He ignored her, shaking his head as he pulled at the ropes. From the angle she'd tied them, and his hands, he couldn't grasp the ends well enough to loosen them. It was futile. All he was doing was tightening whatever coil he grasped. He heard her draw her sword, but still didn't stop. Still didn't care. Let her hack him in to pieces. He would expect little more from her. He had to get away from her. What were the chances he could use his magic, bound as he was, to make his way back into the dungeon cell, to jagged iron bars.
He didn't trust it. Couldn't make it that far. Not without risking his body.

"Get away!" He snarled as she bent closer, whipping his head around to her face. Her face. He met her gaze. Her eyes were a different colour. This woman's was a natural colour, like his. For some reason, it was a disappointment. He clenched his jaw.
On second thought. If he could grab her. Reach her. He could get her to untie him. Maybe she would, without being coerced.
"Untie me." He demanded, still holding her disappointingly normal gaze. "Cut the ropes."

Kire couldn’t quite understand the strange waves of emotion on his face. Like he wasn’t quite sure whether he hated her or not. There’s a story here. “What did they do to you?” Kire murmured under her breath, not so much speaking to him as trying to see through him. When he demanded that she untie him, she snorted. A few minutes ago, maybe she would’ve done so with less hesitation, but this man was a much more erratic version of the person who had only an hour ago coolly taunted her from the temple roof. The cinnamon smell of his magic tickled her nose. In any case, she sure as all hells wasn’t going to touch him or get too close.

“I’ll do your feet first.” Hopefully she wasn’t going to regret this. “And don’t you move a muscle or I’ll cut off your feet.” With care, she used her sword to cut the bindings around his ankles. “Before I unbind your hands, tell me what in the seven rings of hell are you so afraid of? You seemed to know me. I am definitely sure I have seen neither hide nor hair of you before today.”

He growled and went back to work on the ropes, trying desperately to find the end rope, to loosen them on his own in case she refused. She was smart about it. Knew where to tie the knot so he couldn't reach. This wasn't her first hostage situation.
When she agreed to cut his ankles free on the condition he not move, he flopped backward, his head hitting the ground, his arms folded over his face in a silent promise not to move.

The moment he felt them loosen, he shifted his arms, peering at her to see that she'd move away, and he swung himself forward. Tucking his feet, swinging his arms, he rose, standing upright. He was tall, though not overbearing as he leered at her. She demanded answers of him with her voice, looked at him with her face.
"You can go fuck yourself." He spat quietly. "And get the hell out of my city."
He turned, but hesitated, turning to glance at her from over his shoulder. "Find cover for warmth. Save your fires for daylight. If you bring them back you're on your own."

And he vanished.

Kire huffed. She supposed that was the best she could hope for out of him. She stood still, her gaze on the empty spot on the ground where he had just stood moments ago. While he was a prick, Kire imagined she’d probably be even less accommodating had she been in his position. She looked over at the remains of the fire and pondered, for a moment, if she should light it again, draw out whoever it was he had been warning her about. This, she knew, standing up straight with a sigh, was not prudent. The urge to be impatient, to get her hands on something to fight, was hard to stamp down, but she couldn’t be picking fights that big on her first day of the hunt. Without the man’s interference, she could at least explore the city.

Most of it was as she had expected. Ruins, signs of a brutal pillaging, here and there some trace of Ikegai’s malevolent influence. Kire frowned. The man feared her face, and it was possible Ikegai had somehow brought his homunculi here, perhaps to terrorize the poor desert city. But those dolls could only act as avatars of his power, at least as far as she could surmise. They didn’t have the raw might that could level a city like this. If I could find a body, some remnant, anything… She steeled herself for what she might find in her scavenging; she had no time or energy to spare giving burials all over the city, as much as she felt like they needed it.

Her exploration didn’t yield much, just more signs of wanton carnage. It was frustrating. Kire knew her quarry wasn’t one for committing violence without some end goal, but throwing indiscriminate killers into the mix was exactly the kind of thing that would help obscure his tracks and motives. Fuck the bastard. And the weight of all that useless death, that was on her shoulders. From my world to this. Kire stopped and pounded her fist at another wall, making it crack. If I had caught him sooner, killed him sooner… She took a deep breath. Her anger and regret, constant bedfellows to her, wouldn’t serve her at the moment. She needed to clear her head, and she needed to get to know this new terrain first. For now, she resolved to stay here until daytime, when, hopefully, her search for Ikegai’s tracks would be aided by sunlight, and if still it yielded nothing, she would move on to the port city the stranger had talked about. After some more wandering, she came to a home whose remnants formed what looked like enough shelter for the night. The stench of death was everywhere, but that couldn’t be helped at the moment.

