on with the planet." he continues flatly, "Why don't we start with ninte name?"
"My name?" the young man begins from his throne, "I am...." and in a blink, the man stood directly in front of Rylan, "....Valak." He raised his wineglass in salute to Rylan, smiling at having startled the boy.
Rylan scrambles back, immediately raising the disruptor, aiming it at Valak's head. "Want to back up a bit and take it a little more slowly, friend?"
Valak sips from his drink again before answering, "Na need for that." he waves his free hand in indication of the weapon. "Au would not want to make a stupid mistake." he smiles, "Now why dont au put that gun away, and save it for Klingons, or what have au?"
Rylan smirks at that, and nods his head once, "I think au'll be the io makeing the mistake if au don't start backing up buddy. Na io can move that fast...au'rh an "it". I'm na about to lower this weapon."
"Okay then..." Valak waves his hand again and the gun is ripped free of Rylan's grip. It hurls itself through the air, and hits the wall behind Valak. "There. Much better." He smiles again to the confused boy, and takes on an almost paternal tone, "Nasty things those disruptors. Put somebody's eye out."
Rylan sighs, and brings his eyes back from his rebellious weapon to the man before him, "Alright....obviously au want to talk..." then thinks silently on the heels of this, 'or I would've been dead by now...' Rylan shrugs once again, and continues outloud, "So talk. Got ninte name....now what are au doing here?" he gestures at the surroundings, "This used to be occupied by those of the colony that went into hiding. Did au kill all those people then?"
"Na." Valak shakes his head and explains in all seriousness, "That was na my handy work. But I would na want to mess with the io who did." he smiles once more to the boy, "Would au like a drink? Or soemthing to eat? Or a skull, perhaps?" He holds out a skull that suddenly materialized in the palm of his hand, offering it to the baffled boy.
Rylan raises a brow as he looks at the skull. He shakes his head and tries to smile, wondering what the Areinnye was going on. One minute the man was as friendly as one could hope, the next he pulled somekind of bizarre magic trick! "Na..." Rylan answered after a silent moment, "I don't need the skull.....I have my own." he smirks at that, "Hann'yyo for the thought, anyway." He nods in agreement of the man's first offer as he rubs his aching head, "I could do with that drink though...Hann'yyo." he smiles back a little wearily.
"Then let's go get that drink! This way...." The man steps into the shadows of the room and promptly shows up in the far corner on the other side.
Rylan looks surprised at the display of teleportation then chuckles and walks into the room cautiously "'Fraid it's gonna' take me a little longer to get there....." he jokes, the passing thought as to whether he was next going to be treated to seeing the man pull a Rharit out of a hat, occured to him.
When Rylan crosses to the other corner of the room, and steps into the shadows beyond, he finds himself in a different room altogether. There's a bar along one wall, were Valak was currently standing behind, and a long dinning table in the center. Large, odd paintings cover the walls. Most of the paintings are of people dancing in odd places, like in a graveyard...or even in space itself. Rylan heads towards the bar, passing a curious eye over the paintings. For some reason he can't quite put his finger on, they make him feel rather unsettled, but out of polietness he comments neutrally, "Interesting conceptual art....who're they done by?"
"Funny paintings, aren't they?" Valak hands him a wineglass with the same green colored wine in it as the one he is drinking, "There you go. Now drink and be merry!" He raises his own glass in salute as he comes from around the bar.
"Hann'yyo." Rylan nods quietly as he takes the glass, but he doesn't sample the wine as he's still curious, "Au never said what au'rh doing down here....Valak." he looks at the man questioningly.
"What are any of us really doing here?" he smiles, "Is that na what we are constaintly asking our selves?" Valak pauses to take a long drink from his own glass, "Ahhhh... good stuff." he annouces appreciatively.
Rylan had almost drunk from the glass, as the man had answered his earlier question, but then lowers it instead, "Ie....well...I know what I'm doing here. So...na I don't ask myself that question at all." he smirks, "But obviously au have asked ninte-self that question....so what was ninte answer?"
"Au ask too many questions young Rylan."
Rylan looks startled a moment then shakes his head, setting the glass down on the bar, "I never told au my name, Valak." he begins levelly, "I don't exactly like the thought of just any io.... especially those I don't know at all...using my first name. Bad form that."
"Okay Rylan.....so you dont like it. But how about D'Tarik or...... Llunih?" he says her name oddly, like the name itself left a bad taste in his mouth.
This was not lost on Rylan, and he answered levelly, trying to keep the anger from his voice, "D'Tarik is a friend of mine. He's aefvadh to use my name. I freely gave him that privelege. And as for Llunih...." a note of warning had crept into his tone, "I don't really see what concern she is to au."
Valak nodded at this, as if in agreement, "Werewolves don't get along with my kind too much." he sets his empty wineglass down on the bar next to Rylan's as he speaks, then before the boy could ask what he ment he cheerfully interjects, "Hey!! Let's test your reflexes!" a kalen suddenly appears in his hands and he throws it right at Rylan's head.
Rylan, used to drunkards in bars -- Areinnye, his old man had been a drunkard who would occasionally pull stunts like that -- dodges the kalen easily enough then 'sweeps' Valak, causeing the man to fall to the floor. Rylan smirks triamphantly, "Better than ninte own it would appear. He shakes his head, still grinning, and offers his hand to help him up, "Come on Valak....just tell me what au'rh doing here....what's so hard about that?"
