Divine Inheritance: Chaos

Jaxx was stunned by the barbaric kings reaction. The wind was knocked out of her and she was slow and cautious to get back up onto her knees when it happened. She didn't see Lilith move toward her, but Loch's order for her to stay back gave it away. "I'm fine, stay where you are." She spoke to Lilith in a low growl as she stood back up, ignoring the bruising she could already feel forming in her ribs and the side of her face. She refused to give anyone in the room the satisfaction of thinking Loch had seriously hurt her. "Do what you must, just don't lay a hand on her." She jerked her head toward Lilith to make her meaning clear.

Harsh as it was, Loch's violence led Jaxx to a useful assumption. Either he believed her, or better yet, he wasn't sure what to believe. Without being able to know for sure which girl was the emperors daughter, they couldnt be sure which one to keep alive eitger. Either way, If there was any hope of keeping Lilith alive, she would have to keep up the act. Otherwise, they would have no need for her and she would be as good as dead. As for Jaxx herself, she could pass as her own bodyguard well enough but her usefulness was obviously in the balance. She would have to be careful.

Once she was escorted to an empty cell and fitted with new restraints, she was once again left alone. It was clear, the enemy was smarter than Jaxx gave them credit for and she had been premature in her decision to dismiss Voltairs help, as much as she hated admitting that. She wordered if he could even hear her at that point or if she had offended him enough to drive him away earlier. Deciding she wasn't out much to at least try, she attempted to communicate the same way she had earlier. Fine... I see your point. Her reluctance would be fairly clear if he had any way of being able to tell. I'm willing to try things your way if you have any ideas.

 

Raven smiled, having not expected the reclusive child to answer in such a way. "That's fair." she said, unsure of what else to say. She glanced toward Gerik once again, who seemed to be just finishing his conversation with Voltair. She wasn't sure on what he intended to do. But knowing that their journey to find Jaxx would bring all of them farther east was a concern. There would obviously be dangers, considering the east side of Azureth was littered by the war. Raven lowered herself to her knees with a sigh. "How rude of him to keep us waiting like this." she gestured to Gerik with a small nod. "Would you like to see a neat trick while we wait for Gerik to re-join us? I'll just need a single hair from you."

*******
(The following is a col-lab between myself and Oath)

Jaxx bit her lip, having to stop herself from audibly scoffing, 'You don't think I've tried hitting them? My strength and powers are on the fritz because of Lilith's little joy ride. So how am I supposed to knock that behemoth out...?' she argued, looking around the room. Just next to the door, she noticed a crack in the wall that had knocked a brick somewhat out of line. Her eyes narrowed as they darted between the brick to the chain that lie discarded at her feet. She remembered the frequent 'no magic' training sessions she had with Raven. Until now, she never understood their importance.

Moving toward the loose stone quickly and silently, she managed to wiggle it loose, cursing herself for every little scraping noise that came with the effort. When she finally pulled it lose, she examined it. The large rectangular hunk of reddish stone had clearly seen better days. But it was still quite hard and heavy. She hurried back toward the cuffs and wrapped the chain around it before clamping one of the cuff ends to fasten a loop to hold the brick. It was a clumsy makeshift weapon she had made. But hopefully the weight of the brick would make up for the strength she currently lacked. She swung the chain a few times to ensure the stability of the brick. It did slip a little and she noted she would have to adjust it occasionally. But it would have to do.
She pulled the door closed and pressed her back to the wall beside it, watching through the barred window for the guard to pass. Once he came close, she groaned. "You out there..." she spoke in a demanding voice.

"Silence!" the guard spat back, he stopped walking.

"Your damned king must have broken my ribs! I demand to see a healer." Jaxx steadied the chain as she spoke, readying herself to strike.

"I said be quiet! Or the only thing you'll see is another kick."

"Surely you people are not as barbaric and empty headed as to let your hostages die from their injuries...." she recalled Loch mentioning a funeral earlier and decided to use it to her advantage. "- Or maybe you are, seeing as you can't even seem to keep your own people alive. Whose funeral is it anyway? Finnan Loch's daddy?"

