Dark of Night

Characters:

Windige

Gabonno and Jhalil Mbongja





       The air was cold, wet, and unforgiving. Mists rose up around the trees, hiding still forms that awaited the oppurtune moment to strike. Their forms darted from their secrete positions at the sound of the howl, a call of challenge to the hunters, letting them know that another predator stalked these forests. Her warble was loud and clear, and from the cliff face she hung from, her targets were clear as well. Dropping from the rock, Windige slunk into the shadows and darkness, the mists not responding to her and remaining still. As an air elemental she was one within herself, feeling the presence of every creature close to her.

They had tracked her for the last few days, Windige slowly whittling away at their numbers till tonight was the last night they could pursue her. Yet still, blood spurted into the underbrush as her claws and teeth were tainted by the red. The humans cried out to their gods for mercy, but they could not hear them. She silenced them as quickly as she took their lives.

One man, recent scars upon his face from the very beast he hunted screamed out orders. His men had been bait, leading her towards a trap. Near the cliffsides they awaited her, nets held ready with mud caking the wires. Snarling at them, they surrounded her with spears and swords, then brought up the netting around her. Thumping her heavy tail against the ground, she fought for altittude, but was forced down again. Her lithe body flipped and turned, wrapping herself further in the mesh while they tied her down. The man barked more orders, one gold tooth shinning in the light of their fires, greed sparking in his eyes. The air elemental would bring a hefty price in the markets.

Metal and earth covered her and bound her tight, overriding her air control as she struggled to breath. Realizing her predicament, Windige summoned what she could and let out a powerful yowl that echoed around her, making the men clamp their hands to their ears. Her last call for help before the earth snuffed the connection she had to her gift given energy.

"That's right, my pretty," crooned the man with the scar, running a finger across the puckered skin of his face while imagining the various atrocities he would commit in restitution for the disfigurement. "Cry all you want, but you'll come sell on the market, all the same." Glancing to the sides, he nodded at the men shrouded in mist and dark cloaks. "Bring it down, boys. We've got her now."

The earth-encrusted nets swooped down, enveloping the creature and trapping her graceful form with in its constraining wires. The scarred man's followers let out a whoop; a Himmel this large and of such condition and color would let them all live easy for at least a few months.

Grinning gingerly--for it caused him much pain to do so--the scarred man stomped over to Windige and stopped just out of reach of her claws. He had seen the creatures snap nets such as these with their powerful muscles. Already knowing the devastation she could wreak, he had no desire to accidentally subject himself to more of her ferocity. "You caused me and mine quite a bit of trouble," he said quietly. Then, chuckling, he added, "Then again, with fewer purses to fill, the rest of us will come out of this with more coin than we otherwise would have. Maybe I should thank you for killing them. Bah, whatever." He raised his hands in a dismissive gesture. "Put her under, boys. I don't want her waking up and snacking on us before we get her to the cages. Come on, hop to it!"

The scarred man's orders were swiftly followed. His men secured the bonds around Windige's form, and then descended on her with heavy cudgels.

A short distance away, two pairs of violet eyes watched as the ten men beat upon the graceful form of the Himmel trapped in the net. The owners of the eyes knew that the earth packing the steel trapping cables would ground the magical beast's ability to call upon the very atmosphere for aid and strength. Unfortunately, for now, there was nothing the violet eyes could do; ten men might not be too much trouble for them on most nights, but supplies were running low, and these men were already wary. Attacking them now was too risky.

One pair of eyes turned to the other, and then the other looked at the first.  The eyes bobbed a silent nod in the air, and the owners of the heliotrope eyes darted away among the rocks, heading back toward town.

The scarred man whipped his head around, having sworn that he had just heard the scrape of chain over damp rock, followed by an ominous chuckle. Then he turned back to watching his boys wrap up the Himmel. Sounds echoed strangely in such rocky valleys; it was probably one of the other hunters imagining the pleasures in which he'd indulge once this one sold to a wealthy owner.

Shaking his head, he turned back to what he was supposed to be doing. Yes, this one would bring in quite the pretty penny, he mused.

Dragging her to town caused much complaining among the left over men, grumbling and cursing her for her dead weight. Unconsciously the air elemental's claws struck out at the nearest movement, making a human go down screaming as her nail had clipped his leg, spurting blood into the night. "Watch it men! The beast may be knocked out, but she can still kill you." Leaving the man squirming on the ground, the rest made it back into town with no further incident.

The whole village was quiet, and meekly ignored the huge cage in the center, knowing what they had been planning for the last week, but not objecting. They pushed her inside the unique cage, locking the hinges shut. It was made of both metal and wood, with added earthen piles on the side to brace the wood against the cage to fill the gaps of the metal. Specifically made for this creature. Even though the Himmel could split the wood like toothpicks, it was their aura that she could not fight. When she woke she would be surrounded by all alien elements.

Clicking the final lock shut, the scarred man turned to one that materialized from the darkness. "It is done."

The dark shadow that was all that peered from under the cowled robe sent a chill down the scarred man's spine. The necromancer's bony hand extended from his midnight robes, offering a small brown sack that bulged with coin. "You bring us the best, Octannon," rasped a voice from under the hood. "And you will continue to do so."

Octannon shivered, knowing what would happen if he failed in his objective. "Thank you, my lord," he replied, accepting the sack. It clinked gently as he took it. Strange. That sound always used to bring a cheer to him. Until he met this man. Creature. Whatever the necromancer was.

The necromancer turned to the Himmel, trapped in her cage made of materials opposing her element. "This will hold her well. You may leave, Octannon. I will contact you with your next job later." He turned from the hunter, the motion a gesture of dismissal, and Octannon gladly retreated.

The necromancer chuckled darkly as Octannon departed. It amused him so when the strong man left, walking on knees ready to buckle at a moment's notice.

Unfortunately, the necromancer had not expected the Himmel to have been delivered so swiftly; he still had preparations to make, and the rest of his cabal had not yet arrived. They would do so in the next few hours.

He turned and made a symbol in the air, one that would whisk him away to his lab. There was no reason not to leave the Himmel like this. The extra time away from her element would weaken her further, making her more compliant--and less hazardous. The others would arrive soon, and together they could retrieve the creature in just a few hours' time. By the time the town's populace awoke, there would be no sign of the Himmel, and he would be that much more powerful. The necromancer spoke a single word, and suddenly, he was no longer there, leaving Windige to the elements in her metal and earthen cage.

Moaning, not a few minutes after he left, the Himmel's coils twisted within the compound, awakening. Her head pounded and her breath came ragged. She felt like she was suffocating within the small space and pulled at her bindings for a moment, freeing a foot. Windige kicked at the side, with what strength she had and managed to hit loose a board a few inches, letting in precious air. Gods, hear my plea, lend me your strength... She concentrated and extended her birth given senses out around her, the air and her element not mattering. Great, most everyone still around was sleeping. Her long ears flicked to one side, then upwards. Quickly, she tried to stand. The tangles gripped her tightly and she fell over with a heavy grunt of pain. "Dammit." She let out, growling quietly before she began the long proccess of chewing the metal threads off of her. She had to hurry. Windige's ears flicked up again at the strange aura's somewhere above her, them being awake and more active then any others. While her teeth mechnically worked on her bonds, she slowed her breathing to survive with minimal energy.

The pulsing auras moved around slightly, as if moving about a room or pair of rooms. They did this for a few minutes before spiraling down; there must have been a set of stairs in the building. Then, perhaps most unusual, the auras moved in a beeline for Windige's place of incarceration. One of the auras suddenly soared overhead, punctuated by a light thud of boots tapping down on the roof of her cage.

"Well, now, this is most unfortunate," said a man with a very broad accent. "Come, Jhalil, give the creature some air. Surely she should suffocate if left to her own devices."

The other aura, probably Jhalil, moved forward, and the sound of shovel digging into and scooping away earth and stone echoed dully in the cage. "Please, pardon my man's slow work pace," said the man atop the cage. "He is but one man and can only work so quickly. Ah--perhaps, if there is a lock on your cage, you could be so kind as to indicate on which side it hides. It would be tiresome work for my man to have to dig out all sides of this contraption." His accent was indeed broad; his "all" came out as "awwlh," and his "this" sounded more like, "theess." His boots tapped out a little path around the top of the cage, accompanied by what sounded like a cane.

Help? She squirmed for a moment before going still. Did they know what she was? Even humans that remember her species didn't know they were just as smart as they were... and could talk. Windige didn't take any chances. Her striped tail lifted, then came down hard, indicating the locked side. She vaguely remembered being pushed in head first. Their accent was odd to her ears, used to the regular slurred voices of her hunters.

"Ah, most excellent," said the one on top. "Jhalil, over here. Yes, come, hurry. We haven't much time." The man on top tapped his cane impatiently as the direction of the shovel's work changed. For several minutes, the work continued, with the man standing overhead occasionally sending thinly-veiled jibes at his "man" working below. Finally, the shovel hit metal, and then Jhalil began digging out around the area until he found the lock. Or rather, all the locks.