Valak's eyes suddenly burn like fire, and with unmatched speed he jumps up and grabs Rylan by his throat. In a chilling voice that rumbled and growled like no animal that Rylan had ever heard before, Valak roared, "I think *na* boy!" Then in a flash Valak is gone and Rylan falls to the floor.
That last outburst brought the shakes to Rylan, as he nerviously casts his eyes around the room searching for his attacker. Slowly he stands and brushes himself off. Inching slowly closer towards the door, he calls out nerviously to the walls around him, "Uh...sorry if that upset au...but au were the io who threw the kalen at me...remember? I *am* Galae....I was trained to do that..."
Seemingly from nowhere Valak's sarcastic voice is heard, "Yeah, sorry about that, but I don't like being tripped all that much." with the end of this statement, Valak suddenly appears in front of Rylan, and he kicks the boy across the face, sending the boy back to the ground.
Rylan scrambles back to his feet again, as he wipes the blood from his battered nose. He takes on a martial-art stance, "Alright now..." he spits the blood in his mouth onto the floor, "All I did was ask a question....and au pick a fight." He grins nerviously, knowing he's na going to win this without the disruptor, "Now...Is that any way for a host to act towards a guest? Weren't au taught *manners* in monster-school?"
"Oh....'monster school'!" Valak grins back, "I have to remember that io." then suddenly he unleashes a combo of three punches at Rylan.
The two that didn't get blocked felt like Rylan had been hit with a sack of bricks! Realizing he has been herded back towards the bar by the attack, Rylan snatches up his untouched drink and throws it in Valak's face, momentarily blinding him. Rylan's hands snake out, grabbing a barstool and hits his attacker across the face with the metal seat, bringing him down.
Full of fury, he hits Valak over the head and makes a break for the next room where the disruptor lies. He had managed to get back to the room that contained the golden throan again, before Rylan felt a blast of cold air. He notices a trail of green blood leading up to his gun......which is now held by Valak.Rylan screeches to a halt, bringing up a cloud of dust from the dirt floor at the threat that stood before him, "Ah.....hnave!!"
"Now dance!" Valak laughs insanely, and shoots at Rylans feet. Instantly, Rylan turns and runs out the other open tunnel leading out of the room, hoping the clip depleats itself quickly without hitting him. Valak frowns at his game being halted so soon, and he stops stooting, breaking the weapon in two, "I said dance, fvadt au!!" With a gesture of his hand, he forces Rylan to the ground.
Rylan hits the ground hard with a startled "Ooph!" then he tries to get up, but can't. He spits out the dust and blood from his mouth, before grinning nerviously again, "Alright....I get it now...uh huh...Au'rh all powerful.....and I'm obviously na going to win here....and all that..." then adds hopefully, "Can I get up now?"
"Now what would be the fun in that I ask au?" Valak smirks in answer.
Rylan can feel the unseen force against him getting stronger, pushing him more into the ground, making him think for a radom moment of being in somekind of wine-press. He squirms a bit, though he can't move at all. "Did I offend au somehow?" he smiles, "I mean...we were going to have a drink.... conversation.... au threw a kalen at me...." he almost laughs at that, "What happened?" his brow rises as the thought occurred to him for the first time, "Au'rh crazy, aren't au? A real psychotic!" he squirms a bit more, but still can't get away as he finishes sarcastically, "Great!!" Rylan sighs, and tries to reason with the guy, though his chances of that were looking mighty slim, "Alright....were's the fun if ninte victim is helpless, eh? Where's the challenge in that? Na very sporting of au, really."
"Flattery will get you nowhere. In fact...." Valak smiles as the unseen weight on Rylan becomes greater, the sound of the helpless boy's bones beginning to strain under the weight becomes audible. "Au see.... I have plan." Valak continued, oblivious to the pain that Rylan was experiencing, "In fact, I know that the main part of my plan is on her way now."
Despite the pain, Rylan was still trying to see the humor in his unfortunate situation, "*Her*?! All this...for a date?! Au've got to be kidding!!"
"Na a date Well..." Valak looks up, thinking, "Na...a date with her would turn out bad for io of us." he smiles maliciously.
Though it's hard to speak, he just has to know, "So....who's the special lady? Any io I know?"
"Ie, it is!" Valak said cheerfully, "In fact, au seem to dislike her a good.....hey!" he grins, "Let's see some more blood." He makes the force much greater on the poor boy then laughs, "Oh! This is way too much fun!"
Rylan almost passes out, but suddenly laughs instead even though it's hard to breath and he's in exquisit pain by now. "Au've got to be kidding! It's Bhy'Hie, isn't it! he grins again as a rib punctures one of his lungs. By this time, Rylan pretty much figured that's he's going to die anyway...so he thought, 'What the Areinnye!' and continued, "Au'rh a real idiot, au know that?" he laughs again, "Byh'hie's na going to come here because of me. She *hates* me! She couldn't care less!" he grins widely, blood trickling in a steady stream from his mouth, "Kill me....she'll never know that au'rh here. And she won't come into the colony. Na for anything." he warned the monster, "She almost killed me because I wanted to come here in the first place and drag her along. Au'rh never going to get her here."
