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Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 5: The Cult of the Crimson Isles

Chapter 11

Time to rescue a deer boy!

-Llox

___________________________________________________________________________________

The hike up the mountain was slow and uncomfortable, even though Kuna wasn't physically bound in any way. It wasn't necessary, with the threat of pain and suffering, and possibly even death, for the most important person in his life if he tried anything the Speaker didn't approve of. And in any case, he was outnumbered as well. In addition to the Speaker himself, Mogni and the other black cloaked individuals came along for the trip, presumably to help keep an eye on their prisoner. The sereva didn't know exactly what to expect at the top of the mountain, but he could guess, and it certainly wasn't helping his anxiety. Not a word was said among the group as they climbed- not that he would have been interested in talking to any of them anyway.

A little past noon, they stopped to rest and have lunch. Again, Kuna refused to eat anything they gave him. Kairangi stepped uncomfortably close and placed a hand on the sereva's shoulder. Kuna immediately swatted it away. Nonetheless, the old raptuva leaned in to whisper to him, "You know, you'll be useless to me if you collapse from hunger or thirst. I'd hate to have to punish your friend for that."

Kuna scowled. "Are you really so eager to force me to drink more of your damn blood or something?"

"There's no need. But if you won't trust me, fine. By all means feel free to take the time to go forage for fruit and water for yourself. We can wait. We're close enough that we don't need to rush," the speaker said, then turned to walk away, waving his hand dismissively. He then looked back over his shoulder and grinned. "Just don't take too long. I know you won't risk trying to run off, after all. You have one hour."

The sereva glared at him and crossed his arms. But after a moment, his stomach rumbled and he folded his ears down. "...dammit. Fine." With that, he stalked off into the woods, searching for any kind of fruit that was in reach without too much effort. He paused at a small waterfall to drink some water, having built up quite a thirst on the hike.

After around ten minutes of searching, he spotted some fruit growing on a bush that he'd seen served in the mountain village the previous day, so he started collecting a few after eating one right off the bush. As much as he'd initially loved all the various sweet fruits the islands had to offer, he was starting to get a little tired of it, especially since it just reminded him of his circumstances.

As he was harvesting, he was startled when he heard a rustle in the brush behind him. He quickly spun around to look for the source of the noise. "Hello? Someone there?"

There was another rustle, then a yelp and a bit more commotion that sounded like someone tumbling down a short slope, including the pained grunts associated with hitting a few obstacles on the way down. He peeked around a set of bushes just as Kalei was getting up from having tripped on a slick rock and fallen down the side of the mountain. A tree had stopped him from tumbling too far, however.

"K-... Kalei??" Kuna asked in surprise.

"...yep, it's me," the raptuva groaned as he gradually got back to his feet and dusted himself off. "Bruises and all."

"What are you dong here?" Kuna asked incredulously. He then took note of the different symbol on the raptuva's cloak and arched a brow, frowning. "You get promoted for your part in all this?" he spat out. "Congrats."

"W- oh! Oh, nonono," Kalei explained as he carefully climbed back up the slope to meet him. "This is... well, a disguise."

"Disguise?"

"Yeah, it's- eh, nevermind, not important, I can explain later," Kalei said, then sized Kuna up with a confused expression. "Oh. You... escaped?"

Kuna gave him a flat look. "No. They're letting me harvest my own fruit since there's no way in hell I'm eating anything they give me."

"Yeah, Lykou told me how the bastard tricked you two. Eesh... I'm never eating at the shrine again."

The sereva's eyes widened. "L-Lykou?? You talked to him?? A-and you know about what happened? Like, what really happened??" He furrowed his brow. "And you... believe us??"

"Yeah, it's this whole thing... again, long story. But hey, good to see you're free, let's get out of h-"

"I can't go anywhere," Kuna said, his expression falling again.

"Huh? But... you're not tied up or anything? If they were dumb enough t-"

"I may not be physically bound, but I'm bound nonetheless," the sereva said, staring at the ground bitterly.

Kalei gave him a look. "What does that mean?"

Kuna sighed. "The bastard slipped blood into Lykou's food again this morning and if I try to escape or don't return within an hour, he'll... do something horrible to him with his magic."

"Oh. Well in that case you have nothing to worry about. Lykou's been refusing to eat or drink all day."

The sereva stared at him for a moment. "...how can you be sure? He might have gotten thirsty and sipped some water when nobody was looking. As... as badly c-cut up as he w-was last night," he said, then paused and took a shaky breath to try and calm himself. "As hurt as he was, I'm sure he'd get especially thirsty and hungry at some point this morning."