She woke just when the sun had risen, and with a groan Kire eased herself off the ground and crawled out of the meager shelter she had found. She took in her surroundings, the warm light of the new day chasing the shadows off the ruins. It was always worse to look at destruction during the day, when you could see more of it, and when you could imagine more of the life that had once been here, rising to work or start the day. Nearby, she could see what remained of a blue house, hints of turquoise paint amid the dirt. “Right, Kire. Time to work.”

She did the same thing she had done the night before, combing through this part of the city, leaving markers to indicate where she had already searched. There wasn’t much in the city itself, but there were indications of Ikegai’s magic leaving stronger traces in some parts. These traces seemed to be closer to the outer limits. I suppose he wouldn’t conduct a lot of his rituals in close quarters, or somewhere in disarray. His hideouts in Amria had either been large caverns, or abandoned places that gave him room for his ‘experiments’. The pillagers didn’t seem to have stayed long in this city, either. Outskirts it is.

Back in his underground refuge, he raised his bound arms against the metal iron that was once the cell bars, and flexed, pulling the ropes against the edges until they frayed and, finally, fell loose. He undressed, pulling free his keffiyeh and tossing it aside before he lowered himself with care onto the piss poor bed. His head hurt. Stupid woman. He rubbed his palm against his temple where the skin was bruised and his skull tender. The force she could have put behind her punch, he supposed he needed to be grateful she didn't cave in his skull.

But how does she have that power? She wasn't large, had no reason, at least not that he could explain, why she would have that power. Nor her ability to transport herself. That sort of magic wasn't new to him, not considering he could do it, but what was the blue flash of light that appeared whenever she did it? And why did it drain her so?

His thoughts circled, plummeting down until he was staring at the cracked wall of the cell, and seeing her face stare back. Not the scarred one, but the flawless one. The one that smiled and whispered in that voice that reached his core. Her beautiful raven hair, her blood red eyes, the soft lips. The smooth, ivory skin that never sweat, never warmed. The cool darkness to his burning monstrosity.
Why did she have her face? He sighed, wondering through the reasons. Siblings. Twins, even. But... "Have you seen this face before?" She demanded to know. That wasn't a question someone asked if they knew someone else was walking around with the same face.

Unable to sleep after having done so all day, he heaved a sigh and got up again, covering his face before he went back to the surface. His stomach growled, twinging painfully, but he didn't feel like hunting down a coyote or a scavenger fowl to eat. No, instead he tailed the woman, keeping himself a distance away, making sure he moved slowly, and silently, ensuring she wouldn't hear him or round a ruin corner and surprise him. She did nothing odd. Unless he counted scouting the ruins odd. She weaved through the broken alleys, the rubble remains of the homes, appearing to do exactly as she mentioned to him. She was looking for something. Looking for clues as to what happened. In silence, he shook his head. She'd find little. But why bother with her. Let her search. Let her lose hope. Let her leave.

After a while, she took refuge in the remains of ... He inhaled. His brother's home. It was sturdy, only because of the way the house was shaped, and the materials with which it was built no doubt helped prevent its collapse. He stood on the street above, hidden between a broken wall and a fallen support beam, and watched her walk through and enter the house he'd known well. And, turning his head to the right, his home. The home he'd loved. The home that connected him to his family, his friends, the few good memories he had. With its blue paint and horrible decor that he never bothered to replace.
The home he hadn't been able to step into, despite it being relatively upright; at least the lower floor. Instead of taking refuge on the couch he knew to be whole, he'd gone underground to the ruined palace dungeons. For a long time, he remained outside, watching to see if she made her way out again. Wondering if she would wander in to his home, too, and if she'd find the entrance to the cistern that coiled beneath the city.
He hadn't been down there, since the attack, either. He didn't know what was left.

Exhaling, he turned and left. Back in the cell, he lay himself down, sprawling on his back and staring at the ceiling. Maybe tonight it would collapse at last and take him with it.