"Little bitch..." he heard the guard mutter as the door creaked open and a massive man charged inside. He stood for a moment, stunned to see the ring on the wall she was hooked to hung empty. His back was to her, but she wanted a better angle to swing. Jaxx whistled, which caused the man to turn his head to look at her over his shoulder. His eyes were aflame with rage for only seconds before Jaxx's brick met with his face. His head was knocked back harshly and slammed against the edge of the iron door. She saw silvery orange blood trickle from the edge of his coarse brown hair past the corner of his eye. He looked stunned before anger crossed his expression. He drew back one of his arms and used the back of his hand to swat Jaxx across the side of her head. The force of the blow knocked her from her feet. She rolled ungracefully into the wall behind her, though managed to hold on to the brick weapon. Before she had a chance to regain her bearings, the guard was on her again. He grabbed on to her hair and dragged her back to her feet. She tried again to swing the brick for his head. But this time he was prepared. He caught the stone as though it weighed nothing and yanked it from her hand. He tossed it aside before grasping her by the throat with one hand and lifting her off of the ground, slamming her back into the wall.

The force of her back hitting the wall knocked the wind out of her and she struggled to breathe against the hand around her throat. Jaxx instinctively grabbed onto his forearm and tried to brace herself against the wall to keep breathing but it didn't help much.

The barbaric guard ignored her gasps and brought his face inches away from hers, tightening his grip to completely cut off her breath. "You dare to insult the death of King Haldor Lothbrok? To call my king Loch by his full name?" he snarled in her face. "You, who are nothing? Sithric is a moron if he was so easily fooled into believing a cunt as small and weak as you could have royal blood. Even if it is just as the daughter of the worthless Darrem line." He brought her forward before slamming her into the wall again and allowing her to drop against the floor and kicking her in the ribs.

Jaxx caught her breath with a gasp. The guard's violence scared Jaxx. Especially when he made it clear he didn't believe she was the real daughter of the enemy. Without that insurance, he had no reason to have to keep her alive. And he made it clear he had no intention to. Knowing her life was on the line, she would have to fight. Jaxx braced herself against the wall and tried to kick him away.

As the young woman's foot was about to make contact with the guard's gut, he caught it and lifted her up by the ankle before throwing her again with a grunt. "You've caused enough trouble... Let you be of at least one more half good use before I end your misery." he eyed the crumpled teenager hungrily and got to his knees over her.

It took Jaxx a moment to understand his meaning. She attempted to get up and move away but he was faster than her and grabbed her leg to pull her back. Just as he did, Jaxx managed to grab onto the chain. She pulled it against her body tightly and curled up to conceal it. "If you truly are Jaxx Darrem, I'm sure you've already received such treatment from your inbred father...." he heard the guard growl as he pulled her closer, dangerously unaware that she was armed yet again.

Jaxx waited until she was right where she wanted to be. He straddled the young girl and that's when she acted. She quickly uncurled her body before he had a chance to try to force her to and brought up a knee directly between his legs as hard as she could. She pulled herself back slightly and reached up to clap two cupped hands over both of his ears at once, effectively damaging his eardrums.

The guard roared in anger and reached out to defend himself. But the adrenaline fueled Jaxx was prepared for him this time. She rolled out of the way and to her feet before swinging the brick upward directly against his outstretched elbow with trained precision. There was a sick cracking noise as his elbow bent awkwardly. She used the momentum that was already present with the swing of the brick, Jaxx allowed it to swing in a full circle and back into the guard's face and then again on the back of his head. The third blow was hard enough to crack the brick and knock it loose from the chain.

The barrage of well placed blows caught the guard by surprise and the third blow to the back of his head knocked him over forward. Blood poured from both of his ears and his nose made it difficult to hear or breathe. Enraged, he ignored the pain in his elbow and tried to push himself up. He was done toying with the prisoner. In fact, he was going to kill her.

Jaxx didn't give him the chance to get back up. She stepped up behind him, holding on to either side of the chain shackles with all her strength. She brought it down over his head and wrapped it around his neck just as he stood up. Because he was much taller than her, her feet were lifted off the ground. She wrapped her legs around his chest and braced herself against the chain to steady herself.