"Well... that's what the guard said, anyway, and she was in charge of bringing him food and water. And he pretty much told me himself he didn't either."

Kuna stood there, thinking it over for a few minutes, clearly still worried. "...I can't take any chances."

"Kuna, they're probably going to kill you up there!"

The sereva folded his ears down and sighed. "...yeah. Wouldn't surprise me."

"An- and you're just going to let them?!" Kalei gripped his shoulders. "Come on, you can't throw away your life just on the off-chance that Lykou slipped up and drank some water or something! I'm telling you, he was specifically avoiding it for that reason!"

Kuna brushed his hands off. "Like I said, I can't take that risk. No matter how unlikely it might seem. Not after last night," he said, then shuddered. "I don't want to imagine what he'd do to Lykou." He turned to walk back up to where the others were. "You should... probably go. Don't need you getting caught talking to a 'demon collaborator', right?" he said with a faint sardonic smirk, which faded after a moment as he rubbed his eye and took a shaky breath. "Just... please go make sure Lykou gets free and gets out of here."

"Kuna, this is crazy!"

"He saved my life multiple times. If... i-if saving his costs me mine, it's only fair at this point," Kuna said quietly as he climbed up the slope.

"Y- but you- he- UGH!" Kalei sputtered, clutching his head in frustration as he watched the sereva walk away.

*****

Sunshine peered down through one of the skylights of the shrine. One of the Overseers was talking quietly to the Keeper about something. Whatever they were saying, he couldn't make it out- not that he particularly cared either way. Sitting next to the kikomanu was a half-rotten fruit he'd found laying on the forest floor. Carrying it up with him had been extremely unpleasant, and he wasn't terribly fond of sitting right next to it. Still, it was key to his plan. He just had to wait for the right moment. He was getting frustrated waiting for the Overseer to step close enough, though.

But eventually, his patience paid off. Having finished whatever conversation he was having with the Keeper, the Overseer turned to leave the shrine. Just as he passed under the skylight, the rotten fruit dropped from the skylight and splattered on his head, covering him in rotten, disgusting juice, as well as a few larvae of some kind that'd been munching on the fetid fruit. He immediately yelped and let out a long string of obscenities as he started shaking and wiping the stuff off. The Keeper ran over to see what was going on as he glanced up to try and make sense of having just been pelted with such a disgusting mess. Sunshine, of course, quickly ducked out of sight before he was spotted.

"I'm going to the bath house. Have someone send me a fresh cloak!" the Overseer grumbled loudly as he stalked out of the building.

Sunshine followed him to the bath house and carefully slipped inside behind him through a narrow gap in one of the few small windows the place had. And then he waited as the raptuva stripped down. Just as he'd hoped, the Overseer even briefly removed the string holding the stone with runes etched into its sides from around his neck. He'd carefully set it down next to him, where anyone that entered the room would have to reach past him as he bathed in order to try and grab it. He hadn't counted on a potential thief like Sunshine, however.

At first, Sunny slowly crept up behind him, not making a sound. He managed to make it all the way to the necklace before the Overseer glanced down and spotted him. They exchanged a brief look before the bird snatched the necklace up and bolted towards the window. For the second time in as many minutes, the raptuva began shouting a string of curses as he tried to catch the thief. But the kikomanu was too fast. After slipping through the window, he took off with such speed that nobody saw anything but a brief glint of light coming from the suddenly noisy bath house.

A few moments later, he'd arrived back in Lykou's cell window. He whistled to get the konuul's attention, then dropped the stone on the floor. "Key."

Lykou jumped slightly in surprise, then grinned. "Oh hey, wow, you managed to grab one! Thanks, Sunny!" he said, bending down to grab it. He looked it over for a minute, then walked over to the bars and inspected them again. "So how does this work exactly...?"

Sunshine flew down to the cross-piece on which the symbol was engraved on the other side and bit at it a couple times. "Here."

The konuul examined the stone again, then looked at the spot dubiously. "So I just... what, hold it up next to it or something?" After the bird squawked in response, he tried holding the stone up to the panel, but nothing happened.

"No," the bird said, then flapped his wings in mild annoyance. He then nipped at the panel again and clicked.

Lykou stared in confusion for a moment, then blushed and facepalmed. "Right. The side with symbol on it. Duh," he said, then grinned sheepishly. "Hey, give me a break, I'm not exactly at my best right now." He reached through the bars and held the stone up to the other side, but again, nothing happened.

Sunshine leaned forward and tilted his head to examine the stone. "Turn."