---

The sun rose high and took the temperature with it. The majority of the animals that scavenged from dusk til dawn vanished now, finding shade, shelter, or, if they were lucky, water.
Ziad had once been a thriving oasis city in the center of the desert, rising out of the sand like a mirage. Build of stone and wood on top of a impossible supply of water that provided life. The stone walls wrapped around the city, protecting it from the desert storms and the dizzying, endless nothing beyond. Now in pieces, the city looked haunted, the broken buildings, the shattered wall, allowing the wind to howl through it when it bothered to make its way across the ruins.

The corpses of the Ziadi were gone. Eaten. No one had lingered to look for their missing loved ones, let alone bury them. The only one to be found in the city, beside the insufferable prick with the habit of throwing stones, was a blue-grey corpse buried beneath what had once been part of the city's wall. Ikegai's magic grew stronger around the corpse, its thick arm dried and withered with decay as it lay partially exposed, turning its flesh a sickly ash colour. Clutched in its hand even in death was a blade that easily boasted six feet in length, the edge of the blade more than honed iron. Lethally sharp teeth were molded into the edge, stained in between with the blood and innards of whatever poor civilian it had the displeasure of meeting. While the birds had carefully picked out the larger chunks, the arm of the corpse itself was entirely untouched. Avoided. The animals that devoured decaying and rotted flesh knew better than to touch this.

Kire wiped her sweating brow, her left eye stinging a little from the extra discomfort of her sweat. Gods, it was hot, and while she had no problem bearing the weight of her weapons and her armor throughout her journey here, she hadn’t fully accounted for the desert heat. She drank only a mouthful from the waterskin, not wanting to deplete her supply, and instead focused on not losing the trail. The rust-taste of blood, of rotting, bitter things—this was his magic. And the closer she got to the outskirts, near the rubble that had once been part of its protectives, the stronger it stank, left a rank taste in her mouth.

She stopped, not daring to approach this collapsed wall just yet, observing from a distance. Nothing unusual on the surface—until her eye sighted a desiccated arm. What is that? The arm was large for a man’s. Was it even a human arm? She wondered if this was a twisted homunculus, or some other beast. Ikegai’s dolls, however, wouldn’t have fashioned a weapon like the one the dead limb still clutched. It looked cruel, unnecessarily so. Did this thing have anything to do with the pillaging of the city? If so, a weapon like that looked to be exactly the kind of killing implement made by a people who delighted in murder and suffering.

Her fists clenched and unclenched, and she rolled her shoulders before drawing her sword. Her other hand fumbled with her satchel, produced something hidden in a pocket of leather. The gem. It looked inert, dead, the way it did the past several months. The arm, similarly, did not move. “Well, Kay. Only one way to find out.” She stepped closer.

The rubble moved. Pebbles fell, glancing off the corpse arm. Kire gripped her sword tighter. A faint flicker of red light shone at the center of the gem in her hand. Closer. A few more steps. The arm twitched. “Don’t be rude, Kay, help him up,” she muttered to herself, stepping close enough for her to disturb the remnants of the wall with her boot. The carnelian gem trembled in her hand, glowing bright red.

The corpse rose, pushing against the rubble, and Kire jumped back immediately, avoiding the long, cruel blade. “What in all the gods--!” As she had suspected, the body was huge. The softest parts of its face had rotted away, but it moved its head from side to side as if searching for something, trying to sniff something out. Kire took in the sight: pointed ears, blue-grey skin. She could imagine an army of such creatures sweeping through this city. And Ikegai’s stink is all over this. Kire waited, watching it. It looked confused, perhaps only operating on the barest of magical energy. Perhaps it didn’t even know she was there.
Until it swung his head around in her direction. “Well, shit.”
The thing leaped on unsteady legs towards her, swinging. Kire dove, whirled around to slash its legs and almost got caught by the long blade. It moved awkwardly, erratically, but with a weapon and reach like that, Kire had to be careful.

He stirred again beneath the city, the nape of his neck tingling in that Gods-be-Damned sensation that meant ... something. Without opening his eyes, he rolled over, burying his face beneath his pillow. Something had either entered, or something magic was being done. It was faint. An echo. But it still bothered him. All the same, he told her she was on her own. Hidden underground where the air was still cool, nothing would find him. He grumbled against the thin sheet, pushing the desire to see what she was up to out of his head. Let sleep claim him. He'd either find her corpse when the sun fell, or be able to ask if she'd learned her lesson.