"This should be interesting," said the man who was Jhalil, his accent, and even voice, identical to the man still atop the cage. He went to work, and within minutes, each lock sprang open at Jhalil's talented coaxing.

"Try pushing now," said the man atop the cage, tapping his cane twice. "I know not if we missed anything."

Windige growled and stretched, straining at the cords around her tail before something snapped and her tail hit the door with a force she had not meant. The Himmel winced at the sound and looked back with slightly glowing jade eyes.

The man who had been called Jhalil touched down on the ground as the door to the cage blew open. The man atop the cage let out a hearty laugh. "Such power you have! You nearly took off my man's nose. Along with the rest of him. But enough on that. You should come out."

Hesitantly, she closed her eyes, "Give... me a moment. I have not yet freed the rest of my body from my bounds." Her voice was quite feminine and subtle, and much quieter then one would expect from such a large creature. Windige went back to gnawing, a little disturbed from using her voice, for she was not used to talking to humans. When she was finally freed the cage shook from her movements as she twisted and coiled herself to flip around, then slowly extended only her head. She glanced down at one man, then cocked her head to look at the other.

Jhalil dusted himself off and tucked the shovel away into a leather backpack that was far too small to hold the tool, yet the pack did not bulge, and the shovel did not poke out the top. Once this was done, he looked at the man atop the cage, following Windige's gaze.

The man standing on the roof of the cage wore a wide grin that showed nearly every one of his brilliant, white teeth; even in the dim starlight and fog, they shone like a piece of moonstone. His wiry, black hair was collected into a series of thin dreadlocks that danced about his shoulders; most of the rest of his body was obfuscated by a cloak the color of deepest night. Curiously, he also sported a pair of smoke-lensed glasses that covered his eyes so well that even the sides had tapering lenses attached to them. "Hello, there, dear zeklet'tau," he said, using a word that must have been from his own language, as it rolled from his tongue with experienced fluidity. "And what brings you to this fair town on such a night?" he asked rhetorically.

Windige snorted, blowing dust from around her. "Obviously not by mine own will, Dark masters." She hid her own curiosity well. Both observant and intelligent, she doubted they were from this land, from both language, and looks. "From the look of you both I doubt I need to explain myself. However, as much as I am... grateful to you both... I fear I must leave. And quickly," The Himmel stepped further out and over Jhalil and made sure to avoid him with her tail. Several cords were still around her, but she ignored them for now, "If I have something that I can repay you with, I would."

The man atop the cage looked at Jhalil momentarily, and the two of them exchanged a mutual look. After a moment's pause, the grinning man spoke again. "They found you once. What shall keep them from doing so again?" He leaned with both hands on his cane in front of him; from his tone, it was clear that he possibly knew more than he should have about her situation.

"I will fly where they cannot find me. I have avoided my past lands, but with this force against me, I will have to push through my fears." Windige shook her head, her ears with the fins atop swaying. "I have stupidly kept myself around you humans," She shook herself, sending some dirt flying as her body hunched and long strands of fins shimmered into existance where dots had previously had been on her hide.

"Can you fly so quickly that the sun and stars do not note your passing? Can you hide so well that the eyes of the gods are blind to your veiling?" asked the man atop the cage. He hopped down, landing from the fifteen-foot jump as though it were a three-foot spring, so that he was no longer the Man Atop the Cage. "Let me ask you this: when pursuing a quarry, where does the hunter first look? Near or far?

"The answer, of course, is far," said the man, striding past both Jhalil and Windige. "For why would the quarry hide himself in the vicinity of his hunter?

"If the quarry is clever, he will," the dark-skinned man finished, turning on the heel of his fine boot. "I have seen these men before. They do not tire, and they refuse to... tanook... to capitulate a project, once begun."

"They can't reach me in the skies human." Windige growled, bristling at his comments and knowing attitude while her tail swung angrily, slamming the door shut. "Don't know if you've noticed, but I cannot just hide.... and you seem oftly confident puny man." She spat on the ground at his feet.

The grinning man and Jhalil, who, upon second glance, was nearly identical to the other, shared another look, and their aura pulsed with hidden amusement at something she said. Then the grin vanished, as did the amusement. "You have been away from humans far too long, zeklet'tau. You may reach the skies, but with their magic, so, too, can those who walk the land. They can also watch you from afar, even when you believe yourself safe."

He glanced around at the mist, nodding at something he must have been thinking to himself, then returned his focus to the Himmel. "Ah, but I forget my manners. I am Effendi Gabonno Mbongja, and this is my man of business, Jhalil. Unfortunately, we have little time before the sun rises and frightens away the fog with which we have been blessed, so I shall be brief: we can help, but in order for us to do so, you must come with us, and soon." Gabonno glanced at the cage. "And I would not make so much noise unless you wish to meet the frightened and sleepy eyes of the townfolk." Then, looking back at her, he finished, saying, "I leave the choice to you."

Effendi? Windige watched the two briefly before turning her back on them, taking in a lungful of fresh air. "I am Windige," She uttered eventually, her voice lowered once more to normal. Her colors had begun to lighten as dawn approached and the Himmel let out a very human sigh. The saddle on her back itched which she idly scratched with one claw while she thought about her options. "Please forgive my anger," She began quietly, "However, if you wish to keep your head connected to your shoulders, do not take that tone with me again. I will do as you have suggested... and go with you."

Gabonno's grin returned. "Most excellent, ussta jallil. You are most fortunate to have been brought here." He pointed down the road, to a three-story building, one of the tallest in the town. "You see that building? On the top floor is where I reside, along with Jhalil. It is the safest place you will find--not the least because it is so close to the place you were captured. Your enemies should overlook it." He started waltzing down the street, the night mists swirling around him mysteriously, as he twirled his cane. "Do come along, ussta jallil, and we will hide you... most expertly."

She followed, trotting behind him and catching up almost instantly before slowing down, wary of the buildings around them. "I am afraid that I cannot fit inside these buildings... so I will meet you on the roof." Carefully, she took a few fast steps then stepped into the air. Gracefully, she started swirling in a circular pattern towards the roof, where she landed as quietly as she could.

In a few minutes, Gabonno and Jhalil arrived at their apartment. The sound of many locks clicking echoed lightly before Gabonno opened the door. His footsteps then led over to a balcony with double French doors. Flipping a few bolts--and other things--out of the way, he opened them and called up softly, "Do come in, zeklet'tau Windige. The ceiling here will be high enough to accommodate even you. You will only be safe inside."

"And... what does that mean exactly?" Windige commented, while ducking in, not liking these "buildings" humans lived in. In the brighter light she squeezed in, only having an issue with her shoulders through the door and not banging her tail as the rest of her body entered. The Himmel looked around curiously, finding that there was actually quite enough room for her and settled herself against the wall without doors. Stretching out her backlegs, Windige lay with her head still errect, watching them.

"What does what mean?" Gabonno asked honestly.

"The word you keep saying before my name." Windige replied after a few moments of watching him further with unreadable eyes.

Gabonno glanced at Jhalil, and both of them pulsed with a slight drop of confusion. "It... is what you are, is it not? You are zeklet'tau. I saw you take to the air like a serpent in the desert." He shrugged. "It is the word my people have for creatures similar to you, is all I know. In any case, welcome to my humble abode," he said in grand understatement, having rented possibly the finest apartment in the town. Shelves and tables full of exotic goods, from brass and gold goblets to unusual weaponry to bottles of fine perfume, lined the place; there really was only just enough space for Windige to lie down without destroying anything. And the carpet, in addition to being quite comfortable, was woven with exquisite and intricate patterns.

"As you can see," Gabonno continued, closing and locking the balcony doors while Jhalil raided the liquor cabinet, "I am a merchant of exotic goods, and Jhalil is my man of business, who takes care of the many aspects of negotiations and sale when I am not available. We come all the way from the Great Kingdom of Kalina, far to the south and east--surely you have heard of it before?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye that suggested that, perhaps, he was hoping she was not already familiar with the country.

The Himmel snorted like she had earlier, making a few of the objects around her shake. "I do not know that word, but in our language we are Himmel." She brought a claw to her chest as if she were nobility, "I am not atuned to the cities and lands of humans, so of course I would have not heard of it, but the name sounds familiar." Windige was slightly puzzled about the name however, dismissed it, and his attitude or pride of it.

As Jhalil headed toward one of the stuffed leather chairs set in the opposite corner of the room, Gabonno shrugged. "Himmel, is it? Then, Himmel you are, Windige." He seemed somewhat disappointed about something. Then he forgot his disappointment a moment later. "Right, I almost forgot the most important thing of all." He pulled off his glasses, squinted at the dim light of the lone lamp lit against the darkness of the light, rubbed his nose where his glasses sat, and then put them back on with a sense of relief. Then, striding over to a shelf full of little knick-knacks, he opened a wooden box lined with black metal. "This is what I offer to you, magnificent creature, to keep that evil man and his followers at bay." He pulled out a gold bracelet with little mirrors set within; it was large enough to just barely fit around Windige's littlest digit on her paw. "Wear this at all times, and their magic shall be blind to your presence. Lose it at your own peril," he warned, presenting it to her.