The canid complied, rotating the stone around in his hand. Just when he was starting to wonder if it was all pointless, the stone and the symbol on the panel flashed briefly with a dark red light. All of the sudden, the bars began to melt, causing Sunshine to immediately fly off in a mild panic and return to the windowsill. Lykou stepped back and watched with wide eyes as the entire barrier melted down and collapsed into a single thin bar on the ground. "Woah! That's some... interesting magic."

The bird clicked and whistled in agreement.

"Right, time to get out of here. Er... do you think you could go distract the guard out there? Just enough to give me a good head start," Lykou said, then rubbed his neck a bit anxiously. "As it is I just hope I don't collapse running away from here."

Sunshine whistled. "Yes. Listen."

"Listen?" Lykou asked curiously. "What for?"

"Door. Listen. Wait."

"Er... Oh! Right, I understand." As soon as Sunny took off again, he hurried down the hall and waited by the door, holding his ear up to it. After a few tense minutes, he heard a commotion accompanied by a bunch of swearing, which gradually drifted further away from the door. When he figured it was as far as it was going to get, he opened the door a crack. Seeing that the guard had her back turned and was currently trying to retrieve something from just out of reach, he slipped out and crept away as quickly and quietly as he could.

He briefly considered slipping into the shrine to try and find his things, but ultimately decided against it. He didn't need the extra weight in his current state, nor did he want to increase the chance of being caught. In any case, he knew he needed to hurry- even with Kalei's promise to help Kuna, he didn't want to leave things to chance. Unfortunately, when he was halfway to the treeline, an Order member spotted him and sounded the alarm. "Shit!" he blurted out and immediately bolted. His battered body complained, but he ignored the pain, determined to get away and find Kuna, even if it killed him.

Just as he was nearing the forest, a golden blur flicked up into the air behind him. As a group of red cloaks began chasing after them, a brilliant explosion of light flashed in the sky, temporarily blinding and stunning anyone that had the misfortune of looking in Lykou's general direction. The flash didn't escape the canid's notice, though fortunately he escaped the negative effects, considering its source was behind him. Though he kept running, he hazarded a quick glance backwards as he entered the woods, just in time for Sunshine to fly past him.

"Follow!"

"Sure," Lykou said, panting from exertion. "Was... was that flash you?"

The bird whistled as he continued leading the konuul through the forest.

"Wow..."

After running for as long as he could through the sparse wilderness, Lykou slowed down and stumbled over. Under normal circumstances, he'd have kept going without issue, but the pain from his various wounds, self-inflicted and otherwise, had finally caught up to him. It didn't help that he'd been heading up a steady incline, and his rumbling stomach reminded him of its neglect. He leaned against a tree, panting and wincing from the soreness and aches.

Sunshine swooped down and landed on a nearby boulder, watching him intently. "Friend okay?"

"I... I just need a minute..."

The bird looked around for a moment, then clicked a few times. "Wait," he said, then flew off again for a minute.

"Sure..." Lykou replied to the empty air as he slumped over, a bit dizzy. "Shiiit... I think I... overdid it..."

After a few minutes Sunny returned and dropped something next to him. He rubbed his blurry eyes and realized it was some kind of fruit. He would have preferred meat, but he quickly dove into it, just glad to have something to fill his stomach. The juice helped with his thirst a bit, too. He didn't care how messy it made him, he ate with zealous enthusiasm, not even bothering to avoid the seeds. He finished the thing in record time, panting to catch his breath afterwards. "Th... thanks... I needed that," he said after a minute.

Sunshine whistled at him in response. "Follow," he said, flapping his wings, then took off. "Water!"

It took Lykou a few tries to get back to his feet, but when he did, he hurried to catch up. Within a few minutes, he arrived at a waterfall. He immediately stepped straight into it and began thirstily gulping it up as he let the water wash over him. He didn't care that he was getting his shorts wet in the process- they were the only article of clothing the Order hadn't taken from him when they imprisoned him anyway. The cold water did sting his numerous cuts, but in a way, that helped revive him a bit.

After quenching his thirst, he stepped back out of the water and shook himself off. He took a moment to look around as Sunshine bent down by the stream to sip some water himself. After a moment, he found a decent looking branch and snapped off a few of the smaller ones attached to it. He picked it up and swung it around experimentally. Satisfied, he gripped it tightly and narrowed his eyes. "Alright, Sunny. Time to save Kuna. And may the spirits have mercy on anyone that gets in my fucking way," he said, then grit his teeth. "Because I'm fresh out."