---

The corpse zeroed in on her, like a hound who had at last caught the scent of its prey. Almost mechanically, it swiped its blade at her, its bodily control off center, the momentum of the swing forcing its body to twist slightly. The threat of a topple. It caught itself on a shaking leg, the skin that had rotted away displaying the quaking muscle as it took on the mass of its weight. With a terrible expression, it opened its mouth and gave a silent snarl, its mouth full of pointed teeth. All of them were sharpened fangs, promising a lethal bite if she managed to get near.
Its lips moved, speaking inaudible words, the throat too damaged to allow sound. But the message was clear in its clouded red eyes and upturned, snarling lips.

“Fuck.” Kire ducked and rolled out of the way of its swing. She was now glad she’d bothered with the armor; the physical and magical protections it provided would have probably caught the blow and kept it from killing her, but it would’ve hurt like a mother. The monster was shaky on its decaying feet, but still much too lively for her liking. It was even speaking. Probably just a remnant of whatever words it used to speak when alive, rather than real thought, but Kire didn’t like that it could do that at all. She was trying to scan for some sign of Ikegai’s art on its body when it lunged, swaying a bit.

Kire kept low, dodging again, and this time she slashed at its leg, seeing an opening. The corpse roared, or would have if it still had a functioning throat, as it sunk on one knee. “Hm.” Kire backed off, wary despite the corpse’s unsteadiness, then tossed the carnelian gem in her hand away, to the opposite direction. The corpse shambled between her and the gem, angry and confused, sensing a trace of the blood magic that called to the one that was animating its dead body. Kire closed the distance and hacked at the sword arm first.

The monster opened its mouth in a silent scream and swung its other limb around, hitting Kire and sending her flying back against the collapsed wall. “Ugh…fuck you.” She leaped to her feet before the corpse could tear at her, but without an arm and another leg threatening to fall off, she could finish the fight now. Its swings and lunged were wilder now, but each time it almost threw itself off balance. Kire slashed the other leg clean off now, then kicked it square on its back, toppling it over. Finally, she lifted her sword and swung down, chopping off its head.

The corpse convulsed, and so did the severed head. Kire grimaced, waiting for it to calm down. When, finally, its movements slowed to a halt, she nudged the giant torso with her foot to turn it over. It hadn’t been too difficult to bring the monster down, but it bothered her that, presumably, despite this corpse decaying here for a long time, it still had enough magic in it to move so dynamically. She scanned the body, feeling for Ikegai’s telltale blood art, and her gaze focused on a small mark on its chest. From a distance she had mistaken it for some birthmark or scar, but upon closer inspection it was a rune, Amrian, tattooed on the skin. At the center of it was a gleaming carnelian bead, embedded in the flesh. Kire sheathed her sword and drew out the hunting knife, getting read to carve it out of the skin.

The headless corpse convulsed and grabbed her with its remaining appendage. An electric shock of pain bolted through her body, starting from her hands, where her fingertips had been touching its chest. Kire gritted her teeth through it and tore out a whole chunk of chest, the rune and carnelian with it, and the corpse was now still. Her lip curled in disgust as she picked out the gem from the corpse skin and tossed the rest of the chunk aside, before spitting at the headless corpse.

He woke naturally. A relief, to him, that she wasn't up to much else. Maybe she had died. The thought roused a grunt from him as he sat up and rubbed his face. No, something told him she was too stubborn to die. His stomach twinged in hunger, so he dug into his bag, withdrawing a bit to eat. Grabbing his gear, which included a small, second hand sword of his own, he resurfaced.

It was dusk, the air cooling enough to elicit a shiver. His keffiyeh was wrapped around his head, but pulled loose so he could eat his stale bread and dried fruit. It wasn't much, but it was enough to curve the hunger.
Slowly, he wandered through the remnants of the streets, trying to find traces of what the bitch had been up to.

It was not long after he finished his meal, he stood before the headless, mutilated corpse of the enemy. Strange. His eyes wandered the rubble of the city wall. He could have sworn that thing had been buried beneath all that. Why go through the trouble of digging it out just to hack it into pieces? Curiosity? Science? Madness, perhaps. The heat did things to people. If she never bothered to take off the armour she wore, she was basically trying herself.
Certainly a few strings loose in that one's brain.

He turned back away from the elf corpse, trying to follow her path through the city while ignoring the painful burn on his feet. She left markings on buildings, which made it a lot easier than he expected. Though he could answer the 'where', he couldn't answer the 'why'. What was she looking for? How could she hope to find clues of a man who had likely never been here? Who had likely vanished months ago with everyone else?