Her nose scrunched up at it, being metal and set her ears in a ninety degree angle as she looked at it, but did not touch it. "I have to... wear it? Can I not hook it onto this saddle and be done with it?" Carefully, Windige unhooked the old collar that was attached to the front part of the harness and uncurled it, "Can I put it on this?"

Any amusement she might have been sensing in Gabonno evaporated, replaced with gravity. "Only if you wish to hide only that saddle from them, ussta jallil." The smile on his lips did not reach his eyes, nor his voice. Then he glanced at the box, and his humor returned. "Unless you can fit yourself into the box, that is. It, too, would shield you."

In the corner, Jhalil let out a snort of laughter into his drink. Gabonno turned. "Is something the matter, Jhalil?" he asked, somewhat testily, though his emotions did not match his words.

"Not at all," the other man replied, glancing up at Gabonno and Windige, who was constantly receiving bursts of curiosity from both of them.

She looked between them, a slight growl deepening in her throat. "Unfortunatly for me, I do not understand your humor, but I cannot wear that. It is too small. I cannot keep track of something that small when I dissapate." Windige didn't bother to explain herself, but rather, her image shimmered then flickered into her now standing, with the saddle on the ground where she had just laid. The Himmel's tail was stiff in slight anger at them, for acting all knowing, yet not understanding she had her limits.

"Then let us keep track of it," Gabonno said gravely, and his aura emanated genuine concern. "Other than this simple trinket, I cannot help you and must send you back through those doors. You need only wear it until that necromancer gives up his chase or dies trying." He raised an eyebrow. "Or, can you face him and his cabal of wizards when they arrive in..." He flipped open a brass pocket watch, then snapped it closed and tucked it away, as he finished, "... three hours?" He indicated the small bracelet she was scorning. "With that, you are protected from their sight and can sleep easy until you can leave this place. Without it, Jhalil and I must abandon you to their designs." He idly twirled the simple bracelet around one finger as he spoke.

She never had much trust to anything besides herself and her own abilities, yet the simple trinket would keep her safe? Yawning toothily, she shut her snout with a wet snap while snatching back the bracelet with her thumb, letting him plainly see how big her hand and claws were compared to his face before bringing it back to her. Sometimes humans needed to be reminded how tiny they were compared to her. "I suppose I can wear it while I sleep." Windige cocked an ear to them in case one objected at her motions.

Gabonno's grin returned in full force. "Ah, most excellent, ussta jallil." His curiosity pulsed again. "I must admit, it is not often that I have the chance to meet such a magnificent creature such as you. But, you are tired, yes? I suppose you, too, have questions for myself. So, if you wish, I will let you sleep, and Jhalil and I will retire, as well. Yes?"

"Ah..." Windige winced as she shifted her weight, glancing back along her coils with her gaze lingering on some darker green spots. "As magnificent as I am, unfortunatly I am just a beast. We do not have what you call... medicines. I suffered some bruising, do you have anything to help with that?" Might be awkward to put it on fur instead of their skin, but if they had it, it would make her sleeping easier. "Also..." She lowered her gaze and repeated the much human-like sigh, "Can one of you scratch behind my ears?" The fur around her nose blushed green.

Both Gabonno and Jhalil paused, the latter with an empty glass in his hand. Their emotions registered confusion at the unexpected request.

Recovering gracefully, Gabonno nodded. "Of course, ussta jallil," he replied as though the request were normal, though his emotions betrayed his wariness. "Jhalil, bring the jar of unguent. The clear one."

"Of course," Jhalil replied quietly, setting his booze glass on the counter and slipping into one of the doors along the wall.

Gabonno turned back to Windige slightly off-balance. "You, ah, have an itch behind your ears, ussta jallil?"

Windige chuckled, lowering her head to be level with his chest, "I promise I won't bite. Like I said, I am an animal with animal needs, and unlike you humans, I cannot reach certain parts of my body very easily, behind my ears being the main one."

Jhalil returned with the unguent and passed it to Gabonno. "Here," said the taciturn man. "Good night." With that, he turned and went back into the room he had just been in.

"Ah, a good night to you, too, Jhalil," Gabonno replied, accepting the jar and turning to Windige. "Well, then, I think I can rather plainly see where this needs to go," he commented, unscrewing the lid and swiping his fingers inside the jar. Getting to work, he applied the cool gel to the places he could see, where the Himmel's bonds had cut her fur and flesh. "Are you certain you are an animal, ussta jallil? I cannot recall the last time a horse or cat spoke to me so clearly," he said in an amused tone as he gently rubbed the gel through her fur and onto her skin. His fingers felt slimmer than they appeared to be.

"Animal origins perhaps." She commented before closing her eyes and leaning slightly into his touch, always envying humans and their fingers. "I do not speak as well as others of my kind. A human taught me." She ceased to talk more on the matter, however while he was applying it to other places the Himmel proceeded to lick at a small cut on her arm.

"I am terribly sorry," Gabonno replied, though his emotions showed a hint of amusement at something. "You are... young or old for a zekle..., ah, Himmel? I have heard only stories of your kind and am unfortunately only able to tell the age of the trinkets I study and sell. Not unfortunate for business, though," he added with a wink. He continued applying the gel; the jar was deep and not quite full to begin with; however, he would likely need to find more once he was done.

Another chuckle vibrated from her long throat, "Young. And... my human taught me as well as he was able. I owe a lot to him."

"And yet you dislike humans and find yourself on the wrong side of their nets. How is this so?"

She was silent for a moment, before leaning back on her neck slightly, "You are too frail. Die too easy. Hard to love something that cannot survive the test of time." Perhaps she had not known exactly what she said, but she did not understand love as others might, or humans did.

Gabonno screwed the lid back on the jar, finished. The container was almost empty. "I apologize. I seem to have touched a nerve," he said sincerely, though his emotions still pulsed with slight amusement--though at something unrelated. "Allow me to make amends by scratching your ears, yes?" After setting the jar on the dining table, he found a towel and wiped his hands. Then, returning to her side, he began carefully scratching behind Windige's ears. "Strange," he muttered, "that this is so soothing to do."

"As it is for any human with an appreciation... for animals..." She started to purr softly at his attention, the tip of her tail tapping against the floor, being a solid bone tip the sound made was an odd chime.

"Yes," Gabonno agreed, "though I have never before enjoyed the company of an animal. I once had a mule that refused to walk forward, so I put him at the back of the wagon and had Jhalil steer from the front." He dug his fingers in a little deeper; his finely manicured nails did the job well, and his fingers were exceptionally long, thin, and strong for a human.

Much like a giant dog, she leaned further into his scratching and began to kick one of her back legs until in a swift movement she twisted over onto her back. Windige almost grabbed him gently but managed to stop herself, whinning softly while throwing her arms into the air in a swaying motion.

Gabonno laughed quietly in his hearty voice and continued scratching, traveling down the Himmel's neck to rub her belly, as per the creature's nonverbal demand. "I ask only that you be careful with how much noise you make, ussta jallil," he told her as he kept up the massage. "It would be most unwise to call attention to ourselves."

She answered with a gurgling sound stretching her body to the limits to successfully pop her spine into allignment. Humans had always been her weakness, which was one reason she had stayed away from them for so long.

Still smiling, the dark man flexed his fingers momentarily before going in for one more scratch. "It is late, ussta jallil, or early, and I must take my rest now. Business, unfortunately, likes to get up early in the morning. I bid you a good night." Patting her flank one final time, he rose and strode to his bedroom door. His hard boot heels, which had until now clicked every time he stepped, made no sound as he crossed the room and slipped into his chambers.

Watching him go, Windige turned her head upright then yawned mightily. Her bruises were already healing; Good. Inwardly she derided herself for enjoying the scratch so much but was still pleased from the attention. Unintentionally humans reverted her back into a state where it was difficult to remember who she was. The Himmel couldn't even talk right now if she wanted to. Flicking an ear, Windige relaxed her tail and completed another sleepy yawn. Thoughts began to slow through her mind, and briefly, she recalled Ramsies' hands scratching her neck for a moment, then her ears fell across her eyes. Sleep had taken her. She would remain still the whole time, still on her back with her legs in the air and her ears shielding her eyes from light.

In a different room, one pair of violet eyes watched as another pair of violet eyes entered. A wolfish grin spread like a Cheshire Cat beneath the first pair of eyes. "Nindel zhahus lil mzilst jivvin klez Usstan inbal rin'ov keffal, dalninuk," said the eyes with the Cheshire mouth. He spoke no words; rather, he held up a hand and signed the words, with a strong flourish at the end to denote his intense amusement. "Dos, xta'rl natha zeklet'tau's mem. Ilhar orn'la elgg iltan."

Although there was no light by which to see, the violet eyes that had just arrived could easily read the hand of the other. "Il xunus," he signed testily. He strode to the window. "Doer. Udos inbal xund ulu xun. Jivvin xund. The other nodded. The first one silently opened the window, and two forms, black as the deepest night, flew from the window with the intensity of a windstorm but with the noise of but a light breeze.