*****

"Shit, this isn't good... I've gotta find some way to get through to that guy!" Kalei muttered to himself as he crept up the mountain, trying to avoid any more stumbling in the process. He'd stuck around to keep watch on the black cloak group while they ate lunch. He wanted to try and talk some sense into Kuna, but he didn't want to get caught in the process. When they started moving again, he decided to follow them and look for an opening- though for what, he wasn't sure. He could try and grab Kuna and forcibly carry him away, but he just knew that wouldn't go well, especially knowing his luck. He could try attacking the Speaker, but he knew that would probably be suicide. In any case, he was having an increasingly tricky time staying hidden, as the forest continued to thin out the further up they went. The air was growing cooler as well, making him shiver slightly. He'd never been that far up before.

Eventually, the group came to another stop, within sight of the peak. Kairangi spoke to one of the black robed individuals, then said something to Kuna before continuing ahead on his own. The sereva was clearly growing increasingly anxious, and it didn't help that the ones guarding him were harassing him about something. Kalei considered charging in, but he knew he stood no chance against the four of them, even without the Speaker present. Knowing his luck, it was a toss-up if he could successfully take even one of them.

Just as he was considering doing something stupid, he nearly jumped out of his skin when Sunshine swooped down and landed on his shoulder. He just barely managed to keep from crying out in surprise. "Fuck!" he muttered quietly as he crept back down a short way, just to be sure he was well out of earshot of the group. "What are you doing here? Did you manage to get Lykou out?"

Sunny clicked and bobbed his head, then turned to look a bit further down the mountain. "Friend free."

Kalei squinted and peered down the slope. After a moment, he spotted some movement in the distance and perked up. "Oh thank fuck. Maybe he can help me get Kuna and talk some sense into him," he said as he started climbing down to meet the konuul.

Meanwhile, Lykou continued to claw and sprint his way up the mountain as fast as he could. He'd long since shoved his aches and pains to the back of his mind, but his body was still giving him difficulty at times. The fruit he'd eaten only went so far for his energy levels. When he heard someone approaching, he immediately readied the branch in his hand, ready to let out some frustration on anyone unfortunate enough to give him trouble. But then he quickly relaxed when he recognized the raptuva somewhat clumsily half-climbing and half-stumbling down towards him. He set the branch down and reached out to help catch him when he tripped over a tree root and began to fall down past him. The impact made him wince.

"Ack!" Kalei blurted out, then wavered and steadied himself. "Whew, thanks... Lykou, thank fuck you're here!"

"Where's Kuna??"

"Up there! There's four of them keeping watch over him. They stopped and Kairangi wandered off ahead for some reason."

"Right... are they armed?" the canid asked as he retrieved the branch and continued pressing forward.

Kalei hastily followed along behind him. "I couldn't tell. I don't see any spears or anything, but they could have knives under their cloaks."

"How tied up do they have Kuna?"

"Not at all."

Lykou paused for a split second and shot him a perplexed look before continuing. "What? Wrists aren't tied or anything?"

Kalei frowned. "Nope. They even let him go forage earlier which gave me a chance to talk to him. According to him, they don't need to tie him up because the Speaker said he could use his magic to hurt you if he tried to escape."

"What??"

"Yeah. I tried telling him you didn't eat anything they gave you, but he insisted he didn't want to take any chances and refused to come with me."

Lykou groaned and rubbed his head. "Dammit, Kuna..."

"What are we going to do?"

The konuul thought for a minute. "Well, you said Kairangi wandered off ahead for some reason, yeah? If the only weapons they have are knives, I think we can handle them. How are you in a fight?"

Kalei grimaced. "Do you really need to ask? I mean, I'm not the wimp I was as a kid, but you've seen how coordinated I am."

"Well... if you can just help keep them distracted, I can handle taking them down."

"Are you sure? You uh... don't look like you're in any condition to fight. And you still haven't eaten all day, right?"

"Sunshine brought me some fruit earlier. I'll be fine for now."

"I dunno, seems-" Kalei started to say, then stopped and shrunk back when the konuul shot him a brief glare.

"They tried to take Kuna from me," Lykou said darkly. "Believe me. I can fight just fine."

"A-alright... if you insist," the raptuva said, then searched around until he found a stick to wield himself. It wasn't as large as the one the konuul was wielding, but it was stout enough to at least deflect oncoming attacks and leave some bruises with a hard enough swing.

When they were again within sight of the group, they ducked behind a large bush and assessed the situation. One of the black cloaks was standing over near a sheer cliff, while two others were chatting a short distance away. The last one was standing near Kuna, seemingly keeping watch for trouble. Kuna himself was sitting on a relatively flat-topped boulder with his head resting on his knees and his arms wrapped around his legs.

Lykou took a deep breath and glared at the cloaked individual standing guard near his friend. "Alright... see if you can draw the two over there away, then I'll rush in and deal with the one by Kuna."