The city fell in genuine darkness when he finally caught up to her. She was still moving. Still searching for whatever it was. The ache in the side of his skull told him it wasn't an ex-lover, but it was certainly someone who had scorned her. Why else would she be here, in the middle of a desert, looking for his trail?

He kept hidden, watching her with half-interest, until he grew bored and wandered off again. Back to the temple roof, or what was left of it. He could see the whole city, watch as the animals picked it clean and the intruder sniffed around pointlessly.

But the Gods had a sense of humour. He had hardly settled on the edge of the roof, legs dangling over the edge, when he felt it. Again. Something was here. He narrowed his eyes, peering through the dark toward the city entrance. He went cold, heart skipping a beat before it battered against his chest.

Elves. Holy Gods, three of them.
Why now, why tonight? Why when there was some stupid woman sniffing about?
An easy thing to answer. Somehow, they knew she was here. He watched in a cold sweat as the three giants, as each one easily cleared eight feet tall, wandered slowly and silently through the city. They knew she was here. And they were hunting.

They are here.
Kire had suspected as much. Earlier, after she had taken the gem from the blue corpse, she dug around for the other gem she had brought with her. The two gems, upon close contact with one another, flashed briefly before the magical energy in them faded. She didn’t like how that felt. If the corpse-monster had sensed the gem, others would, too. Ikegai along with them. The only question is when, and how many there would be. Was this what the man had been afraid of when she lit the fire? Save your fires for daylight. If he was less afraid of them during the day, it was safe to assume that his enemies were the kind to raid at night. Better rest up, then.

The rest of the day she had spent getting her energy back. A meager meal of roasted coyote. Replenishing her waterskin from a well that thankfully hadn’t dried up. Then hiding from the terrible heat of the noon sun. And thinking. Now and then, her thoughts would go to the stranger, if he really would leave her alone. Briefly, she worried that if the fight would come to her, that he would somehow be caught in the crossfire. Kire huffed. With that power of his, he’d be fine. The question was, would she be? It was bad enough to expect living, thinking opponents of the same size and strength as the corpse, but that shot of pain when she had tried to remove the gem and rune concerned her. Was it a defense from the blood magic? Or was it some ability the corpse had when it was still alive? At some point when the day had waned, she could sense she was being watched. Him, no doubt, but she didn’t bother pinpointing his location or trying to stop him. Let him satisfy his curiosity, or at least wear him down, along with any other thought he would have of her leaving soon.

By nightfall, she had made sure to keep to the shadows, not so much to hide from the stranger but in anticipation of new threats. Her palms itched at the thought of waiting for danger to come to her. She could just try leaving the way she came, but she had finally made progress on her search. Let them come. And they did. She hadn’t seen them yet, but she could feel them disturb the magical auras that had settled into the ruins. She slunk among the ruins and the rubble, finding a position that would give her a vantage point and some cover. Once settled, she peered as far as she dared, and sighted a monster.

By the gods, it was huge. And it wasn’t alone. The corpse she had fought had been a formidable size, but death had shrunk it somewhat. Clearly, they were looking for somebody. For me.. Kire curled her lip. Speed was of the essence here. Kire stepped backward, bent her knees, and jumped.

The first elf would have seen a bright blue flash right above him, right before a gleaming white sword slashed down at him, slicing his neck at a diagonal. Kire landed on the ground on her two feet just as the body fell, then turned to the other two. One down. Kire leaped back and Jumped through another portal, ready to do the same to the third hunter, but the moment she emerged, she was met with the swing of their blade. She blocked it with her own sword before tumbling back, rolling back onto her feet as fast as she could. Definitely faster than corpses.

He watched in panic, not sure of what to do. In all fairness he should leave her to her own devices. She'd brought them here, afterall. He'd warned her, and she had ignored him. Now he would watch her die.
Gritting his teeth, he glared, feeling another ache in the pit of his stomach. This one wasn't anger, though. Guilt. He closed his eyes and sighed. Damn it. He couldn't let them slaughter someone. Again. Not when he could help. He could find her and take her somewh─

The flash of blue light in the distance made him freeze. That idiot. He scrambled to his feet. That idiot was taking them on. Walking into a death trap. He turned and vanished, moving quickly.

The elf that had blocked her swing smiled, displaying his jagged fangs. The final elf, a female, was slightly taller than the males, and when she grinned, her teeth were uneven, crooked, but thinner. She said something in their natural tongue, and the male chuckled darkly in response before he raised his hand to beckon Kire towards him. Neither seemed bothered by their fallen brethren, stepping over his decapitated head like it was nothing more than a stone.

