Kali forced herself to roll backward. A pain filled grunt escaped her as she balled her knees tight to her chest to maneuver her arms under her legs. By the time she was crouched again, she had her arms in front of her again. Breathing hurt, her chest felt fuzzy and tingly, and her vision kept blurring. The Firebird wasn't going to let that stop her. It wasn't the first time she'd ignored her body telling her it was time to just sit and relax. If she could push through this before, she could push through it again.
A coughing spasm caught her off guard, though, and she braced her hands on thighs to help keep her balance as she coughed. The woman spit a large glob of blood to the side when she'd gotten control of it. Leveling her gaze on the fox, her eyes flickered with flames that weren't manifesting on her skin. "
They aren't imaginary, stupid mutt!" She swallowed another coughing fit, clearing her throat instead and spitting another glob of blood to the side.
Kali swallowed again as she felt her chest wanting to spasm again. It certainly wasn't helping any of the pain or itching. It didn't take a genius to know running wasn't going to help. As much as she wanted to take flight of the stupid fox and his damned will to complete this mission of his, how far could she really get? With the dampeners keeping her from taking flight to get far enough away to heal, and her hands bound to make it even more difficult than just fighting injured...
Dammit"
Fine. Fuck." She coughed again. The tingling ache in her chest finally brought her to a knee again with a fierce grimace on her face. She resisted the urge to rub her chest, least she really give it away. Once the spasms passed, the girl sat with a soft exhale to ease the pain. She hung her head. "
If you take me in, the dark guild I was trying to take out will just occupy another village." Kali looked at Izu. "
Shadow Fang - they abduct mages and mess with their minds to indoctrinate them to work for the benefits of the guild. When they've gotten what they can out of a village, they abandon it and move on - leaving nothing but a ghost town behind. The council hasn't been able to pinpoint anything on them beyond a few petty things - they're below their radar for the most part because they pin major stuff on other dark guilds.
"So if you take me in now, they'll move on, repopulate their numbers, and continue. I'll keep fighting you and I will eventually get out of these cuffs." She swallowed past another desire to cough, but the spasm still hurt. Drawing in a breath to breath past the pain, she leveled her gaze with the fox again. "
Or, you can help me stop them, and I'll let you bring me in after we're done." Now, it was just a matter of waiting to see what the fox would do.