"Oka- wait! Shit, I just remembered, before we do that," Kalei said, then dug into his bag and pulled out the knife and hatchet. "Still got these. Oh! And I don't know how much good they'll do, but I grabbed those bracers you guys had on before, too," he said, retrieving the latter.

The canid immediately perked up a bit and grabbed a pair of the bracers, then put them on. He didn't dare risk using their magical qualities with how little he'd had to eat, but he figured they'd still protect his wrists at the very least. He then smirked at the raptuva. "You put on the other two. I want to show you something."

"Er... okay?" Kalei slide the things on and marveled at how unexpectedly comfortable they felt. "Huh. Nice, but I can't imagine they-"

"They're magic."

"...come again?"

"Take your finger," Lykou said, then pointed at the emerald line on the side of one of the raptuva's bracers. "And run it along that. And don't freak out- it's pretty stunning at first, but you'll see how helpful it is."

"O..kay...?" Kalei did as he was instructed. Immediately, when the tendrils appeared and fused into his flesh his eyes widened and he panicked, instinctively trying to tear it off. But he stopped when Lykou reassured him.

"It's okay, trust me. Watch."

When the transformation was finished, the raptuva gawked at his strange bark-covered flesh. "What... the... fuck..."

"It'll help protect you, AND make you heal faster. See? All those cuts of yours are practically gone already," the canid pointed out. "Fair warning though, it does drain energy for you over time. Normally not enough to notice for a long while, but that's why I'm not activating mine, given how it's going to take plenty of energy as it is just for me to fight."

Kalei continued marveling at his hand for a minute, then slowly nodded. "Sure. Alright. Okay," he mumbled, then took a deep breath. "This day wasn't freaky enough already, I guess."

"Right. Hang onto the hatchet for now," Lykou said, hooking the knife's sheath onto his shorts. "And like I said, just distract them long enough for me to charge in at the one guarding Kuna."

The raptuva took a deep breath, then nodded. A sudden squawk from a nearby branch reminded them of the third member of their little group.

"Oh right, Sunny! If you could, er... distract them somehow that'd be great too. Don't... don't do that flash thing again though, it wouldn't help if we were blinded too."

"Flash thing?" Kalei asked curiously.

"I'll explain later," the canid said, grinning at the bird. "Let's just say he used some of that magic you said he had to help me escape." He hefted the branch and steeled himself. "Alright. Let's do thi-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Sunshine bolted into the clearing and began zipping around the two standing together, nipping and scratching at them as they panicked and flailed around at him. The other two looked over with confused expressions. Even Kuna looked up and struggled to make sense of what was happening. But just as the one guarding Kuna started to approach his compatriots to try and help them, Lykou charged out and slammed the branch into his head. Kalei burst out at about the same time and started swinging his stick wildly at the one near the cliff.

Kuna gawked at the assault, then rushed over to the canid's side. "Lykou?? What are you doing here?!" he asked, looking especially distraught. "And- fuck! What happened to you??"

As the guard clutched his head and tried to shakily get to his feet, Lykou slammed the branch down on him again. He did it a few more times for good measure, until the reptuva stopped moving. He then glared over at the others with gritted teeth. "...talk later."

"Y-you've gotta get out of here before Kairangi gets back!" Kuna said, panicked. "You're in dan-"

"No, they are," Lykou said, then rushed over to the duo flailing at the golden blur in the air. When he was within range, he slammed the branch into the nearest one's legs, knocking her to her feet. She let out a pained cry, then pulled out a knife and glared back at him.

Meanwhile, Kalei's opponent had also taken out his knife, and he'd switched to defense mode, parrying the rapid jabs as best he could. He managed to avoid getting cut, but he was being quickly backed towards the treeline by the aggressive attacks. It was clear he wasn't used to fighting, at least not in any serious way.

Noticing the friendly raptuva's distress, Sunshine left the duo alone and swooped over to help him, leaving Lykou to handle his former targets. The prone individual got back to her feet and the other drew his knife. Notably, each of their knives had a faint reddish glow to it- they were clearly made from the Tear (or Teeth) stone. But just as they began to advance on the konuul, he surprised them by chucking the branch at one, knocking him back, then bolting in close to the other. His speed took her by surprise and before she could stab him, his jaws clamped down on her wrist hard enough to draw blood. She let out a scream as he grabbed her by the feathers on the back of her head and slammed her face into the ground with all his might, temporarily stunning her. He grabbed the knife out of her hand, then spun around to sweep the legs out of her partner, who had recovered and started advancing on him.