"Take on." The male invited in broken words, his grasp of the language limited. He bent his fingers again, beckoning, while the female moved outward, looking to flank Kire as she face her counterpart.

He appeared quickly, feet hitting the ground at a run as he tore down the road. The female elf hissed loudly, straightening as he approached. Then, inhaling, catching a whiff of his scent, she grinned a cruel, crooked smile. He stopped out of reach of any of them, a few paces behind Kire, and a few more paces to her left. Aligning himself with the female as the male teasingly swung at Kire.

"Don't let them touch your skin." He hissed at the armoured woman.

The female elf tilted her head and crooned something at him, and he sniffed. While he was well-covered, the tension in his body was obvious. The female laughed, and the two elves rushed their prey together, the male leaping at Kire, while the female shot after the dark-skinned man with the far-too small sword.

Ignore their taunting. While Kire hadn’t expected them to run in fear at the surprise attack, seeing them ignore their slain companion altogether wasn’t a good sign at all. Everything about them screamed ‘killer’. Just as what looked like the male between the two of them beckoned to her, played with her, she felt the back of her neck prickle, accompanied by a familiar aura. He did come after all.

“I guessed as much,” she said in reply, her gaze never leaving her opponents. Any moment now. Her opponent leaped forward, and she evaded, anticipating his blow with her sword as she dodged to the side, then spun to face him. She flooded her body with dragon-power, her Ring glowing almost white-hot, and lunged with a grunt. She met the monster’s blade with her own again; this time, her sword bit into the metal, cracking it in half. Not daring to stop, she evaded again, and this time threw the hunting knife at him before attacking again, rushing full speed at him. The distraction of the knife was enough for her to get in a slash to his side. Pick at him. Slow him down. Then the killing blow, she thought, concentrating. Save the portal for the last, in case her reluctant companion failed to subdue his own opponent.

As Kire faced the male head one, the dark-skinned stranger retreated, luring the female elf away from her partner. He moved his feet quick, making sure to avoid the blade the female held, as well as her grasp. He had no armour. He wore only weak fabric, his second hand sword nothing compared to the elf's, or the foreigner's. One bad move, and he would lose his life, and spend the rest of his days haunting to stupid woman for bringing them here.

"Ignore him." The male barked at the female in their guttural tongue. "She's the one."
The female hissed loudly. "You don't give me orders." She snarled, not backing away from the dark-skinned man in cloth.
"Kill him and be done with it." The male ordered anyway, earning another hiss.
He swallowed, looking between the two elven giants. "You don't take prisoners."
The female laughed again, the sound cold. "We do when it suits us."
"They want you alive." The man said as he ducked, bowing beneath a swing of that lethal sword, then he vanished, narrowly avoiding the out-swung arm of his opponent. He reappeared further away, luring her, still. "That's not like them."
"What does he say?" The male asked as he paused in his attacks, wiping his arm across the gash in his side. It bled heavily, but he didn't react to it more than one would react to a paper cut.
"He is warning her."

They both growled, then, looking from Kire to the cloth-wrapped man. Then, without warning, they disappeared at the same time, without a trace, just as he could. He exhaled, eyes wide. "Run!" He shouted at the woman before he tore down the road toward her.

They reappeared, positioning themselves on either side of where he had stood seconds before. Strategically, they swung their blades; even with the male's broken weapon, it would have cut deep into his torso. When they saw he wasn't there, they whirled around, snarling. But he threw himself against the armoured woman and vanished, taking her with him.

The world went black, pressure and a noiseless wind pressing on them, like they walked through a waterfall. He kept his feet moving, dragging the intruder with him, emerging seconds later inside the chapel. Hooking his hand into a crevice of her armour, he crouched, taking her down with him to squat behind the altar. "If we survive this I'm going to kill you." He swore at her, pulling his mask down to allow himself to breath. He sweat, his skin glistening. Along the left side of his cheek, from his cheekbone down, were long, thin, scarred gouges. Four of them, disappearing down his jaw and into the folds of his keffiyeh.

He inhaled, unease settling into his core. This wouldn't hide them. With the hole in the wall, the air had cleared, and the reek of the blood within wouldn't cover their scent. Not the two of them against two hunters. "Why are they after you? What the fuck did you do?"