Just as Rylan finishes this brave -- albeit hysterical-- speech, an arrow sails by Valak's head. He turns his attention to the cause of this rather rude interruption, and sees Bhy'hie standing in the doorway holding a fancy-looking crossbow and smirking. "Rylan... au'rh way too quick to judge people, au know that?"
Rylan gives her a 'it's about freakin time' look and barely manages to speak under the unseen weight, "Oh come on! I'm being pressed to death here by freak of the day! I had to figure out *some way* to get out of it, didn't I?!"
Valak happily bows slightly to the newcomer, "Byh'hie! Aefavdh to the party!" he grins, and adds in warning, "Now don't move, or I kill ninte little boyfriend's buddy."
"Look au fvadt vamp...don't mess with my friends!" Bhy'hie angerly retorts.Feeling yet another rib give way with a crack, Rylan groans sofly then manages, "Na to interrupt or anything...but lightening up a bit would be good...."
"But that's half the fun of all this...." Valak replies to the girl in a mock hurt tone, completely ignoring Rylan, "and au know I don't like being called 'vamp'!" He suddenly moves his hand, and one of Rylan's legs is pulled into the air at Valak's gesture. Without warning, the bone of Rylan's leg suddenly snaps harshly. Rylan bites down on his lip hard enough to draw blood, but keeps from yelling out in pain. But that was about all of it he could take for one day, and he passes out altogether. "Oh..." Valak shakes his head at this, feighning disappointment and addresses Bhy'hie without looking at her, "Now see what au made me do."
As Valak is admiring his handy work, the blond rushes him, knocking him down hard, causing him to relase Rylan from his power -- though it was a little late for that. Valak pushes the girl off him with ease, and Bhy'hie immediately stands, aiming the loaded crossbow levelly at Valak's heart, and fires. Valak holds up his arm in front of his left side just in time as the arrow sinks itself through it, and not where the girl had intended it to go. "Nice shot babe." he grins, pulling the arrow out of his forearm easily enough, and casts it aside, "Now it's my turn." Valak charges her at full speed, only to jump over head and land behind her. Before Bhy'hie had time to react, he tripped her, sending her to the ground. The girl turns over, intending to spring back on her feet again, but Valak brings his elbow down hard on her stomach. "Now this is a good fight!" he pronouces cheerfully, seeming to love every minute of it
.
Bhy'hie grabs him by the ears, and head-butts him one, breaking the vamp's nose. At the same instant, she brings her knee up, kicking him between the legs, and lifting him in the air. Valak is thrown over her head where he lands on his back hard enough to pull up a cloud of dust. Bhy'hie springs to her feet, already prepared for the next round, "Ie...I'm kicking au'rh ahz Valak!" the girl grins maliciously, tossing her blond hair over her shoulder as the vamp gets to it's feet, "I'd say that this was a fvadt good fight!"
"Na...." he whispers, answering her with a grin of his own. Gathering all his power he holds his hand out in front of him, and charges her at full speed; raming his fist so hard into her stomach it cuts through her like a sword. Holding the back of her neck, forcing her to look at him, he smiles, looking into her eyes. "I win."
Bhy'hie's own smile doesn't die, even though blood drips from her mouth as she whispers her answer, "Na...I still win...." silently, her hand wraps around a steak hidden inside her jacket pocket. Lightening quick, she stabs him in the left side with such force that only two inches of the widest part of the steak can be seen from the wound -- the rest is sticking out his back, dripping green blood, and bits of his heart.
A soft, almost sad smile comes to Valak's face, as he whispers to her, "Don't forget to wipe ninte feet before au leave....." and suddenly the vamp disappears, only a pile of dust on the floor remains behind.Bhy'hie sinks to the floor on her knees clutching her stomach, trying to stop the blood flow; then falls face first to the ground.
[a few moments later...]
Having grown concerned with the wait, D'Tarik walks down the tunnel holding a glow rod. "Rylan? Bhy'hie?" he calls out cautiously, "Au guys still down here? I know I was told to wait but I got worried." he continues walking into the room, and freezes, taking in the sight of Bhy'hie on the floor, green blood pooling around her. He runs over and kneels by her side.
Bhy'hie is pale and silent. Still breathing...but bleeding profusely from the wound. Casting a look over to his fallen friend, D'Tarik whispers frightened, "My word...what the Areinnye happened here?" he reaches into one of the many pockets of his labcoat and pulls out an amionia capsule.
"Here Sprink," he passes the capsule into the Tribble's claw, "Go wave that in Rylan's face." The Tribble scampers off, and D'Tarik goes to work on Bhy'hie, desperately trying to seal off the lethal wound, using his own highly specialized medical equipment.
Sprink hops up on Rylan's chest and waves the capsule under his nose. Rylan groans at first, but then comes to, and sees what's sitting on him. "AHHHHH!!!" Brushing the Tribble off him hastily, he sees D'Tarik and tries to crawl over -- with broken leg, ribs and all -- then sees the girl. D'Tarik is almost crying, working as fast as he's able on the still form of Bhy'hie.
He keeps checking her pulse occasionally, growing closer to having the wound sealed. "She gonna' be alright?" Rylan finally manages to croak out hoarsly.
"I don't know if she is going to make it, Rylan." the boy answers worriedly, "I don't have the right equipment here for this kind of work. But moveing her will make things worse." He looks to his friend, and sees the pain on Rylan's face. "Here use this..." he reaches into his pockets then hands him the now-familiar bone knitter.