With his airway cut off, the guard was enraged. He fiercely threw his hand back to try to grab Jaxx and force her to let go. But because he couldn't see her, Jaxx had the advantage. She easily moved away from his grasping hands, and his flailing arms grabbed at nothing but air. He grunted, beginning to panic as his vision began to blur from loss of air. He tried to get a hold of the chain as he backed into the wall and thrust backward, slamming Jaxx into the wall and crushing her between it and his body.

Jaxx yelped, and his body seriously disturbed her already broken ribs. But held she on firmly to the chain in her hands for dear life. The rough edges of the iron dug into her flesh and opened fresh wounds. She knew if her grip slacked even a little bit, her blood might cause her to lose her grip. She held on even tighter as the guard straightened up and slammed her into the wall a second time. But she could tell his strength was waning as he straightened up and it seemed as though he was going to try to throw back a third time, he fell forward instead. He lie there, gasping before it seemed like he lost consciousness. Jaxx was completely rigid, unable to move for several moments. She only moved when she realized she was holding her breath. She released the breath she had been holding, ignoring the searing pain it brought to her injured rips.
She crawled off of the man's rigid body and put two fingers against the side of his neck, feeling for a pulse. She felt none. It was only then that she had a moment to fully process everything, and what he had tried to do. Disgusted, Jaxx stood up and kicked the dead man full on in the face for good measure. She did her best to come down from the adrenaline, forcing her hands to stop trembling.
Dragging his body was harder than she thought it would be. He was a large man. But it seemed like the rigidity of death doubled his weight. It caused her to strain, especially against many new injuries. But she managed well enough. Once she was sure she had pulled him fully away from where he would be visible from the door, Jaxx let go and walked toward the door. Subduing her guard had been much more messy than she had hoped for. She worried that they had made too much noise that would attract others. Fortunately, though, it seemed that no one else had been in that corridor. Though that didn't mean no one had heard. She considered that someone had heard and intended to investigate. She would have to act quickly.

Darting back into the room, she grabbed the guards keys and a knife from his belt. She also used the knife to cut a strip of cloth from his tunic before turning and leaving her cell. She used the keys to lock the door behind her and used the cloth to roughly bandage her bleeding hands as she moved quickly and silently down the hall to where Voltair had earlier directed her. Along the way. For the most part, she was surprised to see Barisor's prison completely empty. Though all of the doors were closed, there seemed to be no one visible behind the barred windows. She wondered if the barbarians had possible released the prisoners or allied with them against Azureth. She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of heavy footsteps coming from somewhere in front of her. She stopped dead in her tracks and used her keys to open the door to the cell directly next to her. She grit her teeth in alarm as the door creaked slightly when she moved to close it behind her and pressed herself against the door, crouching down low she waited as she heard a set of footsteps go past. So focused on making no noise, Jaxx froze and held her breath for several moments until she no longer heard the footsteps. Only then did she allow herself to relax. As she moved to turn around and open the door to exit, she nearly tripped on a large object on the floor just below her. Jaxx slammed her hand into the wall to catch herself and lowered her eyes to investigate what had nearly knocked her over.

She had to bring a hand to her mouth to muffle the gasp that escaped her. Lying on the ground at her feet was the decomposing body of a shackled man. That's when she also noticed the stench of death that filled the room. Realization hit her. The cells were not empty. They had been abandoned. It was likely the invaders never bothered with the jailed at all, and without the prison guards they had simply starved in their cells. The full weight of what it was like to be a prisoner hit Jaxx. She entertained the thought for a moment of what it must have been like for Lilith to deal with this for five years. But she dismissed it as quickly as it came, knowing there were more important things to focus on at the moment.

The rest of her journey to the stairway Voltair had directed her to went mostly smoothly. She had to dispatch and hide the body of another guard who nearly caught her at one point. But the knife she stole made that much easier. It didn't take her more than five minutes to find the stairs, but it had felt like an eternity. Once she reached it, she took the stairs two at a time. They led three doors. One directly in front of her and two to either side. Luckily, the one to her right had a barred window like the other cells. Inside, she could see various objects, including her weapons which were laid out across a table. She moved toward the door and started going through the keys though, frustratingly, none were working.