With both of them prone, he slammed the stolen knife into the still-armed one's throat, then slashed it open before turning to face the other, who was getting back to her feet, scowling at him as she backed away.

He glared at her with murder in his eyes, then lunged at her. She tried to block him and knee his crotch, but he quickly darted around her and grabbed her legs from behind. When she fell harshly to the ground and hit her head yet again, he picked her up and swung her around by her feet, slamming her head into a nearby tree trunk with a harsh cracking sound. She immediately fell limp afterwards. Panting, he then stalked over towards the one being harassed by Sunshine and Kalei.

Kuna rushed over to join him, frantically trying to get his attention. "Lykou, if Kairangi gets back and sees you here, he'll-"

"Die like the rest," Lykou replied as he continued stalking forward. "Kalei, Sunny. Back up."

Kalei needed no convincing and stepped back immediately. Sunshine flew off to land on his shoulder a moment later. The remaining black cloaked winced from the scratches covering his face and arms, then glared at the konuul. "You won't get away with this, demon!" he said, then lunged at the konuul with his knife- but the canid grabbed his wrist before the blade could meet its mark. "You may kill us, but the Speaker will avenge us! Tuimana's will cannot be escaped!"

"I'm no demon," Lykou said calmly, squeezing down on the raptuva's wrist tightly. He then plunged the one he'd stolen into the cloaked individual's side and twisted it, causing him to let out a pained scream and release his own blade. "But if you think you can take someone important from me," the canid continued, then grabbed the raptuva's throat. "I'll sure as hell fight you like one." He suddenly picked the bleeding, shaky cultist up, walked to the cliff, then spun around and tossed him over the edge. A distant thud and an abruptly cut-off scream punctuated his end.

"Damn... remind me not to get on your bad side," Kalei remarked, eyeing the konuul warily. Sunshine whistled and clicked on his shoulder in agreement.

Without a word, Lykou suddenly wavered on the spot and took a few steps back from the edge, then sank to his knees and slumped over, panting heavily. Kuna again rushed over to his side, kneeling down next to him. He was clearly distraught, but managed to summon up his magic after a moment and begin seeing to the canid's wounds. "Dammit Lykou... you can't be here!" he said, somewhat teary-eyed. "If that bastard returns and sees you, he'll-"

Lykou looked up at Kuna and finally let a smile creep across his face as he took one of the sereva's hands in his own. "Kalei told me. Don't worry, I... didn't eat or drink anything... this morning."

Kuna winced and continued patching him up. "Still, you never know what he might've done when you were unconscious," he pointed out. "You shouldn't have come up here!"

"Hey, whatever... happened to our rule about... martyr shit?" the canid replied, shooting him a look. "No way I'm... letting you throw away... your life for mine."

The sereva folded his ears down and sighed as he finished patching him up. "...fine," he conceded, smirking faintly as he briefly paused to brush away tome tears that were threatening to cloud his vision. Once he'd finished cleaning him up, he immediately pulled the canid into his arms in a tight embrace. "Dammit all."

"Guys, I hate to interrupt your touching reunion, but we really need to get out of here before the Speaker gets back."

Lykou scowled. "No, he needs to d-"

"Don't," Kuna said, squeezing him gently before pulling back and fixing him with an intense glare. "Face it, even without his dirty trick, he's still a dangerous lunatic. He was kicking our ass before that, and you know it. And you're clearly in no shape to keep fighting."

The konuul looked away and grumbled. He knew Kuna was right, but didn't want to admit it. "...can't just... let him get away with-"

"For now we have to," Kuna said, then helped him get to his feet. He then looked over at Kalei and stared at him for a moment. "...are you wearing my bracers?"

"Oh, ehehe, yeah," Kalei said with a sheepish grin. "It was Lykou's idea. Here, I'll-"

Kuna shook his head. "Nah, hold onto 'em for now. If you want to, er... de-bark yourself though, just do what you did to activate them, but backwards," he said, then looked at the bird on the raptuva's shoulder and grinned. "So I guess those stories you told us about him are true, huh?"

"Hehe, yep," the raptuva said as he disabled the bracers. "You can thank him for, well... talking some sense into me, in a manner of speaking. Among other things. He's got some neat tricks, too."

Sunshine clicked and whistled, then flapped his wings proudly.

"Yeah, those were some fast moves back there, buddy," Lykou chimed in, then waved the group along. "I'm glad you followed us from that other island."

"...yeah about that," Kuna said, crossing his arms and giving the bird a bemused look. "You can't play dumb any more. How long have you been following us? Is that... Whironui god you're apparently connected to still around? Is that why you're here?"

