As the Feathers Drift Along the Winds of War - Snippet
Here guys, have a snippet of the one shot I’m working on. It’s finally coming along. Tagging @priestess-accursed-heir because you’re responsible for this one.
“You alright?” asked Libertus and dropped his hands. Clumps of dark earth fell to the ground.
Nyx winced in pain as he twisted his arm to try and see how big the damage was. “Fuck this hurts. I'll live, big guy. At least long enough until Selena gets her hands on me.”
Libertus barked a laugh. “The only reason your sister let you go this time was because you were supposed to be part of our suppressive fire. It's your own damn fault this happened,” he grouched and motioned towards Nyx' injured arm.
“It's not my fault I ran out of bullets,” he grumbled with no real heat behind it.
“Hey Libs! Move your ass over here and help us redistributing the supplies!” called Crowe from next to a toppled crate that was nearly as tall as she was.
“Yeah, yeah. I'm coming!” he yelled back and after one last look to make sure Nyx would keel over the next second, marched over towards her muttering something about impatient little sisters.
Nyx couldn't help the grin forming on his face at the scene. It morphed into a pained grimace as he bent down to pick up his fallen blade. The movement made his head spin uncomfortably. He straightened back up, both blades back in their sheaths and looked for Ladone. Her son-in-law was a Patientia, so she was most likely to carry something with her that would at least help with the pain.
He found her arguing with Radis Arra, a gekkan of a man with wild black hair and a thick beard. It was nearly comical how much taller he was than her.
“- don't see why we can't just...,” sounded the deep bass voice of the man as Nyx made his way over.
“Namakar Najad,” he spoke up with far more politeness in his tone than he usually would.
“Oirkar Ulric,” she acknowledged with a slight dip of her head. She frowned when she saw his arm. “You better get that looked at.”
From her look alone Nyx could tell that she knew he hadn't remained behind cover and would have words for him later. He very carefully didn't look down in an admission of guilt and nodded. Ladone sighed and dug through the pouch at her hip. It was made out of sturdy leather adorned with colourful embroidery in the form of dancing fishes made out of simple never ending knots. She pulled out a small vial made out of clay and handed it to him.
“Drink that,” she commanded. “It'll take the edge off until we get back.”
Nyx nodded his thanks and gulped down the bitter concoction within. The taste was as bad as the smell and reminded him of the fertilizer the farmers used. It trickled down his throat in a cool wave that quickly found its way down his arm, ebbing the pulsing pain until he could bend his arm without getting dizzy.
“If I have help with the harness, I can still pull one of the supply carts,” he offered.
There were two glaring problems with their new cargo: One, the crates the Niffs used were too heavy to move efficiently, and two, they wouldn't fit into the tunnels anyway. So they had their own carts waiting in the nearby tunnel to transport everything to the nearest hideout and distribute it from there.
Ladone looked him over in consideration and then shook her head. “No. You go ahead with the other wounded that can still walk on their own.”
Nyx hid his disappointment as best as he could, but he didn't think he quite managed. Ladone turned back to Radis as the man huffed.
“And we're down another pair of hands. Damn it, Ladone. At this rate it'll take us well into the night to redistribute everything on the carts and I don't want to be caught out here by either Niffs or daemons,” Radis practically growled.
Ladone looked him straight into the eyes. The intimidation factor wasn't diminished in the slightest by the fact she had to look up. “A job well done takes its time, Radis. You of all people should know that,” she practically spat at him and stalked away.