Rylan accepts the pro-offered device, then smiles weakly, his mouth still trickling blood, "I don't think this is gonna' help me much. I think I went ahead and punctured a lung." he almost laughs at that, but the pain killed the humor in him instantly.
D'Tarik nods, reaching back into the labcoat, he hands off two long, thin metal devices to Rylan, still keeping his furious pace on Bhy'hie's own wound. "Use these....attach them to your ribs, they'll pull the bone straight and knit it, as well as repair the lung tissue."
Rylan doesn't question, instead he takes the equipment with a half-whispered hann'yyo, and does as instructed. "What kind of equipment do au need for her?" he asks as he works, "Maybe I can go and find something suitable....or make it."
"What I need, au you will find in big medical bays on ships." D'Tarik answers, "She needs to be placed in a biobed."
Rylan nods, "Au'll have to ask the Senator then....he's the only io with a ship anywhere around here." then he sighed with the realization, "But, he doesn't know where we are. He'll be expecting us back at the cabin."
"Rylan..." the shorter boy's teary eyes turn to those of his friend, "She's going to die if we try and move her, and she's going to die if we don't!" he holds up the scanner he was holding, "These readings are na comeing out right for some reason....there's something odd in her system...."
Rylan suddenly looks up, "What do au mean something odd in her system?"
D'Tarik shakes his head, unable to elaborate, "She has something odd running in her system." he repeats, then suddenly drops the hand of the girl that he had been holding, his face turning pale, "Her pluse.....it stopped."
This news rather frightens Rylan, "What'd ya' mean, it stopped?!" despite the fact that he wasn't finished healing his leg, he moves closer to the body, and clutches his hands slightly away from her stomach on her left side, beginning CPR. After a few moments, Bhy'hie's eyes suddenly fly open, and Rylan leans back with a sigh of relief, grinning at the girl, "Au had us worried there for a minute..."
"Au'rh alright!" D'Tarik immediately drops the scanner in his hand, and throws his arms around the girl embracing her happily.
D'Tarik just kind held on to Bhy'hie makeing sure she was all right. "Au'rh all right!" he pulled back a little bit, to look at her better, "How are au feeling Bhy'hie?" But the girl remains silent. She almost seems to be struggleing with herself. Bhy'hie pushes D'Tarik away from her, freeing herself from his embrace, and tries to stand. "Hey...." a confused D'Tarik questions, "Are au allright?" When Bhy'hie still doesn't answer, he turns to Rylan and asks quietly, "Did she get injected with any kind of toxin, or anything that au saw, Rylan?"
Rylan casts a confused look to the smaller boy as he wipes the blood from his battered nose and mouth away from his face, "What?" he shrugs, dismissing the question, "Na...na that I saw anyway."
Bhy'hie stands as the two boys exchange quiet words and tries to put distance between herself and the boys. She crosses the room, and quietly picks up her crossbow. D'Tarik tilts his head as he watches her, "Umm.....what are au doing Bhy'hie?" he asks as he stands up. The girl glances at D'Tarik, then her gaze shifts to Rylan, her eyes seem to linger on the blood on the taller boy's face. She still doesn't answer D'Tarik's repeated question, just slowly turns and walks away.
The look that Bhy'hie had given his friend had not been lost on D'Tarik, and he looks between Rylan and the girl, confused. "Umm, hun..." he begins worriedly, "Maybe I should take a look at au. Take some scans or something. That might be for the best."
Bhy'hie shakes her head as she still walks slowly away, "Na." She states quietly, almost in a whisper, "I'm fine. Let's just get back to the cabin."
"So....au're fine?" D'Tarik's voice sounds less then convienced, "Okay....." he walks over to Rylan to help him up.
Rylan accepts the outstretched hand with a controlled whisper, "I think she's still mad at me." he gets shakily to his feet with D'Tarik's help, "Can't say as I blame her really."
D'Tarik whispers back, concern etched in his features, "Na Rylan...there's something else. I can't quite place my finger on it...." he suddenly realizes that Rylan seems to be in a great deal of pain, and his attention shifts from the girl to his injured friend, "Do au need help walking? I can make a make-shift cane or something."
Rylan shakes his head at the question, "Na...au go on. I'll follow alright." he tried to hide the pain from the smaller boy. D'Tarik had enough to worry about without him adding to it. "Au should go talk to her."
"Au sure...?" the smaller boy asks uncertainly.
Rylan weakly smiles in an attempt to fool the boy. "Ie. Go on."
"Na...." D'Tarik shakes his head, "What kind of medical student would I be if I didn't help au?" Without waiting for an arguement, D'Tarik walks over to a small pile of bones and picks up two thigh-bones. Ripping the sleeve off his coat, he ties the bones together, and hands the finished product to Rylan almost proudly, "Here, that should help au." As soon as the taller boy takes the object in his hands, D'Tarik walks over to Bhy'hie with Sprinkles on his shoulder.
Rylan waits for D'Tarik to get far enough away before he drops the make-shift crutch. Wiping his hand on his pant leg, he takes a few faultering steps, and feels the still-broken bone of one of his legs grind painfully together, the two cracked ribs again pushing into the lung that had not completely repaired itself yet. Rylan takes a pain-wracked breath then falls down, knocked unconcious by the pain.