Much later, the necromancer returned, suddenly appearing next to the cage that held the helpless Himmel. In rapid succession, twelve other wizards, necromancers, appeared on the road in the same inconspicuous manner. Mists still thinly shrouded them from general view; more importantly, the townsfolk were not yet awake. By the time they did, the Himmel would be safely tucked away in his laboratory, either dead or dying.

The necromancer looked up at his fellows. "She is within. Let us recover her."

The thirteen necromancers all raised their right hands, chanting a brief incantation. At the end of it, the earth and stone that surrounded the Himmel's cage blew away as though by a strong wind, though no wind actually blew. Then, with a twist of one finger curled into a crook, the lead necromancer unlocked the series of enormous padlocks on the cage, and the door swung open.

A murmur arose from the others as the necromancer swore silently. Then, stalking forward, he looked at what had happened here. "What in the nine blazing hells is this?" he hissed. Inside was not the Himmel, but the hunters he had sent after the creature. None of them yet lived; they had died in a most violent manner, each of them. Long lacerations covered most of them, and all of them had been disemboweled. The stench, now that the earth had been swept away and the cage opened, was overwhelming, even for one so experienced with dealing with the dead, and worse. Most curious were the long wounds that wrapped around some of the men; the wounds looked like long bruises punctuated by evenly spaced puncture wounds. He was not certain exactly what kind of weapon would make this type of wound, but he shivered at the thought of being on the receiving end of its fury.

Then something caught his eye: a perfectly round and shallow, white dish filled with a clear liquid. Just as he stepped in to take a closer look, he noticed the second container, this one a clay jug, on its side and suspended over the dish. Everything happened at once. The necromancer turned, shouted, "Leave this place!" to the others and, with a sharp motion, willed himself to be back in his laboratory. The other wizards followed suit as a single drop of another clear, viscous liquid inside the jug dripped out and into the dish set on the floor. The mixture ignited and exploded in a fraction of a second, sending out a concussive wave that shattered the wood on the cage and rent the steel bars. An enormous flame lit up the night with the subtlety of a thunderclap.

It was not long before the first townsfolk staggered outside, sleepy and wondering what the hell had just happened. And, upon seeing the wreckage of what had transpired, lost their sleepiness in an instant.

In their rooms at Gabonno's apartment, several blocks away, the newfound companions rested comfortably, the blast too far away and with too many obstructions in between to be heard. When Gabonno and Jhalil did at last rise after a short night's rest, they made their appearance in the living room gently, not wishing to disturb the sleeping Himmel as Jhalil set about making breakfast.

One ear twitched, then the other, as the fins on the tips slowly curled upwards, bringing the ears with them to reveal Windige still sleeping. Or rather, her eyes were still shut. The fur along her brow scrunched up and her belly rose up as she stretched very similiar to the previous night. When she was done, an eye opened, then both watched them walking around before she voiced a small question, "May I sun my tail on the balcony?"

Gabonno looked up from the coffee he was brewing and nodded. "Yes, it should be safe for you to do that," he replied. Then, glancing at Jhalil, he flexed his fingers momentarily before adding, "Ah, I have a most delicate question, ussta jallil. What do you eat? And, how much?"

Windige picked herself and half walked - half waddled to the door she had used earlier and set her tail down in the light. Closing her eyes again, the Himmel kept her ears up however, "I do not need to eat for another few days." And she left it at that.

Gabonno and Jhalil traded another glance and a shrug, and the latter expertly flipped a hotcake in the air and back into the pan. The two nearly identical men ate their breakfast; Gabonno drew up a list of clients he intended to visit that day and told Jhalil to have ready some items for sale.

The street below the balcony was calm and quiet, being a small back street with few travelers. However, commotion could easily be heard from the main street, where the sounds of armored soldiers clanked up and down the street, and orders were shouted from commander to private.

Raising only her neck and head, Windige glanced outside and narrowed her eyes. Not being able to see anything meant nothing, for she was probing emotions. Not saying anything, she looked back at the two men curiously, for the first time seeing them in full light, "Your parents let you sit in the song too long didn't they?" The Himmel commented softly, having not ever seen skin as dark as theirs before.

The two men exchanged yet another look before bursting out into hoots of laughter. Gabonno nearly fell off his chair, and even the normally quiet Jhalil pounded the table, laughing so hard that tears dripped onto the lenses of his dark glasses.

After a good minute, Gabonno settled down enough to pull his glasses off and clean them. He squinted his purple eyes at the light coming from the balcony, as though the brightness was painful to him. "Yes," he replied, his stomach still clenching occasionally in another chuckle. "You might say that. In our land, the Great Kingdom of Kalina, the sun shines overhead all day, and even the very sands shine with the brightness of the sun. Our people spend much of the day outside in the markets or the fields." He indicated himself. "I am considered to be exceptionally light for my people. I much prefer to remain inside and let others take care of my business for me."

She was a bit stung from their laughter and tossed her head to put her nose slightly in the air and looked away from them. "I see. The only humans I have seen are here, so it is understandable that I wouldn't know." Windige's tail tapped for a moment before she added, "So being that you are "Lighter" means that you have a higher status?" She twisted her neck so she might see him answer. Curiousity always got the best of her.

Gabonno shrugged again, his grin returning. "In some ways, yes. But I know many men even richer than I who spend their days in the sun. They are very dark even though they wrap themselves in cloth to protect themselves from the sun." He stood and nodded to Jhalil, who nodded back at Gabonno, then at Windige. Jhalil ducked out of the apartment, and his footsteps receded down the hall outside. Gabonno turned back to Windige. "I was shocked when I came here, ussta jallil. So many people, and few of them human! In the Great Kingdom of Kalina, the sun shines so brightly that the elves shrivel into prunes, and dwarves sweat themselves into a puddle. They do not like to stay for very long." He winked at her from behind his dark glasses.

"A year ago this town was a city," Windige mentioned softly, ignoring when Jhalil left, "Then the Lavabeest spawn swept through, only a handful survived. Most humans converged to here. Made my life easier." Her ear twisted slightly to the outside, where her tail lay. "Something is happening in the village. Fear and speculation are running rampant." The Himmel eyed her saddle, then Gabonno before shaking her neck, the hair of her mane standing straight upright before relaxing.

Gabonno raised a dark eyebrow. "Truly?" he asked, though he seemed rather unconcerned; in fact, his emotional aura was one of great amusement. "Perhaps you would like me to see what is happening?"

She shook her head, "I would rather not look at the soldiers, it would bring back... unlikable memories."

Patiently, Gabonno nodded, still pulsing with amusement. "Then perhaps I should go and tell you what is happening? Or would you rather not know?"

"Much like humans, they never change. They always try to capture or control what they don't understand. It was how I was introduced to them in the first place." Her eyes glanced to the old collar attached to her saddle, going silent.

Gabonno's amusement faded somewhat. Sitting back down in his chair, he followed Windige's gaze. "Did humans put those things on you?" he asked, resting his hand against his mouth.

For a moment she did not respond, but when she did, her voice was gentle, "Originally, the collar. As I grew older, I bonded with a human and he trusted me. He took my collar off. When he was killed, I found that he had kept it, as a memento." Windige lifted her lip, almost like a grimace but with sharp, ivory teeth, "I wore the saddle willingly. I wear it now to remind myself why I stay away from humans."

"You... were captured?" Gabonno asked. Although his outward demeanor was conversational, his emotions underwent a sudden change, turning almost instantly from neutral to an angry, hateful haze. "I am sorry, ussta jallil, for what... my kind did to you. I know it is not much, but you have my apologies."

"You are not responsible for their actions." Windige answered quickly, then paused to take a small breath to calm herself... then boldly turned her gaze to him with eyes narrowed. "Something tells me that you two aren't fully human anyway."

Gabonno did not lose his composure, but his emotions swirled, first a momentary flash of fear, confirming Windige's suspicions, followed by annoyance, then a rush of different things, mostly confusion. "A-and what would make you think that?" he asked, half-laughing.

"Abilities mostly... " The Himmel actually smiled, well, their version of a smile included simply showing their fangs, "But your eye color is unknown to humankind."

Gabonno raised an eyebrow. "Abilities? I assure you, Jhalil may be a good cook, but his aptitude is entirely natural." His emotions turned back to neutral, but slightly worried. "As for our eyes... our great-great grandmother hailed from the land of Feyrdust. You have heard of it, yes? It is far to the east. She was beautiful--her portrait used to hang over the dining table at my home in the Great Kingdom of Kalina." He let out a laugh, but his emotions did not coincide with his expression. "It is a shame we did not inherit her ears, for we have the elephant-sized ears of our father." He watched her, his eyes hidden behind the dark lenses of his glasses.