"Big sky friend. Not here. But near," the bird squawked. He then blinked a few times, then suddenly seemed to get agitated as he remembered something. "Deal! Report!"

"Huh?? Deal, report? What are you talking about?"

"Report!" the bird said, then whistled and took off. "Talk later!"

"Err... okayyy?" Kuna wondered, arching a brow as he watched their avian friend fly off.

"I guess he has to go report back to Whironui now," Lykou suggested, scratching his head. "In any case, we should probably get going ourselves, I guess." He sighed and frowned. "Much as I want to rip that Kairangi apart, I guess Ku has a point."

"Um. About that," Kalei interjected. "Where exactly do we go now? It might be a few days before they notice something amiss with me, but the Order will have spread the word about you two after you were caught. It might not have reached the coast yet, but it probably will by the time we get there."

Lykou started heading for the trail down the mountain, then clutched his stomach as it started rumbling. "Well, wherever we go, I could use some more food."

Perking up, Kuna sprinted back and grabbed a couple fruit that he'd been carrying with him since his captors had stopped for lunch. Once he got back, he handed them to the canid as they continued walking. "Here. Had a few left over from lunch. I harvested them myself so I know they're safe."

The konuul hungrily bit into one of the fruit. "Thanks... hope I can get some meat soon though. Might have to sneak into a village briefly or something."

"Bad idea. They'll be looking for you all the way down the mountain," the raptuva pointed out. "I might be able to slip into one early on though." He sighed and wilted a bit. "Probably won't be safe to sleep anywhere at least until we make it to the coast though. And even then it's going to be risky."

"Mayb-" Lykou started to say, then stumbled and tripped.

"Kou!" Kuna said, quickly bending down to help him up.

The canid groaned a bit as he stood back up somewhat shakily. "Shit, sorry... guess the fruit aren't helping quick enough, heh."

Kuna held him gently. "Shit, you'll end up falling down a lot at this rate. Especially when we start hiking off the trail. After that fight, plus the one last night, and recovering from all those injuries, all on an empty stomach... it's a miracle you can stand at all," he said, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I... may have an idea."

"Oh?"

"Yeah..." Kuna took Lykou's hand and looked him in the eye somewhat anxiously. "It's... kind of an experiment though. So... tell me now if you don't want me to try it."

"Whatever it is, you should just do it quick so we can put more distance between us and wherever the Speaker went," Kalei reminded them, visibly getting more anxious as he watched behind them.

"He has a point," Lykou agreed. "What is it?"

"It's... I want to try to give you more energy. With my magic. Or try at least. Remember the essence thing I told you about?"

"Er, yeah, vaguely...?"

"Basically I'm going to try transferring some of mine to you. I uh... haven't done much with it yet though so I have no idea if it'll work the way I'm hoping. So if-"

Lykou smiled and squeezed the sereva's hand softly after taking another bite of fruit. "Hey. It's okay, I trust you. Go for it."

Kuna smiled back, then took a deep breath as he re-manifested his magic. He then closed his eyes and focused intensely. After a few moments, the green glow spread up his arms to his core and grew brighter. His brows furrowed as he attempted to find a way to channel what he wanted into Lykou. As he did, Kalei glanced over briefly, then gawked at him.

"Shit! That's... I don't know what's happening, but that's certainly looks impressive," the raptuva said. "Still want to know more about how you do that stuff..."

"Shh, he's trying to concentrate," Lykou quietly reminded him.

"Er, right... sorry."

After another minute or two, there was a sudden flash of light that traveled up Lykou's arm and towards his torso. He jumped slightly and stiffened up, dropping the fruit he'd been munching on. Kuna withdrew his hand and dismissed his magic, eyeing him anxiously. "Did... did it work?"

Lykou stood there silently, wide eyed, for a moment, then began twitching slightly. "...holy FUCK I feel good," he said, grinning as he checked himself over. "Damn. That... essence stuff really works."

"I'm glad it worked the way I'd hoped, heh," Kuna replied, suddenly seeming a bit more weary himself. "I figured your own was probably low after all that mess."

Lykou frowned and grabbed his shoulders. "You better not have overdone it though. You alright?"

Kuna smirked and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Definitely took a good bit out of me, but I'll be fine as long as I don't get badly injured or anything for a little while," he said, then plucked up one of the other fruit he'd previously given the canid. "I'll uh... take this back though," he said, then took a big bite.

"Okay, now seriously," Kalei said. "Let's move befo-"

"Well, well, well," an all too familiar voice said from a dozen yards away, making them all jump slightly as its owner casually strolled down the trail towards them. "What have we here? This isn't how I remembered leaving things."