For a moment, Kire thought she had died. Absolute black, with winds whipping at her soundlessly, and so very cold, like walking through the land of the dead. It was the total opposite of her portals. But no sooner had the thought occurred to her than the darkness disappeared, the stink of the rot of the chapel assaulting her senses after that nothingness left. “Can everyone in this world do that disappearing trick?” she muttered, shaking her head a bit to get her bearings back. She crouched down and pushed his hand away with her arm.

He had taken off his cover for the first time, and she spared him a glance, noted in the dim light the scarring on his cheek, before turning away to scan the chapel in case they suddenly appeared in front of them. “So they don’t take prisoners normally?” she asked, ignoring his threat and immediate question. “They do look like the ‘dismember now, ask questions later’ kind.” She fished out the carnelian gems she had found on the corpse earlier. “I assume you found the headless body when you were following me around? Found this, and a rune, on its chest. I found a gem just like it the last time I hunted the blood mage down. Wouldn’t be surprised he’s allied himself with this lot somehow. Or is using them.”

She paused, catching her breath. While she had used her portals and dragon-strength together on numerous fights before to ensure a quick victory, she’d never encountered anybody who could transport themselves at will before. “What happens when they touch you?”

He ignored her question about the disappearing trick. Not important for the moment. He could answer that later. He bent sideways, peering around the altar to peer toward the hole in the wall near the other end, listening. "Yes, I found it." He answered, turning back around in time to see her show off the little reddish gem. He narrowed his eyes at it, then at her. Would explain why she decided to dismember a corpse. "So your mage was involved." He said, neither question nor answer. He looked up at the mosaic spread above them on the wall, thinking about what that meant. What changed.

“What happens when they touch you?” He grunted, looking back around the altar toward the hole before he looked back around, whispering. "Put simply, touch-based telepathy. And they aren't nice about it. I don't recommend testing it." He exhaled, puffing out his cheeks.
"While I commend your ability to take down the one, the others won't be as easily caught off guard now that they've gotten a better understanding of what you can do." He turned his head to peer at her, his pale eyes peering into her mismatching ones. "I would suggest taking on the male. They're female-led, it will piss her off to be ignored."

“Hm. Lovely. Duly noted.” She glanced at him again. He seemed to share the same disappearing ability as the other two hunters. Does he share their trick with touch as well? A question for later. “My—power isn’t the stealthiest anyway,” she muttered. “Take on the male it is. Gash that big, he should have lost a lot of blood by now.” That little fact about them being female-led piqued her interest, but for now they needed to exploit it.

“Your way of ‘travel’ is harder to anticipate,” she said, thinking it over. “And mine takes up too much energy for prolonged use.” A pause, then a mad gleam in her eye as she grinned. “Can you—do that thing again, transport the two of us? And ‘throw’ me right at the male? Right at his face? Close enough for me to grab him?”

He kept his opinion on the matter of the male's bloodless to himself. Really, he wasn't sure it would slow him down. He'd seen the monsters fight, unhindered, with severed limbs. But, even if it didn't slow him down, it would stop him more quickly.

As she asked about his ability and if he could repeat it, he gaped at her. "You want me to throw you at him?" He repeated, hoping he had heard wrong. "You are mad. We want to survive, and you aren't going to if I hurl you right into his reach."
With a shake of his head, he dismissed the idea. It was foolish and suicidal. Cocking his head again, he listened, straining to hear beyond the walls. "If I distract the female, lure her away again, it will keep angering her. She might slip up." 'Might' being the part that could get him killed.
"Or, with him injured anyway, we go after her. Both of us. If we both appeared on either s-"

He cut himself off, raising his hand as he went still. Their voices carried as they called out, taunting and catcalling. He inhaled, holding his breath. They were close. "Her, or him?" He asked, his voice barely audible.

“Tss.” Kire bit back her retort about her being mad. To her, his idea of risking himself to lure the other one away was equally foolhardy, given what little protection he had, himself. But she considered the idea anyway, nodding at his last point. With the other one’s wound, they could go after the female together and pick off the weakened one. If he had indeed weakened.

When he interrupted himself and held up a hand, she understood; she could hear them, even without their magic signaling their presence nearby. Kire shifted her position into a crouch, ready to spring, her eyes closed. She concentrated on the sounds they made as they taunted their prey, concentrated on the aura they emanated. “Her. Keep him distracted.” Without waiting for a signal, she disappeared in a blue flash.