"No, I do not know the land of Feyrdust, and as far as I can see your ears look just like any humans." Windige chuckled, "If anyone has 'elephant' ears, and I am assuming that it means large ears, it would be me." She flicked them for a moment before turning one to make a perfect ninety degree angle, and cocking her head. If a beast that can eat a human head easily could become any more cute then she, one would say impossible.

Gabonno's mouth once again split into a grin, though his underlying emotions were still uncertain. "Ha ha, I suppose so, ussta jallil. You have enough ear for more than me and my man of business!" he laughed. "But yes, for humans, we do have rather large ears." He pulled his hair back slightly, revealing one of his ears. "You see?"

Her eyes pin pointed as she looked closer before before lowering her head slightly, "They look about the same as any other human to me." Windige took a claw and rubbed it agains the carpet for a moment before moving her ears back into their normal positions. "I feel as if I have upset you, Master Gabonno."

"Hoh? And how is that, ussta jallil? I have enjoyed this conversation immensely," he lied, lowering his dreadlocks.

Windige snorted, "My human used to have this saying... 'Do I have stupid written on my forehead?' or something like that." Growling, "Lieing to me is useless."

Gabonno's emotions flared up to surprise, then to fear, before finally settling on suspicion. "So," he said, still friendly, though the aura radiating him was anything but. "What do you mean? Have you been... reading my thoughts?" He leaned forward in his chair slightly, perhaps not even realizing what he was doing.

Not feeling very threatened at all, Windige yawned then began licking her claws, letting him squirm before answering, "No. If I could do that, why would I ask you questions?" She felt his suspicion, which reflected her own, "I can feel your emotions, as I can with nearly every species, as long as I am paying attention."

Gabonno sat back in his chair. His emotions returned to neutral as he thought things out logically. Steepling his fingers before him, he mused for several minutes. Then, in his broad accent, he replied, "This is most interesting. And troubling. There are many secrets in this world, ussta jallil. Some of them contain deadly information. Others may be deadly even to know. You understand, yes?"

Turning, the Himmel flipped to her behind again like she had the previous night, sunning the other side of her tail, but kept her torso upright. "I don't see how my abilities would spur such a response. However... information... being dangerous? I guess, in a sense, any information, that is essential to someone, can be deadly if their enemies know? Something like that?" The ways of the world were unknown to her.

"Yes," Gabonno replied with a nod. "There is information in this world that is not meant to be known by some people, and so, to the people who know it but should not, it can be dangerous, even deadly." He shrugged. "It is also not polite to listen to the thoughts and feelings of another, ussta jallil. Would you not resent me if I knew your secrets before you spoke them?"

Windige rolled her eyes - a very human action - "It is a part of me, it is how I see, if I suppress my ability I cannot understand everything. I'm sorry, but I will not stop myself." The Himmel tilted her head, "Besides, if you do not display your emotions, this is the only way I can interpret what you are saying without speaking. You hide your emotions, and you keep secrets from me. I am already in danger, anything more you deem dangerous would not change my situation. It is dire already."

"And," She added quietly, "If it is natural, why supress it?"

Gabonno crossed his legs and looked at her with a level gaze. "If you cannot suppress it, then do not," he said. "But many times, secrets are kept because they, too, must be kept. As I have said, some secrets are dangerous to know. But there are also secrets which are dangerous to those they concern. Sometimes, silence must be kept."

Windige nodded, "All I ask is that you do not lie to me. I may not be as smart as a normal Himmel, but that does not make me stupid."

The dark-skinned man's smile returned, but his emotions flared with suspicion--and then dimmed slightly, as though he were trying to confuse his own emotions in an attempt to obscure them. "Gabonno will not lie to you, ussta jallil, and neither will Jhalil. But, there are some things--such as business dealings, which we cannot discuss with you. It would be... naut rnahm... ah, unprofessional."

The door opened, and Jhalil returned bearing a folio of business documents. "Your schedule," he said by way of greeting and explanation.

Gabonno flexed his fingers eagerly and reached for the folder. "Ah, good work, Jhalil. Business shall run smoothly today, I hope?"

Jhalil nodded, but without explanation, his emotions roiled with fear that gave way to murderous wrath, and he fixed Windige with a stare from behind his dark-lensed glasses. "Zhal'la udos elgg ilta?" he asked calmly despite the spike in his aura.

Gabonno merely laughed and waved away the other man as he tucked his portfolio under his arm. "No, no, my man. I will make sure that is taken care of." Then, shaking a finger at him, he added, "And must I remind you to speak the language of the locals? It is terribly rude to do that."

"Sorry," Jhalil apologized with a bow of his head to both Gabonno and Windige. Now, however, he also radiated a strong aura of suspicion, mixed with curiosity. Without another word, he entered his room and disappeared inside, his emotions dying down a bit.

"Don't see how things of your business would matter to me, I am just a Himmel." Windige grumbled, annoyed. "Seems I am making things complicated by my presence. Might it be better if I left you two?" Her tail flicked back and forth, a key into her own emotions while her claws flexed slightly. Whenever she actually became angry they would start to itch, making it so it would be harder to stop her from slashing into something.

Gabonno shook his head. "And leave you to be found by that evil man again? I think not. For good or for bad, we are in this together." He glanced down at his portfolio, and his emotions returned to being slightly amused. "Can you read, Miss Windige?"

"I can, but not expertly. Books are hard to work with, being that they are so small." Stretching, the Himmel stood after a moment and extended her neck, making her way over to him, "Is there something you wanted to show me?" An ear flicked to Jhalil's room for a moment, before returning to attention to Gabonno.

The swarthy man produced a news bulletin and handed it to her. "It seems as though someone has taken revenge for your capture," he said. His glasses slid down on his nose slightly, revealing his eyes, which twinkled with delight. Amusement also radiated from him. On the parchment was a carving sketch produced on a press, along with the headline, "Strange box appears and explodes. Ten men found dead and burned at the scene." The drawing was of the cage from the night before, with almost comical, charred bodies lying within and around the cage.

"-And I'm sure you two had nothing to do with this," Windige rumbled, slight humor in her tone, her eyes moving along the drawing's curves.

Gabonno gave her a hurt look. "You would accuse us of murder? Ussta jallil, that is nothing to joke about! I assure you, while I am an accomplished fencer, I could not take down ten men with a sword." He pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose, his amusement unabated. "In any case, my docket seems to require that Jhalil and I travel farther north, closer to civilization. Perhaps you will come with us? There, folk may not recognize you, and perhaps we can find a way to hide you without tucking you away in our living room. You can become lost amongst the crowds, in a sense. What do you think?"

"With my size master, it would be difficult to hide me in plain sight. However..." Windige paused, glancing to her saddle that lay in the corner, "I am not a beast of burden, but if there is a way to repay you for your... hospitality... this is it. I can take you to wherever you need to go." The Himmel's hide twitched as if she was bothered... only that she was facing her past by even offering her services.

Gabonno laughed again and waved away the idea. "Ussta jallil, I would not dream of making you pull a cart. I have horses and a carriage enough to carry myself, Jhalil, and the things I will need. Besides," he continued, his eyes sparkling, "I know of just the place for us to go."

Turning around, he jostled the papers in the folio into alignment and tucked them back into the folder. "I must be off for now," he said to Windige. "We shall leave in the evening." He turned toward the bedroom into which Jhalil had ducked. "Jhalil, xuat elgg ilta--" he looked back at Windige. "So sorry. I forgot myself. Jhalil, I shall return after lunch. Do look after the apartment. And please be hospitable to dear Windige." With that, he bowed to Windige and headed out the door.

In Jhalil's room, running water could be heard pouring into what was likely a bath; the emotions emanating from within were slight frustration, cooled by the promise of a relaxing bath.

Understanding Jhalil's frustration, Windige watched him go with a slight sigh, "Doubt your brother likes me much." She commented under her breath, becoming bored very quickly. Ignoring the sounds of the human, Windige glanced around the apartment, eyeing several things before her gaze drifted up to the loft. Getting to her feet, the Himmel carefully made her way to the other side, lifting her torso to brace herself on the "second" floor while she looked around at the odd bookshelves, beds, and many books. A few of the novels were quite large. Curious, Windige stretched to reach it with her paw, having a slight difficulty with the way her body was proportioned. Scrambling for a foothold, her back leg held up her weight while the other grabbed onto the ledge. The loft started to groan deeply.

From within the bedroom, Jhalil's voice emanated. "What... what is going on out there? Do you need help?"

"Um...?" Windige wilted but halted her movement, not wanting to break anything. "I saw a big book... with maps. I wanted to look at it." She adjusted her weight and recieved another groan of disaproval from the second floor.

"Then please take it down and look at it on the table or the floor." The emotions emanating from Jhalil's room were ones of mixed amusement and exasperation. "No need to break the house reading it." His footsteps crossed the floor, and for a moment, his aura turned a little wistful. But still, he did not emerge.

Hesitantly, she brought up her hindquarters and quickly made for the book, putting all her weight on her back legs and tail. Something cracked beneath her. Please no, she pleaded, but it came too late. The floor groaned one final time before slowly sagging down slightly. Windige grimaced then remembered something; bringing her weight into the air took little energy, and would have made things easier in the first place. However she was not born an elemental, so such gifts needed to be remembered to use.