D'Tarik is walking twards Bhy'hie when he hears Rylan fall. He turns his head and sighs in frustration, "Ah...fvadt, Rylan!" He doesn't seem to notice that the Tribble seems to shake and the cooing almost sounds like a low growl the closer the boy had come to the girl.
Bhy'hie's body seems to stiffen as D'Tarik and his pet approached. She halts but doesn't turn around. Her voice is cold, and almost angry, "Get that Tribble away from me!"
This unexpected attitude from the girl makes D'Tarik look back at her. "Ummm... okay." he says carefully, an odd look on his face, "Hey...I have to go help Rylan. Why don't au go back to the cabin and send somebody to help me carry him back?" D'Tarik asks gently, " I think... I will have to do that."
The girl is silent for a moment before she slowly turns around. Her eyes first fall on Rylan, linger for a minute, then she smiles at D'Tarik, "Na...au'rh quicker. And I'm better prepared to fight whatever comes in here." her smile turned almost seductive. She takes a step closer to the confused boy, "Au go back. Bring the others. I'll watch over Rylan."
"Okay." the boy nods, "Sounds goo...wait! Did au just say I'm quicker then au?" he looks at her as his hand rises to rest on his hip.
Her brow rises just a fraction, and that cool voice of hers explaines carefully, "E'lev....I've been hurt. Of *course* au'rh faster than me." She shrugs slightly as if it didn't really matter to her, and leans up against the tunnel wall. "Normally, I am faster than au. But na this time....go." she smiles again, "I'll watch over him."
"Au know..." D'Tarik agrees, "au'rh right. But if au are hurt then I'm na going to leave either of au here on ninte own. Let's just see if I can get him to walk. Then we can all go together."
Byh'hie suddenly grabs him by the arm and pulls him closer. The Tribble falls off -- or did it jump away? She looks into D'Tarik's eyes and says almost sternly, "E'lev.... I'm fine. It's just going to take me longer to walk for a while is all. In a day or two I'll be back to normal. Au'rh friend, on the other hand, needs help. Go get him that help, e'lev."
D'Tarik shakes his head slowly at this in protest, "I just don't feel right about it... something is wrong. Au should be more hurt then he is..." He notices that Sprinkle fell off his customary perch, and the boy picks him up gently, "Hey!" he directs at Bhy'hie, "Na so rough! Au might hurt Sprinkles."
As the boy had turned to pick up his pet, Bhy'hie's eyes narrow -- a murderous glint shinning within them -- but when D'Tarik looks back at her, Bhy'hie seems herself.... compleate with the typical pout on her face.
"D'Tarik," she begins sternly, "I have the feeling that au helped me...medically, I mean. So that's why I'm alright. Go get au'rh friends." A hurt look crosses her features, "Or do *au* na trust me?" The girl pauses in her words with a shake of her head and looks away. "I knew Rylan hated me....but au?" she looks back with tears in her eyes, "I thought au loved me."
D'Tarik sighs, the ploy she was attempting was a little too familiar, "But I do love au. That's exactly why I don't want to leave au here by ninte-self with a knocked-out Rylan." The boy takes a minute to calm himself, turning his words gentler, "Now.... I'm going to work on him. He needs medical attention." he states firmly, then turns and walks towards his injured friend.
"D'Tarik...I've been on this planet, by myself, for years now. A 'knocked out' Rylan isn't going to make a difference." She grabs him again, halting his footsteps. Sprinkles once more falls off D'Tarik's shoulder, and seems to scramble away from the girl. "Just go." she insists, "I'll be alright...and so will Rylan."
D'Tarik shakes his head, arguing firmly, "But he needs to be looked at. I did na get much of chance to help him before. He could be bleeding internally." he pulls himself free of her grip, "Just let me look at him. If I think he doesn't need to be watched over by a Doctor, then I will go." then adds just as sternly as the tone she had used, "If he does then I will stay."
Bhy'hie's eyes narrow in anger at this. "Fine! Then *au* stay here by ninte-self!" she turns away and stomps off, "I'm going to get help."
"Na....wait Bhy'hie!" the boy pleads with the retreating figure of the girl, "Au shouldn't be walking! I'm na sure how badly hurt au still are! At least let me take a look at ninte wounds when I'm done checking Rylan..." But Bhy'hie doesn't answer. She still walks angerly away, vanishing as she enters the darkness of the tunnel. D'Tarik shakes his head and thinks to himself, 'Why is she always pulling stuff like this...?' D'Tarik turned to mumble this very question to his pet Tribble, when he noticed that Sprink had once again left his customary perch, and was now scrambling across the floor.
In frustraition D'Tarik yells, a low angry growl in his voice, "Sprinkles, come back here! I can't deal with au running off too!" Sprink answers with a chastened little squeek, and comes to a halt near Rylan's head.
Shaking his head over everyone's attitude today, D'Tark pulls out the med-scanner from the pockets of his lab-coat once again and walks over to Rylan. Scanning his friend to find out the extent of the injuries he suffered from, he nods to the Tribble, "Hey Sprinkles, get back. He could be hurt." He turns his head, casting a look back over his shoulder to the tunnel that Bhy'hie had disappeared from and mumbles almost inaudibly, "That fvadt woman confuses me...." then focuses his attention once more to the readings on the scanner.