She reappeared, right in front of the female monster, only inches from her face. Kire threw her whole body into the elf and within the blink of an eye pushed the both of them through another portal, high above the city. The heavier body fell ahead of her, but Kire didn’t wait to see her handiwork, opening another portal, her last for the night, and falling through it.

Kire landed, rolling, onto the chapel hill again, panting heavily, bracing herself against the waves of nausea from having exerted herself so much with her portals. But the mad gleam was back as she sprung back onto her feet, already back in a fighting stance, facing the wounded male. No more portals for now, but she had enough power for this bastard.

Keep him distracted, the woman said. Easy enough. The moment the blue flash enveloped her and she disappeared, he followed suit, shifting his weight to roll as he disappeared. When he reemerged outside the chapel, he was upright, a feral grin on his face as he stood within the line of sight of the two of them. They both turned toward him, matching grins blossoming on their faces like terrible nightmares. But a second later the armoured woman tossed herself at the female. Right at her.

The female screeched loudly, teeth bared, sword swinging as Kire abducted her and launched her into the air. As soon as she knew what was happening, she grappled at Kire, hand slapping the armour, looking for a crack or opening to get at her skin. Finding none, and falling from the air, she twisted violently, swinging her blade through the air as she fell in a last, possibly vain attempt in hitting her target.

He caught his breath, fearing for a moment as the two disappeared. She was so covered in armour, maybe she'd be fine. The male, too, looked around for where his kin had been standing a second earlier, before he rounded on the dark-skinned male. No female around to order him. He grinned and darted forward with speed that should not have been possible on a figure that large.

He braced himself, waiting for the elf to get close enough, to get within range. The elf's sword was broken, shorter, he would need to allow him to get closer than he felt comfortable doing. Wait. Wait. He inhaled, and just as the elf bent his arm, ready to attack, he disappeared.
And reappeared in place that would have put him just behind the elf. Only the elf apperently had the same idea, and was gone. Just as the man turned his head to try to get an idea of where he would emerge, there was a sickening crunch as a body hit the earth, blood spattering. Droplets sprayed across his face as he turned, trying to locate the body. It took only a second to notice it was not wrapped in armour, but just as he turned his focus back on his task, a too-large hand gripped him around the throat. Not against his skin. Thank the Gods, he was wearing his keffiyeh. But still, the elf squeeze, eliciting a wheeze as his windpipe was crushed.

The elf, who had appeared just behind where he had originally been standing, grinned viciously. They'd had the same idea. Swap sides, wanting to get at the others back, only to wind up facing one another again. The man swung his sword, feeling it sink into the elf's other side, protruding out in a matching injury to the one the woman had given him. The elf didn't appear fazed. "I remember your face." The elf purred in a way that made the man's blood run cold, and lifted him off his feet.
Stuck. His sword was stuck inside the bastard's side. All too aware of the consequences, the man reached up and wrapped his hands around the elf's forearms, and immediately roared in pain. It was this or be strangled. He raised his legs, and kicked hard, ripping himself out of the elf's grasp. Keffiyeh ripped from his head, he toppled onto the ground and went still. The male took a step backward, tossed the fabric in his hand aside, and pulled the sword from his torso and tossed it, too.

It wasn’t looking good for her companion. Pushing through her dizziness, Kire lunged just as the man had collapsed onto the ground, the brute pulling out the sword at his side as if plucking a little thorn from his skin. Kire thrust her sword up just as the monster was about to turn to face her, piercing his torso diagonally. The monster snarled, bending to make a grab for her, swinging his sword arm to slash her but with a cry she twisted downward, sword held firm, narrowly missing its swing. Her blade slashed all the way through the monster’s middle. The moment her blade went out the other side of his torso, Kire leapt back, not trusting that even getting his chest cleaved in two would remove the threat completely.

The moment the body fell, she raised her sword again and hacked the head off, then looked the whole body over, trying to see if it had the same rune and gem she had seen in the corpse of its fellow earlier today. Nothing. At least nothing she could see on the surface at the moment. That would have to wait, unless this new corpse shambled back to life. Kire turned her attention to her companion. She sprinted over to where he lay and knelt, an ear to his chest. “Hey. You alive?” He was. But his neck looked badly bruised. She would need to rest up before she could use the portal again, but they needed to get to safety in case these monsters were followed by more of their kin. “Where’s the safest hiding place here?” she asked, thinking aloud, picking up the head covering the monster had torn off him, wrapping it around her hand, and picking him up carefully, ready to carry him to safety.