Jhalil's emotions continued to remain both amused yet slightly annoyed as he calculated just how much it would cost to repair whatever Windige had just broken. "Too late," he muttered, and although he clearly wanted to see what was going on, he remained in his room for a good ten minutes before emerging to witness the damage.

She sat in the corner with the book, her coils folded over herself as she tried to make herself as small, and apologetic looking as possible. "I'm sorry," The Himmel said softly, "I thought it would hold my weight..." The loft was now propped up with a few chars stacked on top of each other and one of the bookshelves on the other side. The second floor was still sagging, but not as much.

Jhalil bit his lip, not quite hard enough to draw blood, as he looked from the Himmel to ruined loft. He gave her a cross look, muttering, "I had better deal with this before Brother comes home." Despite his apparent annoyance, his inner emotions bubbled with a strange mixture of bemusement and hysterical mirth.

Heading to a closet, he pulled out two lengths of wood and some rope, then pointed at the support beam that had buckled under Windige's weight. "Can you straighten that?" he asked, his voice exasperated but his emotions still amused.

"Uh yes, I can." Windige hurried to help, bracing herself with her tail before going to the sagging ceiling and putting herself between it and the floor, "Like this?"

Jhalil nodded and threw his shoulder at the cracked beam, trying to push it back straight again. It took several hard tackles, but eventually, he got it straight. Then, working quickly, he used the two boards from the closet as a splint and wrapped the rope around it. "It is done," he said, "though my brother shall have to call a carpenter." The loft was mostly level again, and Jhalil looked at it with a distrustful eye. Then he shrugged. He didn't sleep up there, so it didn't really matter. "You can let go," he said at last.

Releasing the floor, Windige hung her head, not happy that she had broken something and let out a small sigh. When she had lived with her human they had always lived outside, so not to be hindered by space. Again, she apologized and went back to her corner where she sat down and scratched at her ear with her back foot much like a dog. Seemed she always had an itch back there.

Jhalil went to the liquor cabinet (or, more accurately, the liquor closet) and pulled out a dark bottle chased with silver inlay. Pouring himself a glass, he leaned against the table, watching Windige. His emotions fluctuated as he thought about various things, but his amusement did not fade much while he was watching her; however, his outward expression was calm. Taking a sip of his drink, he said quietly, "He will not be angry with you, Miss Windige."

"I know." She answered, just as softly, "Just I broke something of yours, so naturally, I would feel guilty." Windige tilted her head at him, watching him carefully, noting his emotions and remembering Gabonno's warning about intrusion. Hesitantly, "You are curious about me... is there anything you wish to know?" The Himmel sat up with her hindquarters against the flooring and her tail encircling her while her spine was arched. Her front arms were tucked in close to her body and her neck was also arched to look at him straight on. One might compare her position to that of a gopher or prairie dog on lookout. For the Himmel, this was a posture of resting.

A brief grin crossed Jhalil's features, accompanied by a hint of amusement in his aura. "Do all Himmels forget to fly like that?"

Her ears flattened against her neck in embarrasment, "No, that is just me. Or... so I would think." Windige chuckled slightly for a moment to herself before taking a breath, and diving in. "When a Himmel breaks through our shells, and is born, our parents transfer their memories to their young. It cements the bond between them for their whole lives." She paused, the tip of her tail tapping as if she were agravated, "When I was born, my mother was dying. She was only able to relay a few things before she... expired. Flying wasn't one of them."

Windige scratched her belly after looking away, "So, I guess you would call me an exception to my species."

Jhalil's emotions blanked. He stared at his drink for a moment. Then he tossed it back and clapped the glass back onto the table, upside-down. "You have my condolences, Miss Windige." He winced, then asked, "Were... humans involved in her death?"

"No." The Himmel's ears flicked forward before settling into their normal position, but her lips twitched in a half snarl, "That would be the Lavabeests. They nearly tore this continent apart and killed all the inhabitants. The creatures spared no creature, no plant, no human. If we go by air to the place you need to go, we shall pass by the scars in the earth forged by this fire-ridden spawn." Windige closed her eyes, remembering, "One year ago, I was summoned with three other elementals to fight this evil, and eradicate it. Thankfully, we succeeded."

Jhalil nodded. "It is easy to see that you succeeded. Otherwise, my brother would not have come, and he would not have brought me with him." He removed his dark glasses and immediately squinted at the relatively dim light entering through the balcony doors. Pulling out a soft cloth, he quickly cleaned the lenses before replacing them on his face with an audible sigh of relief.

Gabonno returned a short while later wearing his usual, wide smile. "Ah, Miss Windige and Jhalil. You have been enjoying this day, yes? Most excellent," he said without waiting for a reply. His radiated emotions pretty much matched his expression and words. He dropped his folio on the table and looked at Jhalil with a bewildered expression. "Jhalil? Why is dinner not on the table yet?"

Jhalil looked at the ground, though his emotions were a riot of amusement. "Sorry," he mumbled before scurrying to prepare the meal.

Gabonno sent a frown in Jhalil's direction. "I did not buy you out of debt so you could squander your life, Jhalil. If you desire my patronage, you shall work for it."

Turning back to Windige, Gabonno bowed his head slightly. "I am sorry you had to witness that. Sometimes Jhalil forgets what it means to work for me and must be admonished most sternly."

Windige shrugged, "I am not human so I wouldn't understand. However, on a different..." Her brow twitched as it took her a few moments to think of the right word, "-note, I will need to eat tonight, sometime. I must have underestimated my stomach."

Gabonno folded his hands together. "And what is it that you eat, ussta jallil?"

She grinned, "Oh, anything with a sizable head."

Gabonno blinked once behind his dark glasses. "You mean... like a cow? Or an oliphant, ussta jallil?"

"Humans work well, with the size I mean. But cow, or deer, will do I suppose." Windige grinned again, flashing her teeth in amusement.

Gabonno scratched his chin in thought, flexing the fingers of his right hand as he did so. Both he and Jhalil gave off a momentary burst of amusement. "A human might be... difficult to come across, ussta jallil," Gabonno replied, smiling. "But I can provide a cow, and soon. I will bring a cow along tonight, and you may feast at your leisure, ussta jallil." He bowed slightly. "I will add it to the list."

"Don't worry about that, master, I will hunt something tonight." The Himmel licked her claws before going a full inspection of her fur, carefully preening her underbelly and tail. She would continue to do this for a while, occasionally watching Jhalil work on cooking.

Jhalil finished making the midday meal and served it to Gabonno before taking a significantly smaller portion for himself. Gabonno dug in with gusto, adding to the meal a glass of fine wine for himself; Jhalil was content with a small canteen of stronger liquor.

Glancing over at Windige, Gabonno said, "Ussta jallil, if you would like a taste of the food humans eat, you may have what is left. It will not fill your belly, but Jhalil knows how to use a kitchen well, if anything." He pointed with his fork at the hot dishes still on the wood-burning stove.

She shook her head in response, " 'Human food' is nothing compared to the fresh blood of a kill. I have tasted it before, doing so again will not change my opinion of it." Windge paused for a moment, realizing something before adding, "But thank you, for the offer." She secretly looked to the large book of maps behind her before continueing to preen.

"If you wish, ussta jallil," Gabonno said, turning his attention back to the meal. He and Jhalil finished in silence, Jhalil waiting for Gabonno to finish by drumming his fingers on the table. Gabonno retreated to his room for a few minutes while Jhalil cleaned up the dishes, and when he returned, it was with his usual, wide grin. "Miss Windige, my man of business and I have some errands to complete, not the least of which is readying the carriage for tonight. Will you be content here by yourself for a few hours?"

Nodding, "I will sleep some more so I am awake enough for tonight." Windige pulled out the map book before settling herself down, using a slight breeze to push the boook open to a random page.

Gabonno nodded and turned away. Just before he was about to speak, though, he looked over at the loft and stopped in his tracks. He glanced back at Windige for a moment. "You have had fun romping about my abode, yes?" he asked cordially.

Windige flinched, "Ah, yes that... um... I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." She hung her head in shame, the fur around her face lightening to a reddish-brown in her embarrasment. Blinking, she looked at Jhalil briefly before returning to the floor where she scratched at the carpet.

Gabonno's grin returned. "It matters not, ussta jallil. I shall put it on the schedule to be repaired while we are away." He gave a jovial laugh. "I am, after all, quite rich!" He laughed harder for a moment, then sobered. Turning toward the door, he snapped, "Jhalil! You know what you are to do. Return and wait for me here when you are done."

Jhalil muttered a reply before slipping out the door.

Gabonno held open the door and looked back at Windige. "I will be back soon. Please try not to break too many more essential parts of the house. It would draw attention to you." With that, he, too, left, and he closed and locked the door behind him.

She continued to look at the floor for a little longer before her gaze flickered back to the book with interest. When she had looked as much as she liked, Windige pushed it out of the way before flipping her ears over her eyes like she had the previous night, and also turned onto her back. A few hours later found her position unchanged.