D'Tarik's eyes widen as he reads the data on the scanner. Rylan's leg was still broken in two places -- Elements! It must've re-broken when he had stood up! -- two of his ribs had not had a chance to heal yet and were still cracked; and worse yet, Rylan's lung tissue hadn't been completely repaired, and it was filling up with blood.
"Ah na! This can't be good!" D'Tarik wonders briefly if he is going to have time to help his friend at all, "Hmmm... I do have away to heal most of his wounds really fast..." he thinks outloud, pondering over whether or not to inject Rylan with the remaining small sample of Llunih's werewolf - genetic cells. His hand reaches into the labcoat again, and wraps around the syringe, slowly pulling it out. Then he firmly shakes his head, "Na...." and leaves the syringe in his coat after all, "Rylan would kill me.... its not worth the risk." he looks back to the scanner, "Okay, since he's so badly hurt, I'm just going to have to get the blood out of that lung the old fashion way. I'll just pump it out." Knowing he'd have to hurry to prevent the taller boy from drowning in his own blood, D'Tarik takes out an odd-looking pump thing with a tube on the end. Tilting the boy's head back, D'Tarik runs the tube part of the contraption down Rylan's throat. As the pump began to do it's job, D'Tarik repaired the damaged tissue with another strange looking tool of his own design.
As D'Tarik finishes repairing the damaged lung tissue, and removes the tube of the pump from Rylan's throat, Sprinkles goes nuts and starts chattering maddly then scoots off down the tunnel with a loud warning "SQUEAK!!!"
D'Tarik turns around just in time to see the Tribble disappear down the tunnel, "Ah...Sprink! Where are au going?" then he looks at the scanner, to make sure and mumbles, "Oh well...at least Rylan is in good enough health right now that I can leave him alone for a second." The boy stands with a sigh, and takes off after the runaway Tribble, "Sprinkles!" he yells angerly, "Au get ninte green behind back here!" The next loud squeek that's heard sounds farther away, it stops in mid-squeek, like something has prevented the Tribble from making a sound at all. Then nothing. "Sprinkles! Where did au go?" the boy stumbles blindly around in the darkness, "I'm really na in the mood for this! I've had a really bad day!"
Out of the darkness around him, Bhy'hie's soft voice answers, "D'Tarik?"
D'Tarik jumps and almost falls over in surprise, "AH! Bhy'hie! Don't do that!" the boy takes a minute to calm himself, and peers around in the darkness. Obviously confused he asks, "Where are au?"
"I'm here." the soft sound of her voice comes from in front of him, close enough for him to reach out and touch her, "How's Rylan?" suddenly the direction shifted, and those words had come from behind him. "Is he better?" comes from further down the tunnel.
"He's ummm.....fine." the boy answers quietly. He had not heard Bhy'hie move at all, and she had not paused in her words long enough to have moved anyway, "I thought au went back to get help?"
Her voice still floated from her earlier direction of further down the tunnel, "I am. I told au ...". She wispers in his ear, "Au would've been faster than me."
D'Tarik quickly looks to his side, but the girl isn't there. "Umm.....have au seen Sprinkles come down this way?"
Her voice once again comes from further down the tunnel. 'Na. I thought *It*..." she says disdainfully, "was with au."
D'Tarik starts to back away, too confused and frightened by the unexpectedness of it all. "Ummm...okay. Just checking." he manages to smile weakly as he takes another backward step, "I guess I will just go back with Rylan then." he says uneasily, "Okay...ummm...bye!" D'Tarik spins on his heels and starts to run back towards Rylan. As he's running, D'Tarik suddenly feels a cold blast of air, what feels like ice-cold hands pushes on his back, sending him sprawling to the ground. "Ow!" he looks around scared out of his mind, and unable to see in the darkness, "W..whos there?!" he waits for a half-second, "Bhy'hie? .....umm Sprinkles?......"
But no sound answers the boy. Very carefully D'Tarik reaches into his coat, only to find that he left his disruptor back at the cabin. He had been relying on the laser he had grafted to the Tribble. Without a more conventional weapon, D'Tarik's hand falls randomly on the syringe containing the sample of werewolf genetic cells, and holds on to it tightly, not yet removing it from his coat.
As D'Tarik shifts slightly to reach for the needle, his other hand brushes against something furry, and this had given him pause. "Sprinkles?" the boy whispers, reaching for the furry object and picking it up. The tenical, the claws, and the various other gizmos attached to the Tribble fall limply down as Sprinkles is lifted. Worried for his pet, D'Tarik runs his hands gently along the fur of the creature, searching for any open wounds. Finding none, D'Tarik holds his breath and feels for a pulse, letting out a relieved sigh to realize that Sprink's pulse was still beating as strong as ever.
Holding the Tribble gently with one hand, the other takes the syringe out of his coat. D'Tarik keeps the syringe up his sleeve in an attempt to keep it hidden. A low, almost inaudible groan comes from the direction that he had left Rylan in as D'Tarik regains his feet. "Ummm.... jolan'tru?" he waits for a minute, but no sound answers him. "Rylan? Bhy'hie?" Another low, almost non-existant sound, almost like a sigh reaches D'Tarik's ears. "Okay,
Rylan! Where are....I'm sure he woke up...." the boy mutters to himself, "It's too dark down here....I don't know which way to go..." then he calls out loudly in frustraition, "RYLAN!!"
The sound becomes louder at first...then a weakly questioning voice answered, "D'Tarik?" Unmistakably Rylan's. "Where......?" his voice was cut off.