 

Jaxx rolled her eyes, but thought better of responding to question why he even bothered telling her he could open the door if he didn't plan to.

Don't be naive... that wasn't my first kill. Jaxx thought to herself, unsure if he would hear or not. Though he was not wrong in that there was something unique in what had happened in her cell. She had never been put in a situation where her powers failed her and she was forced to kill a person without magic or be killed herself.

Jaxx was still apprehensive about trusting Voltair. But considering her situation, she didn't have many other options. She pocked the key ring and moved to do as she was told. The main door to the city dungeon was large and made of stone. It was more difficult to push open than she would have liked. As soon as it cracked open, she was met with fresh night air that washed over her. It was a welcome change from where she had been. Considering she knew the grounds would probably be guarded, Jaxx cautiously took a step outside. Sure enough, there was a guard not far to her right. Jaxx stiffened instantly at the sight of the tall blonde woman a few yards away. She was sure she was caught and reached for the knife she had taken from the guard. But upon further inspection through the dim light, she relaxed a bit. The woman was walking with her back turned to Jaxx. Presumably, she was pacing the front of the building. For the most part, the streets seemed otherwise empty. Possibly due to the funeral that Loch had mentioned earlier. There were a few buildings nearby but one stood out more than the others as a candidate for the one Voltair had mentioned. It was a stable.
Jaxx did her best to stay low and silent as she moved through the shadows toward it. It had a large open archway for a door that allowed a dim light to escape. Jaxx made her way toward the light and peeked around the edge to see the stable was occupied as well. There were two guards there feeding the horses and talking among themselves. Knowing she couldn't just stay in the doorway, for fear of being seen, she crept into the stable anyway. The two guards hadn't noticed her, and she intended to keep it that way. Moving around through the hay that covered the ground wouldn't be easy. But she would have to manage. She found a place to conceal herself behind a rather large bale of hay and listened for them to leave.

"....It ain't just about the girl. Loch should have just killed the general and been done with him. Who needs some fancy pants militry dog to do a raven's job?"

"Gods be merciful, man. That's a question above my pay grade, and yours at that."

"Sure. I just think sending the mans head and a lock of the girls hair would have delivered the message better."

"Aye. But who would tell the hair be from Jaxah Stormbringer if you gone and done that? Thinking of ravens, I've heard things about the princess's body guard. She doesn't live up to her reputation much does she?"

Jaxx heard their talk and laughter die out as they finished their job and walked away. General? she thought to herself. General Lucius was here?
She moved quickly to take a rope from the wall, coiled it, and placed it around her shoulder. Once that was done, she picked one of the horses standing in a cell in the stable. It was a rather large creature. The dark brown of it's coat broke to pieces around it's rear, revealing a white pattern that covered it's hind legs. The pattern was matched by it's white mane. The horse seemed healthy and Jaxx couldn't help but smirk at the dark thought that the horses had clearly been treated better than the prisoners after the takeover. Still, a horse would be more helpful than a petty criminal, so she counted her blessings all the same.

The creature seemed apprehensive about Jaxx's approach and let out a nervous bray. Jaxx put out a hand to calm him as she made a soft shushing noise. "Calm down. I mean no harm-" she placed an open palm on the horses snout and silently opened the gate, never taking her eyes off of the horse. Her coo seemed to calm him a bit, luckily. She found a bridle hanging on the post near the gate and took hold of it, getting to work on placing it. Once it was secure, Jaxx took hold of the reigns and gently tugged once to let him know she intended for him to follow.

Walking stealthily with a horse proved to be difficult. She flinched slightly at every loud noise the horse made, including it's heavy foot steps. Surely they would be caught. I hope you know what you're doing. She thought, similarly to how she responded to Voltair before.
The journey toward the window was surprisingly easier to find than she had thought and was met with no encounters with guards. Still, she knew she would have to hurry. The guards would make their rounds soon enough.
Just as she was told, the bars of the window were held together by a frame that was mounted within the opening. With enough force, it did appear like it could be pulled free.