All three turned to Kairangi with varying expressions- panic in Kalei's case, anger and hatred in Lykou's, and a mixture of all three on Kuna's. Lykou stepped forward, clenching his fists. "No, and I'll be all too happy to demonstrate what happened to your goons to you, in detail."

"Oh by all means, please do," Kairangi said, spreading his hands as he continued closing in on them with a grin. "And I see we have a new friend, as well? A... traitor, I suppose?" he added, shooting a look at Kalei. "Very interesting. Tui's going to feast well today, I suppose."

"Lykou!" Kuna said, jumping forward to grab his friend as alarm began to build inside him. "Remember what I said!"

"Ah, and you remember what I said, don't you?" Kairangi said, then extended his hand towards the konuul with a malicious glint in his eyes. "Time... to suffer."

There was a tense moment of silence, then the Speaker's grin faltered. He withdrew his hand. "...I see I'll need to be a bit more thorough in my plans in the future. Still, starving yourself isn't exactly wise."

"Hah! You don't have any dirty tricks this time, you rotten old fuck," Lykou said as he took another step forward, only for Kuna to tug him back.

"Don't overestimate him...!" the sereva urged his friend through gritted teeth, glaring at the Speaker.

"Oh by all means let him try. This could get very... interesting."

"Believe me, I'm perfectly capable of making you regret all your life choices while keeping your blood on the inside, bastard," Lykou said, snarling.

"Blood magic isn't all I have, you know," the Speaker said, his grin returning as he spread his arms. "So by all means, demonstrate away."

Lykou cracked his knuckles and narrowed his eyes. "What, the fire shit? I know how you did that, my people do some of those tricks back home. I'm not scared of you, bastard."

"Oh yes, those were just some clever slight of hand tricks, I'll admit," Kairangi said as he started stepping towards the group again. "But why waste Tuimana's full power on something so... basic?"

Suddenly, the ground started to tremble, catching them all off guard.

"This may not be the peak, but it's close enough. You're in the heart of Tuimana's domain, fools. I think he's waited long enough for his meal, so if I can't bring you to him, he'll just have to come to you," the Speaker continued, his voice deepening and distorting. Suddenly, a reddish glow started to appear around his hands, then spread all the way up his arms, and eventually covered his body in a fiery aura. His eyes glowed as well, and rolled up into his head as a sizzling, white-hot substance suddenly started to seep out of his scalp and flow down his face. "Yesss.... Come forth and feast, my friend!"

Lykou, Kuna, and Kalei gawked at the raptuva transforming right in front of them. The canid was suddenly a lot less eager to charge at him as he saw the horrifying monstrosity he was transforming into. "...yeah no, fuck this," he said, then all three turned and bolted down the trail.

A ball of fire and earth exploded right behind them as they ran, with several smaller ones pelting the ground around them. "Fuck, into the trees!" Kuna said, leading them off the trail. The forest was thin at that elevation, but it at least gave them a few more bits of cover against the fireballs being hurled at them.

"Shitshitshitshit!" Kalei said as he stumbled and started tumbling down the mountainside. Luckily, Lykou managed to catch him and duck just as another fireball whipped right past where their heads had been.

Kuna ducked behind a tree just in time for another fireball to slam into the other side. He quickly bolted away from it as it started burning up behind him, then quickly scanned their surroundings. "There! That stream over there!" he said, leading them towards it. "If we follow that we-" he yelped as he narrowly dodged another burning ball of fire that came close enough to singe his ear tip slightly. "-sh-should find a thicker section of f-forest!"

"Good thinking!" Lykou said as he and Kalei hurried after him, ducking and narrowly avoiding more fiery blasts.

Soon after they reached the stream and started following it down the mountain side, the forest did start getting a bit denser- though it was quickly erupting in flames as the brush took the flaming assault behind them. Eventually they reached the top of a tall waterfall at the edge of a cliff.

"Oh shit, now what?!" Kalei said, panicking.

Lykou started quickly searching their surroundings. Kuna did as well, but then caught something out of the corner of his eye and turned to look at the konuul, whose eyes were darting around rapidly at the landscape. The canid had a certain faint glow around his features and a gleam in his eye that the sereva had become familiar with. Kuna grinned. "Oh shit, here we go."

"Huh??" Kalei asked, looking behind them anxiously. "W-what? What are we going to do?!"

"I think I've got an idea," Lykou said, then grinned back at Kuna. "Ready for another wild ride?"

"With you? Fuck yeah," the sereva said, then turned to the raptuva. "Whatever he says or does, just go with it. No matter how crazy. Trust me."

"O...kay...?"