As his friend answers him, D'Tarik realized that he had been so scared of the recent events that he had forgotten he still has one glow-rod left. Finding it in his coat, he pulls it out and snaps it as fast he can. Soft sounds of weak struggling come from the direction that Rylan's voice had only seconds before. "Rylan... are au okay?" When only silence answered him, D'Tarik runs in the direction the sound of the struggling had come from.
As D'Tarik runs into the room, he can see the form of Bhy'hie kneeling on the ground next to Rylan, her hand over his mouth, her face pressed against his neck. Rylan's eyes had rolled up, showing only the whites before closing once more. Realizing what she's doing, Bhy'hie suddenly pulls back, green blood trickling from her mouth. Her confused eyes travel over to D'Tarik, her form begins shaking and she begins to cry, scrambling away from prone boy she had just attacked.
D'Tarik just stands there in shock, his jaw hanging open at the sight before him, his eyes traveling back and forth from Rylan to Bhy'hie. Unconsiously, he droped the glow-rod and the Tribble but somehow managed to keep the syringe hidden. "Uhhh..." he still stands in the entryway, wavering slightly as he speaks, "Au'rh... a.... a... well.... umm......" and passes out.
[Underground Tunnels Below the Colony]
As soon as the too-strong odor burned it's way up his nose and brought a blinding flash of light into his head, Rylan violently batted away the hand that held the ammonia capsule and sat up. His hands cradled his pounding head for a moment -- the fvadt hangover had only gotten worse with everything that had gone on -- and he begrugenly mumbled, "All right already! Au don't have to stuff that thing up my nose, okay?" He waited until his helper had silently moved away before he once more tried to regain his footing, pleased to note that his leg was back to normal, and breathing had become significantly easier. "Hann'yyo...." he nodded as he shifted his weight a few times on his newly healed leg to test it, "how long was I out, D'Tarik?" he shook his head a minute, a small confused smile appearing briefly, "Had the weirdest dream, too..."
"Au have been out of it for awhile." Bhy'hie's eerily quiet voice answered. "Long enough for me to heal your injuries."
Rylan spun to look at her, the weird dream he had while out of it, briefly came to mind. He pushed the thought aside and asked carefully, "Where's D'Tarik?"
"Over there." Bhy'hie pointed to the boy still passed out on the floor. The Tribble, at least, seemed to be awake. Sprink was perched almost protectively on the boy's chest, waiting for his master to wake up. When Bhy'hie's hand had pointed in the direction of the Medical student, Sprink cooed and squeaked wildly....almost like the Tribble was trying to growl at the blond. Rylan raised a a brow slightly at seeing Sprink's strange behavior, then forgot about it as the girl continued. "And the dream au mentioned...." she cast another look back at him while she picked up her gear once again, "wasn't a dream." She slung the crossbow over a shoulder and looked at him calmly, waiting for this bit of disturbing news to process in the boy's foggy brain.
Rylan shook his head slowly, not understanding -- or perhaps, not wanting to. "Yeah....sure." he flashed her a sheepish grin. "Like au'rh io of those....well... whatever au called that guy that was here."
"I am now." she answered simply.
Rylan curiously brought his hand up to touch the side of his neck briefly, then looked down at his fingertips as he realized they had touched something wet. He frowned when he saw the blood, then looked at the girl, trying to keep his voice neutral for the moment as he asked, "So....au'rh a....umm....?"
"Vampire." Bhy'hie nodded, then added with her customary pout, "Believe me....it came as a big surprise to me, too!" her eyes narrowed in anger, as her hands rested on her hips; the defiantly angry attitude that Rylan had been so used to by now, finally resurfaced, "And don't au *dare* blame me for it either! If au had *just once* listened to me, and stayed back at the cabin, *none* of this would've....."
Rylan didn't seem to hear any of this. He just stared at the blood on his fingertips as the girl spoke, his mind racing at what the implications of what this could mean over taking his mind. "Au bit me." he interrupted the girl incredulously, his angry -- and more than a little worried -- eyes looked back to her. He finally lost control of his temper and shouted at the girl, "What the Areinnye were au thinking?!"
"Hey!" Bhy'hie yelled defensively back at him, "I lost a lot of blood, and au were just *covered* in it!" her voice quieted down again as she finished with a dismissive shrug of her shoulders, "I couldn't help myself!"
"Au couldn't help....." He was so angry his poor still-throbbing head was almost unable to come to grips with this less-than encouraging news, "Au'rh a .... a..... Vampire...." he stumbled on the words, "...one of these....*creatures* that plague this planet, and now au'rh standing there, telling me.....that au 'couldn't help it'?! Fvadt it Bhy'hie!!" he finally shouted at her, "Au *bit* me!"
"Oh calm down." the girl waved him off, "So what if I bit au?" then explained quickly before he could explode, "It's na as simple as that with Vampires." she shrugged again, "Au'd have to drink *my* blood to be io."
"Oh, that's gross, Bhy'hie!" Rylan shot her a disgusted look, "Au drank that guy's blood? Are au nuts?! Why would au do such a...."
"Oh, get real Rylan!" Byh'hie shouted back, "I didn't do that!"
"But au just said," Rylan argued, "that ninte biting me would have na effect! I'd have to drink ninte blood for it to work...." he pointed a finger at her, "Au said that!"