Answer this, if you will. Why help me? Do you hope it will change my mind about following my father's orders regarding you or Lilith? Jaxx once again spoke to Voltair as she tied the rope between three of the bars to secure a good hold. The other half of the rope she tied to the saddle of the horse.

As Claire extended the hair to Raven, the full length of it began to glow with a soft white light and hovered above Claire's hand. It coiled into a circle like shape. "Suojhelle" Raven spoke a single word under her breath and a symbol appeared in the center of the circle. The light of the hair ignited even more for a brief moment before fading once again along with the symbol. Raven reached up a hand and took hold of the hair, which fell limp with the touch of her palm. It held the same soft aura as before and remained as thin as it was before. But it was much stronger and looked like a long thread of gold. She took Claire's wrist in her hand and wrapped the thread around it like a bracelet. "Now, Claire. Should you ever meet anyone who wishes to do you harm, repeat the word I just said. 'Suojhelle'. Can you remember that?"

 

Jaxx frowned. She humored Lilith's bizarre attachment to her father's weapon already before in Sax and they were nearly caught because of it. With an army of foreign thugs searching for them, Jaxx didn't have the patience to do so again. "To hell with your bisento." she brushed past Lilith impatiently and beckoned for her to follow. "We have to get out of here now."

Lilith stared blankly at Jaxx as she turned and began walking away before following her and reaching out, grabbing her shoulder and turning her around to face her. "Jaxx please... Just trust me on this, we can't leave here without my Bisento."

Jaxx only scoffed in response "Trust you?" she began to argue "As far as I'm concerned-" As she spoke she pulled herself away from Lilith's grasp and took a few steps backward. Just in time for a man twice her size came around the corner and spot the two of them. Jaxx was interrupted as she collided with the man. Jaxx grabbed a knife and wheeled around to make eye contact with the enemy but it was too late as his ax was already drawn. With a loud grunt, the newcomer swung his ax directly at Jaxx's legs.

Jaxx had barely responded when they were caught, one of the barbarians grunted at them, lifting his axe and making to swing for Jaxx's legs. Lilith acted on instinct alone, pushing Jaxx out of the way and taking the blow herself, the blade easily cleaving into her own leg causing her to scream in pain, as silver blood poured from the newly opened wound.

Jaxx's instincts were instantly triggered by Lilith's scream. Surely, someone else was bound to hear it. Any limited time the two had to find out what to do next was now completely expired. The newcomer would have to be dealt with quickly. Knowing no mortal could have managed to injure Lilith like that, Jaxx knew she would have to strike hard and fast. More than likely, she was dealing with a demigod. She sprang forward while the ax was still lodged into Lilith's thigh.
Seeing Jaxx was running to attack, Lilith grabbed the ax head threw herself forward as hard as she could, getting low to the ground as well as yanking the ax from her flesh. Because a great deal of her strength was still in tact, the force of the movement also forced the ax forward against her attacker, who was still holding firm on to the handle. The butt end of the handle slammed into the barbarians chest so hard it pierced in between his ribs an inch and sent him toppling over backwards onto his back.
Just as Lilith went down, Jaxx leaped over her head just as the man slammed into the ground. With her sword drawn, Jaxx used the momentum of her fall to add to the strength of her strike. She stabbed her sword down as she landed on her knees straddling him, right through the enemy's adams apple.
She knew the battle was won the moment the sword struck pavement. As the enemy soldier began to choke on his own blood and the steel of her blade, Jaxx's eyes widened. The color that pooled from his mouth and wound was not silver as Jaxx expected. In fact, it was as pure crimson red as any human blood Jaxx had ever seen.
She ignored the man's struggle to breathe as she got to her feet and examined the blood on her steel closely, but saw no trace of evidence the man was anything more than mortal. Confused, she wiped the blade off of her forearm guard. There was a hot sting on her right calf as she took a step forward and she realized the edge of the ax had scraped her a bit when she landed. She barely paid attention to the wound, crouching down to examine her own blood on the edge of the blade. It's silver color was completely indistinguishable from Lilith's which was already beginning to dry. There was no trace of any sort of enchantment that Jaxx could tell from her own experience. She frowned. Having been trumped by Lilith's ultimate shield boon multiple times, it didn't make sense that a mortal man was able to draw blood using an average weapon. Not from Lilith.