As the sun began nearing the edge of the sky, the sound of a horse-drawn carriage could be heard pulling up to the building. A minute later, Gabonno and Jhalil came through the door. Gabonno greeted Windige with his usual vigor before the two of them began quickly packing supplies for the journey; the brothers seemed very used to and adept at the task. In only an hour's time, the two of them had loaded their victuals and other necessities aboard the carriage. Then, after a half hour of packing in their rooms with the doors closed, they each lugged two suitcases downstairs, and Windige could hear the solid thumps of the suitcase being loaded onto the vehicle.

Finally, darkness fell, and the town grew quiet as people filtered back indoors and closed their shutters against the unknown elements of the night. It was near midnight before Gabonno announced that it was time to leave. "Ussta jallil," he said to Windige, "We shall meet you at the north entrance to the town. The moon will be covered by clouds for the next several minutes, so you will be invisible to those watching the skies. Are you ready?"

Getting to her feet and into her saddle, "I am." Windige positioned herself at the balcony doors, using her claws delicatly to unlock and slightly open the doors. Watching the moon, she made sure its light was completely gone before slipping out. She did not shut the panes behind her but stepped immediately into the air and disappeared.

Gabonno closed and locked the balcony doors, and Jhalil set about delicately placing certain wires here and there in front of the doors. They repeated the process for the front door, only in reverse, before heading silently down to the waiting carriage.

Jhalil quietly took his place in the driver's seat, and both of them stretched their fingers briefly before Gabonno clambered into the back and pulled up the window shades so he could see outside. With a flick of the reins, Jhalil had the two horses in motion toward the northern gate.

Getting out of the town was not a difficult process, as the "gate" was merely the place where the last buildings ended. There was a lookout posted, but his vision was limited to perhaps eighty feet from the light of his torch. "Ah," Gabonno said as Jhalil pulled the carriage to a stop several hundred feet from the gate, waiting for Windige, "what a beautiful night to be out." He pulled off his dark glasses and cleaned them, squinting as the moon began to peek out from behind the clouds. He then placed them back on the bridge of his nose with a sigh of relief.

A breeze pushed past their dreadlocks, and with it the shadow of Windige, her colors muted by the darkness. She did not land, but stayed hovering in the air above them, "It is indeed a beautiful night."

Gabonno and Jhalil were not surprised by her sudden reappearance; Gabonno kept his chin propped in his hand and glanced over at the Himmel as she arrived. "Miss Windige, how good of you to join us," he said jovially, though he kept his voice low enough to just be heard. "Let us be off." Jhalil snapped the reins, and the horses took off at a leisurely trot.

"Miss Windige," Gabonno said after a moment, "do you like philosophy?"

Spiraling in the air, "What kind of... philosophy?" In truth she did not know what the word meant, having had her only teacher be just a humble soldier.

Gabonno chuckled. "Oh, the kind where one looks at his life and wonders and marvels at it," he said.

"I do not think of my past often," -Because it hurts too much. Windige left the second part unsaid, and went silent. The air felt good against her form, carrassing her with a lover's touch before being pushed behind her. One ear twitched to the side, listening to the sounds of animals around them.

"Oh," Gabonno said, waving one hand, "it is not the past one thinks of, but the present, the self. You." He leaned slightly farther out from the carriage window as it bounced along the dirt road. "For instance, have you ever considered why you call yourself an 'animal'?"

Windige looked at Jhalil before answering slowly, "Because you two legs often judge me as such. Because I do not cook my food, nor have possessions like most have. My species is not... well... was not civilized in your eyes." She continued to move through the air, quiet before adding, "In all senses we are all animals." The Himmel recalled being used as a guard dog for the outpost of soldiers before sighing.

Gabonno smiled. "That is true enough, ussta jallil. We are all animals, each seeking to eat each other, be it literally or socially. Even in the city, survival of the fittest is key." Then he shrugged. "Then again, perhaps we have risen above being animals, perhaps by cooking our food, yes, or perhaps by living in homes of stone and wood. Or, perhaps it is our ability to choose whom and what we eat. What do you think, ussta jallil? Is it not your instinct to eat me simply because you can?"

Turning her head to him, she stared at him. "No. It isn't. The only reason I would eat you, would be for your head. It tickles as it goes down, and it is a pleasant feeling. But I wouldn't savor the rest of you as much, as it provides little nourishment." The Himmel's ears flickered back against her skull and her neck whipped her head around to the bushes. Lightening quick, her lithe body coiled in the air and sprang into the forest. There was a loud thud a moment later and the dull squeal of some animal echoed in the air. Wndige returned, blood dripping from something large in her jaws. It spurted as she ripped the head from it, unhooking her jaw to swallow the head and the bulge continued down her long neck before disappearing into her chest.

Gabonno and Jhalil watched, rather fascinated, as she swallowed her kill. "Quite impressive," said Gabonno. "Although I wonder exactly what nourishment eating only heads provides." He shrugged. "I also sense that you are not so interested in discussing yourself, and so I shall stop speaking of it and take my rest. Good night, ussta jallil," he said, tugging down the window shades.

She tore into the rest of the deer, the sound of tearing meat and bone fading as she swiftly finished the creature, throwing the carcass to the side of the road. "I eat heads out of pleasure. It is... fun." Although Gabonno had already set himself to what rest he could, she spoke this more to his brother. "You are much easier to talk to then him." Windige uttered quietly, "He seems to act as if he knows everything." Licking herself clean, she did not slow even when she was preoccupied floating next to him.

Jhalil looked at Windige as if to say, "How do you know he doesn't?" He kept silent, however, looking over his shoulder at the carriage's outer wall, indicating that it was not yet safe to speak plainly.

After a few minutes, Jhalil sighed and relaxed in the driver's seat. "He is asleep," he told Windige. Inside the carriage, Gabonno must have already been dreaming; he radiated great amusement, though the emotion was garbled slightly, as if from across the veil of dreams.

The dark-skinned man shrugged at Windige. "His words make sense, Miss Windige, in a way. I understand what he is trying to tell you."

"About the head thing? Well yeah, I understand that too. I just like eating the heads for fun..." She licked her lips and shrugged as well, having cleaned most of the blood off of her. Quietly, "If I could tell anyone more about myself, it would be to you, rather then him." Windige looked over at him, "You understand me better then he does, in my--" She put a claw to her chest, "--humble opinion."

Jhalil shook his head. "I may sympathize with you, Miss Windige. But Gabonno, he is a businessman. Understanding other people is why he is so rich. Perhaps he is only trying to push you to understand yourself." He raised an eyebrow.

"I am not 'people' Jhalil." Windige replied softly.

"You sound so certain of it, Miss Windige," Jhalil said. "Why is that?"

She shook her head slowly, "I just am."

Jhalil shrugged. "If you are convinced that you are but an animal, then that is what you are. But consider this: do animals believe they are animals?" Suddenly, he whipped his head around, scanning the nighttime sky from behind his dark glasses. "A Lloths orbb t'zarreth!" he cursed, just as two enormous boulders, each easily three times the size of Jhalil, crashed down on either side of the carriage in rapid succession. Dirt and debris sprayed into the air, and Jhalil yanked hard on the reins as the horses spooked and reared.

From inside the carriage, Gabonno's voice emanated. "What is going on out there?"

"Hiranen!" Jhalil called. "Giants!"

Like a whip she avoided the boulders with a lashing movement before melding with the darkness of the trees, becoming unrecognizable from the shadows of them. If she could use them to her advantage, she could surprise the giants.

Six of the hulking brutes, each standing almost twelve feet tall, stood atop a small, rocky outcropping along the road. They paused only long enough to reach down and grab more stones before loosing another volley. Jhalil dropped the reins and dove from the carriage, rolling to his feet on the road and drawing his thinblade in one smooth motion. Gabonno burst from the interior in a flurry, his black cloak billowing out behind him. "Dos zhahen ulu kyorl mina ust," he said tartly to Jhalil, though he wore a vicious grin on his face. Despite the night, both brothers continued to wear their dark glasses.

"Taudl. Usstan orn tesso mina ulu ul'nusst nintan huthin draeval," Jhalil shot back as he darted forward. He began carefully climbing up the rock facing as stones rained down about him.

Gabonno seemed more adept at the climbing job than his man of business. The swarthy man scaled the stones at twice the speed of Jhalil, surprising the giants when he burst over the edge of the outcropping. One of the giants took a swing at him with the rock it was holding to throw, and the swarthy man ducked deftly out of the way. His rapier flickered from its sheath like a little gossamer wing and punctured the flesh of his opponent's arm. "Xsa," he cursed; while such a wound might have been deadly to a normal-sized person, the giant shrugged it off like a mosquito bite.

One of the giants near the edge made a move to defend its brethren, but midswing the thick body was thrown backward, and with a loud roar tumbled over the edge. Like a snake, the Himmel lashed out, grabbing onto the arm of the giant attacking Gabonno with her strong jaws, her body coiling in the air as she fought for leverage. After the second whip around the beast grunted as it to was pushed over the edge with a yowling Windige all over him.