"Look, Academy-boy," the girl rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration, "I'm na a werewolf. I'm a vampire." her hand rested lightly on her hip as she explained it all to him slowly....*so he'll be sure to understand..* she thought sarcastically, "When a werewolf bites au...they take a rather impressive chunk of flesh off;" then she added with a distasteful wrinkle of her nose, "na to mention they slobber all over the wound they just inflicted. But a vampire is different." she sighed again, walking over to the bags of gear that Rylan had originally come to the colony to collect.
She took a moment to gather her thoughts as she picked up a strap of one of the bags, "When a vamp bites au, only the teeth pierce the skin, then they suck out the blood." She shrugs, handing him the bag, "It's kinda like sucking out the poison from the bite of a jhimn , I guess."
"So au drank his blood." Rylan repeated with a nod, much to Bhy'hie's aggravation.
"Na, au idiot!" she glared back at him, then swept a hand over her midsection to prove her point, "Valak punched a hole in me the size of ch'Rihan! I lost a *lot* of blood! And when I staked him, he turned to ash -- which still contained Valak's vampiric blood cells. Then along comes D'Tarik," she waved a hand impatiently towards the smaller unconscious boy, "and seals up the ash inside of me. I could drink ninte blood till au die of old age years from now, and au still wouldn't be a Vamp till I gave au some of my blood-cells."
"Oh, like that's gonna' happen!" Rylan took the offered bag and slung it over his shoulder, "The only reason au were able to do that in the first place was because I was out of it. Na to mention the fact that I wouldn't drink ninte blood to begin with!"
"Like I would even offer!" Byh'hie shouted back. "Au think I want to spend the rest of eternity with *au*?!" she scoffed, "What a joke! I can barely tolerate au for five minutes, let alone eternity!" She angrily poked his chest with a finger, "If it hadn't been for *au*, I wouldn't even be a Vampire now!"
This threw Rylan temporarily off guard, a brief look of concern and regret crossed his features before he suddenly grew angry again, "Well just who in the Areinnye asked for ninte help?" he shouted at her again, "I had everything under control..."
"Au had everything under control?" she repeated incredulously, "In what lifetime?! Au were practically staehh'd-Hlai'hwy!!" * she laughed at him.
<< * the Rihannsu equivalent to 'pressed-duck' ;) >>
Rylan tried to find an argument for this...but there was no argument to be found. "Fine then!" he yelled back, throwing up his hands in frustrated surrender, then turned to pick up the other gear-bag angrily, "Blame me because *au* don't know how to block an opponent's attack! Whatever!!"
A brief silence engulfed the room again. Rylan rubbed his aching head -- arguing with the girl had only made it pound worse! -- then he quietly suggested in a calmer tone, "Look, why don't we just get the Areinnye out of here and get back to the others at the cabin?" he shrugged then turned to look at her again, "I'm sure the Senator must be close to getting back, I'd rather he didn't have to wait around for us to show up."
Bhy'hie quietly nodded in agreement, and took a few steps towards D'Tarik, stopping suddenly when the Tribble seemed to go bizerk at her approach. "Oh yeah...." the blond said quietly as she remembered something. She cast another look up at Rylan with a smile that she obviously didn't feel, "We're gonna' have a slight problem with that. Returning to the cabin, I mean."
"Huh?" Rylan stopped just next to her, "What problem?"
"Well...." Bhy'hie paused then nodded towards D'Tarik's pet, "The Tribble certainly doesn't seem to like me very much anymore."
"So what?" Rylan shrugged, stepping over towards the unconscious form of his friend to search for another capsule to wake the boy with, "It's only Sprink." he finished, pushing the wildly cooing and squeaking Tribble gently off of D'Tarik's chest. "Hey! Cut it out, Sprink!" Rylan grumbled to the creature as he began the search.
"Don't you notice anything...different...about the Tribble, Rylan?" Bhy'hie questioned, her hand rising once again to rest on her hip. She didn't wait for the boy to answer before she continued, "D'Tarik went and injected it with some of Lluinh's genetic cells."
"Au'rh joking!" Rylan grinned slightly before sitting back on his heels, his voice took on a more thoughtful tone as he peered at the Tribble intently, "With all those gizmos?" then he asked completely baffled, "What the Areinnye could Sprink possibly turn into?"
"Jolan'tru, Rylan!" Bhy'hie sarcastically yelled at the boy, "I'm a vampire and there's a werewolf living in my cabin! Vampires and werewolves?" she shook her head with a slight pout, "The two just don't get along well."
"Yeah..." Rylan's head nodded once slowly, as he shot the blond a warning look, "I'm pretty sure that if I tell Lluinh that au think she's about as sentient as a Tribble she'd tear right into you." he shook his head, and went back to searching for the ammonia tablet, "Come on, Bhy'hie, I really don't think Lluinh will do anything to au because of an accident. Give her more credit then that."
Just wanting the whole day to end by this time, Rylan gave up on trying to find the ammonia capsule and slapped D'Tarik hard across the face. "OW!" the shorter boy exclaimed as his eyes flew open, then fixed fiercely on his attacker, rubbing his hurt cheek gingerly, "Hey!! What was *that* for Rylan?!"
"Well, it got au awake." Rylan smirked, "Come on..." he helped D'Tarik to his feet, "let's just get back to the cabin."
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