The deed was done, the barbarian felled in spectacular fashion, but Lilith could see the gears turning in Jaxx's head, trying to figure out how a mortal, holding a mortal weapon, had been able to hurt her so badly. It was written all over her face, from the puzzled look between the man and the weapon to what looked to be a search for any sign of enchantment on the axe. It seemed quite possible that the cat was out of the bag now... Sighing deeply, Lilith looked up at her temporary ally and in an attempt to desperately try and change the subject, smiled, "Are you alright, not hurt are you?"

Jaxx looked down at Lilith's face, at first, in disbelief. But Lilith's reaction told Jaxx more than she intended. However the question did work to draw Jaxx's attention away from the curiosity and back to the present issue at hand. Lilith's blood was beginning to pool around her feet and Jaxx was surprised to hear another drop of silver just at her feet. Looking down, she noticed a thick coat of silver around her mid section centered by her lower right abdomen. It soaked her trousers and dripped the ground. That's when she noticed the pain that was tugging at her muscles in the area. She looked to the body and noticed a small dagger in the hand of the enemy, who was still twitching from his recent death. Great...
She sighed. The injuries just kept stacking up and Jaxx could hear the sound of approaching investigators who might have heard the encounter. She grabbed a small vial of some black liquid from one of the pouches she recovered with her weapons. With one thumb she popped the cork and poured the contents first onto the dead man, and then a trail from him to the wall of a building. She splashed the contents across the wall before throwing the container. She crouched next to the body and snapped her fingers next to the liquid. It took a few tries but she managed to generate a small spark. Fueled by the black potion, the body was overtaken with bright flame. Running over to Lilith, Jaxx took off leather strap holding her sword across her back. Taking the sword off of the halter, she wrapped the leather around Lilith's upper thigh and pulled it tight, preparing to jump back in case Lilith tried to push her away. "What did I tell you? Forget the bisento. We don't have time. Can you walk? That-" she pointed at the fire which was now catching on the building next to it "-Should buy us some time if we leave now." she rushed through her words, still trying to stop Lilith's bleeding with her makeshift tourniquet.

Lilith was trying her best to keep herself together. With everything that happened recently, she had no idea what sort of trust she could put in Jaxx, and yet she was her best chance of not only getting out of here, but also getting her Bisento back.Cringing at the wounds they both had obtained from a mortal no less, Lilith couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of the situation they were in. "This is exactly what my father was afraid of you know... Us fighting, possibly dying. He gave me his Bisento, which had been gifted to him when he was chosen to fight for the role of Emperor, to protect me. The weapon was not only a source of strength, but a blessing from his father, my grandfather, the God of the Seas. A divine weapon, with the sacred boons of Neptune's holy Trident enchanted upon it."

"Blessed by the gods huh? Useless weapons become even more useless" Voltair muttered contemptuously in response to Lilith's explanation of her weapon, not quite speaking to the pair but also not trying to hide his words either.

She reached up and touched her face where tears were starting to form, as Jaxx finished her makeshift bandage on Lilith's own wound. "I'm not as strong as one might think. Certainly, I can shake the very earth with my fists, but I have to rely on a sacred weapon to survive fights. Not tactics, not even brawn. The blessings of a God on a weapon is what keeps me alive. I'm weak Jaxx, it's as simple as th-."

Jaxx herself could feel the exhaustion and effects of her injuries threatening to overtake her. The new stab wound would bleed out by the seconds. And Lilith's ax wound was even worse. Neither of them were in any condition to fight. But they would have better chances of fighting their way out together if they could stay out of sight long enough to heal. Every word Lilith said made Jaxx more and more anxious. They were running out of time. She would have to say whatever she needed to to placate Lilith for now. She suddenly took Lilith's face in her hands, locking eyes with her. "Lilith, you don't have time to doubt yourself. There is no way that bastard they call king will let us both live if they catch us. I promise I WILL make sure we get your bisento back before we leave the city. But right now, we have to run."