Gabonno only paused to glance back at Windige as she plummeted to the ground, riding one of the giants to its doom. His expression was one of mild exasperation, but he did not linger.

Jhalil joined Gabonno a moment later, and the two of them danced around one of the large humanoids, their rapiers repeatedly stinging the enemy, who watched, confused as only the stupid giant could be, as the two identical fencers continued to poke holes into its body.

Gabonno whipped his black cloak about him, and the cloth swirled about him like a thick mist, obscuring his form. A rock thrown by another giant only twenty strides away soared right into the midst of the cloak--and then kept on going as it caught nothing but its hem, Gabonno's mastery of optical illusions aiding him in combat. Finally, when this first enemy wilted from lack of blood, the charismatic Gabonno leaped up and drove his rapier down from the giant's neck at the same time Jhalil stabbed upward, through its ribcage and into its heart.

Their victory dance, however, would have to be cut short, for just as they were extracting their weapons from the dead giant, another of the creatures emerged from behind Jhalil and, with a mighty swipe of a two-handed club, swatted the shorter man from the cliff with such force that his hair separated from his head--thus revealing that the hair he wore was but a wig, and now, shoulder-length locks of snowy white hair spilled out from under the false hair as Jhalil plummeted to the ground.

"Nau!" Gabonno roared in a most uncharacteristic expression upon seeing his "man of business" knocked from such a height and with such force. "Xuat el, dalninuk!" His whirling cloak paused as he watched the other man fall, and his eyes darted suspiciously over to Windige, engaged in her own battle.

Quickly, at the sound of Gabonno's yell Windige's ears flicked up, and her neck jerked up straight from the throat of the giant to look. Her jaws shut with a wet snap as she grabbed onto the rock, pushing upwards where she swam through the air. Successfully grabbing onto the limp man, Windige held him to her breast gently, curling through her element easily. Carefully, she held onto the rock again, below the cliff, hoping Gabonno could take care of himself. At the moment however... Windige glanced down at Jhalil, worry in her eyes.

Jhalil's wig fluttered to the ground below as he hung there limply in Windige's paw. His dark glasses rode askew on his face, one of the lenses cracked. Blood trickled from the man's mouth and dripped down along the side of his face.

Above, Gabonno found that he no longer had any time to waste playing with the giants. "This is necessary," he muttered, too quietly to be heard over the din of shouting giants and rolling boulders. He snapped his rapier back into its scabbard and reached inside one of his sleeves. From out the sleeve rattled a silvery chain adorned near one end with a weight and bladed links. With a frown of concentration and concern on his features, Gabonno spun into motion. He moved with noticeably more grace now that he held what must have been his trump card, the weapon he favored above all others.

Whipping the spiked chain toward one foe, Gabonno twitched the weapon so it danced through the air in complex patterns, not unlike a metallic version of Windige winding through the air. With a final flick of his wrist, one of the giants was left wondering where his club had gone, at least until Gabonno's chain wrapped around its neck and sliced open the arteries there as the dark-skinned man yanked the weapon back to his hands.

Listen to the battle above, Windige looked down at Jhalil again, licking the blood from his face before keening quietly. She found a niche in the rock, a good forty feet from the ground but sturdy, where she stowed him, hoping he would be ok. However, she knew Gabonno needed help. Scrambling quickly up the cliff face, the Himmel slipped up behind the man, "Your brother is hurt," She said, hissing at the last two giants as menacingly as she could.

"I know," Gabonno said tersely, the Kalinan accent gone from his voice. He ducked into the shadows created by his own whirling cloak as one of the last two giants backed up and hurled a rock at them. It whooshed by overhead and tumbled down the cliff face, to land on one of the other felled giants below. "If you would, ussta jallil, kill that one over there, please." Then he turned his attention to the other, closer giant. Against Gabonno's expertise with his silvery chain, the giant did not stand a chance, and it soon fell to the mysterious man's whirling weapon.

Windige flipped into the air, silently obeying him as she landed on its shoulders, avoiding his arms easily as they simply went through her like mist. With a grunt, she encircled it's throat with her coils, thoroughly choking it. For such a large creature it took awhile, but eventually it fell over, landing partially on Windige who let out a sharp breath of pain.

Gabonno glanced once at the vicious wounds he had inflicted on the giants, then looked at Windige as he cleaned his spiked chain. The silvery metal seemed to naturally wick away the creatures' blood, and he soon had it tucked back into his sleeve.

After determining that Windige was not in immediate need of aid, Gabonno quickly climbed back down the cliff with the agility of a spider, searching for Jhalil. When he did not immediately find his brother, he shouted at Windige from the bottom of the cliff, "Where is he? Where have you taken him?"

"Taken him?" Windige yelled back, growling at the dead weight before slipping clear and into the air. It didn't take her long to find the humanoid, as his white hair shown like a beacon in the dark. Carefully, she lifted him from the hiding spot, craddling him before bringing him back to the top, "He's alive," The Himmel didn't know how badly, but one of her claws touched his "new" hair, "They nocked off his scalp..." Windige murmured.

Gabonno's spiked chain scattered from his sleeve. Its business end landed on the ground with a crystalline chime, the other end in the man's hands as he fixed Windige. It was obvious that he was greatly distressed about the other man's condition, despite the cool attitude he normally had toward Jhalil. "Put him down," he said in a voice that was not the voice of Gabonno; it was more staccato, sharper, yet just as deep as Gabonno's voice. The chain shook with a mixture of leashed rage, fear, and determination as his violet eyes met Windige's.

Her long ears laid back against her neck, "I don't like your tone, I feel as if you are threatening me." Unconsciously, the arm that held his brother clutched him closer and her tail went stiff. Windige couldn't help it as her hackles raised and her body angled forward; a warning to any that understood an animals body language. "If you attack me you undo any sort of trust I had in you," Memories of his hands running through her hide made her lips twitch in a silent growl.

The chain in Gabonno's hands began to rattle and jump animatedly as overhead, storm clouds began to gather. The first few raindrops began to fall from the sky as the dark-skinned man stood his ground. "I don't care whether or not you trust me," he growled. "But you will put my brother down." He left the threat unspoken, but it was there, looming like a silent blade ready to fall.

The Himmel set his brother gently on the ground, but didn't move. She never liked controversy and perferred to just be left alone... Yet here these two waltzed in, completely changed her life around, and her future and the promise of acceptance. She had saved Jhalil, and his elder looked on with murder in his eyes at her. Her ears wilted as she swallowed, then took a step back, then another. Windige thought he would be happy to see that Jhalil was alright. A tickle started in her throat, and she was glad for the rain, so that he might not see her tears of confusion and betrayal. "My trust... means nothing to you?" Her soft voice was filled with sadness as her tail relaxed and curled around her.


Gabonno stared at Windige for a moment, and his emotions flared up: confusion, worry, doubt. Then he nodded at her in a subtle measure of gratitude. "I... sorry, ussta jallil. You do not know us. I will attend to my brother, and then I will give you the answers to the questions you seek."

He left his chain on the ground behind him to show that he was not going to attack her as he hustled to Jhalil's side. "Brother! Brother! Wake up!" Grabbing the unconscious man's shoulders, he shook him gently, but Jhalil did not stir. Blood had begun to seep through the front of Jhalil's shirt in addition to from the corner of his mouth, spreading throughout his clothes in the heightening rain, which now poured from the sky. "Damn it," Gabonno cursed, tearing open Jhalil's shirt to reveal a very fine, silvery mail. Unfortunately, being made of chain, it had offered next to no protection against the giant's club. Gabonno fished around in his brother's clothes, finally producing a small bladder with a long tube. Putting the end of the tube in Jhalil's mouth, he gently squeezed the bladder. A silver liquid dripped into the unconscious man's mouth, and he took in a rattling breath, swallowing reflexively. After a few moments, the bladder was empty, and Jhalil breathed a little easier, but he did not wake.

Gabonno looked up at Windige; his emotions roiled with fear, fear for his brother, who might be dying despite Windige's miraculous save. "I... I need to get some supplies from the wagon," he told her, his voice a little shaky. "Or he may die." He did not ask her to watch over his brother's form, even though he wanted to, but his eyes asked the question, anyway, and his feelings surged with a momentary hope and slight remorse for how he had reacted to Windige holding his brother.

Watching them while he went about his process, she wordlessly forgave him, remaining silent before nodding after a moment. Then, "It would be faster if I retreived the carriage for you," Windige murmured.

Gabonno nodded at her. "I think it may have been hit by one or more boulders, but there are three hard, brown cases in the luggage. I need the smallest one." He gently lifted Jhalil's body in his arms and carried the smaller man to a little nook in the cliff that was just sheltered enough to be dry on the ground. There, he set his brother down and began pulling off Jhalil's armor.

She hesitated, just long enough to let out a worried breath of air before leaping into the sky, disapearing quickly.



Dark of Night: Part Two