Lilith blushed heavily as Jaxx grabbed her face and promised her that they'd get her Bisento back before they left the city, and as she looked her in the eyes she knew this was one thing she'd never go back on. Placing her own hands over her ally's smaller ones, she smiled slightly, "I have a plan. The Barisor Arena. It's huge, and sort of out there. There should be plenty of places for us to hide and recover there. It's not far from here either."

Jaxx heard a loud crack as Lilith finished her suggestion and she looked over her shoulder to investigate the noise, pulling her hands free to grab her sword which lie on the ground next to her. The blade was already half way out of her shield by the time her sword reached chest height. The fire Jaxx had started had already grown quite out of control. And the cracking noise was the sound of the beams holding the building together beginning to fall apart, raining flaming debris to the ground. Lilith's suggestion of the arena would have to do for the time being. Because if this rate, if the flames didn't kill them, the barbarians it attracted would. "That will do. Let's go."
Jaxx put her sword back in it's sheath and got to her feet. Once Lilith had stumbled to a standing position as well, the two were off.

**********

The smell of burning filled Loch's senses. He was back in his throne room with Sihtric collapsed in his throne. He had wanted nothing more than to beat the man bloody. But he wouldn't remember, so Loch had decided to wait. Loch put his two handed sword on his back, strapped his shield to his arm and hooked his ax in his belt. "Fucking useless" Loch seethed as he brought his boot up and kicked his friend in the leg. Sihtric merely grunted in response. Having made his way outside Loch signaled a group of five warriors to him. "Get in that throne room and watch that weapon. And by the Gods if it isn't there when I return you will find out why the truly call me blood drinker!". With the threat made the men hurried to their post. With another motion two more groups of men joined him. Without saying a word he lead them to the source of the smoke. He was met by a still burning body. Loch brought his boot down and frustration and there was a sicken crunch as he crushed the mans skull. After a few deep breaths he commanded his men to put out the fire before it spread.

*********


Just as Jaxx had hoped, the fire collapsed the building and filled the streets with thick black smoke. It would greatly increase Jaxx's chances of getting herself and Lilith to safety, using the smoke to stay hidden from what pursuers Loch could spare in favor of the growing wildfire. As Lilith had guessed, the Arena was mostly abandoned after the takeover. It had been mostly boarded up and still carried the stench of civilians who had fallen as collateral during the siege. However, it would have to do. Led by her memory of childhood ventures to witness the fights in their glory days, Lilith took the lead. Toward the western side of the building Jaxx followed Lilith through a series of complicated passageways. A few of which were located behind what would appear to be paintings or stone walls. Jaxx couldn't help but be impressed that Lilith could remember her way around such a maze. Once they were far enough through, Jaxx noticed they entered an area that seemed to be littered with prison cells. That's when she understood where they were.

In the early days of the arenas, trial by combat was introduced to Azureth's judicial system. The law stated that condemned criminals would be allowed the chance to demand a chance to have all charges dropped by defeating the champion of their accusers in the arena. Some of the clans still supported the practice to this day, including Sax and Barisor. Due to tradition, the holding area for such criminals were located within a labyrinth littered with dogs. Part of the trial was for the accused to make it through the maze to the arena without being found by the hounds. It was a brutal tradition that Jaxx was never fond of. But the cells were an excellent place to hide from their foreign captors. Even those who had heard of the trial by combat practice wouldn't know the arena well enough to be able to find the corridor. Nor would they be able to easily find their way through it. Once they were far enough within that both girls felt comfortable, and too far for either of their injuries to go any further, they settled in an empty cell.

"Burning down a building and hiding in a labyrinth. I'll rate that at a 7. Now that there is, hopefully, a moment's respite for the two of you... eh I guess I can wait. I'll go back to simply observing for the moment." Voltair spoke to the pair again, clearly on the fence about trying to direct the flow of conversation.

Jaxx heard Voltair's response and even snickered a bit about his '7' rating of their plan. By the time they had settled, she felt like she might pass out from the blood loss and pain from her injuries. But she did her best to not show it. Now wasn't a time to be weak. They might be out of their enemy's reach for now. But Jaxx still had to consider herself in danger. Even with Lilith, who was still technically an enemy in spite of the circumstances. Lilith had every reason to kill Jaxx, even if they had greater chances of surviving this together. Lilith had Voltair's help, Jaxx knew that for sure. And with Jaxx dead, she could be free of empire pursuit at least for a while. Jaxx had to consider that now that they were alone together. As they settled, Jaxx leaned against the wall of the cell for a moment. Drenched in sweat and blood and panting from their long run. Her sword still in hand, she glanced over her shoulder down the hall behind her. "I think we're far enough for now... The halls of judgement is a good idea. We should be safe for now." she looked back to Lilith. "But how did you know your way so easily?"

 

Jaxx nodded in comprehension of Lilith's explanation. It wouldn't surprise Jaxx, as Lilith was once raised to be a future potential monarch. Even as a child, Jaxx remembered touring multiple prisons including ones within the arenas. Understanding the laws and judicial system was important to learn even from a young age, considering it was never certain how long the emperor would live and the trials would begin. With Lilith being from Barisor, she would have toured the city's arena labyrinth many times.
As Lilith asked her question, yet another cramp overtook Jaxx's abdomen as a result of her damaged muscles. She looked down to see a lot of blood. She sighed, pulling out her knife and using it to tear off the leg of her trouser just above her knee. "Now... we get cleaned up and secure the area. As impossible as it may seem that they'll be able to find us here, we should prepare to fight in case they do." She used her knife to start cutting the cloth into strips to use for bandages while also pulling out another vial of black potion. She grimaced, looking it over as if debating something, before placing it down next to her makeshift bandages. She continued cutting as she cleared her throat, changing the subject. "Speaking of Voltair. Did you..." she paused before looking up at Lilith and pointed at her head, making a circular motion with her finger. The look on her face was inquisitive.

 

Jaxx used the same black potion and poured it on one of her knives, using her fingers to spread a thin layer of the stuff over it's entire surface. She did this while she listened to Lilith talk of Voltair's intervention. The idea of Voltair being able to see and communicate with both of them at the same time from that distance did put Jaxx on edge somewhat. In spite of the fact that he was using his power to help for the moment, it did give her a bit of insight on what she was up against.

"Yeah... odd." Jaxx laughed a bit at Lilith's very underwhelming description of her ally's unusual abilities. She spoke as she leaned over her potion drenched knife. Using the same method as before, Jaxx managed to generate the tiniest spark by snapping her fingers. Certainly not nearly as powerful as she hoped, but it was enough to at least react with her potion to set the blade on fire. She set the flaming knife aside for a moment and turned her attention back to the wound on her abdomen. She used a strip of cloth to clean off a lot of the blood, thought it didn't do much considering she was still bleeding heavily.

"I'll be fine..." Picking up the knife, she waved it a few times to burn out the flames. It had burned hot enough that the blade had a faint glow. She grit her teeth and acted before she had a chance to talk herself out of it. She quickly placed a wad of cloth between her teeth and stabbed the knife into her wound. The initial burn from the blade was shocking even though Jaxx had expected it. She gasped and quickly removed it. Her flesh hissed and Jaxx's vision blurred a bit though she managed to bite back any screams and keep herself conscious. She blinked a few times against her darkening vision and swayed forward as she was beginning to fade out. But after a moment, she took a deep breath and her wits returned. She poured more black liquid on a few of the remaining strips of cloth and got to work tying it around her abdomen to stop any remaining bleeding, though her hands were shaking and she was finding it difficult to tie a sturdy knot. To keep herself awake and try to hide any bit of weakness, she spoke. Continuing the conversation with Lilith, "...And don't apologize. It's not your job to protect me." her words came out in a sort of growl.