Uncharted

[Caira Ayryn]

...

The air screamed in her ears. They were almost at the bottom. She grasped the hover board and collected Merik's figure on top of it. As they had drifted close enough in the air, with a great force they were bounced back just as they were about to hit the ground after creating a few sparks on the grating wall. 

Shocked but undamaged, the recoil was just as rough on Merik's wound but they hadn't broken any bones. They had however made a noisy arrival on the base floor of the deserted basin. The smothering darkness reeked with a dank scent and the tending to his gunshot began.

She propped him up against a rock to find his head hung to the side in an unconscious dream. Caira's resolve was to apply pressure on his wound before executing another alternative occurred to her: Digging the bullet from his shoulder.

Her eyes hung on his motionless face, it had frozen in a sleepy grimace. His teeth grated into enamel as the outlet of sleeping away the pain quickly became inadequate. When the bullet was taken from the flesh of his shoulder and blood streamed out. In her hand, a small crumpled mass of condensed and poisonous lead, his head tossed to the side again and the wound dribbled dry.

A striking telepathic wind scratched her arms, tore through her clothing and the lines soon became bloodied against her skin. Merik, though unconscious, was trying to get the source of his pain (identifying Caira as the assailant) off and attempted to thrust the threat away with the intangible force. Caira could only brace herself against. The blade-like force sliced into her skin easily, as though it were paper and cut into her arms so that she now resembled a bloodied silver tiger, the metallic liquid shone brightly in the dim light against the black fabric of her clothes.

Breath was almost visible in the dank chill of the rocks, a trickle of water could be heard muffling the sound of panting while growling from beasts roared in the distance.

The stream, had it not had a sickly smell that would make the lowest commoner hesitant to drink, would have made a good well. Apart from the opaque pools of swirling dark, it was impossible to know what dwelled within; it could have been anything from rotting corpses to monsters that would eat Caira as brunch and still have room for dessert. 

The crack of sunlight reached the bottom, but only through the reflection had it dissipate on the oily walls. The structure was much like a cave, yet the internal pocket caverns didn't hold simple desert creatures. This was a much more perilous place.

The sorceress had applied the Omnilium in an attempt to heal him and now waited on first watch with a book in hand, while another sensed for vibrations that might approach as pressed to the ground. Caira could only wonder if her efforts would be enough to heal his mortal wound. It had stopped bleeding but time and rest would be the only thing to completely heal it, though it wasn't working as fast as she hoped and Caira eyed Merik's wilted posture.

His eyes opened and he took it all in. His body swarmed in a jolted frenzy as breath heaved into his lungs and he moved back as though threatened. When Merik looked down, he found his arm in a crimson-speckled sling.

His eyes adjusted to the dark, "Oh, it's you."

How pleasant, Caira thought and looked at the crimson blood that had dried in the lines of her palms. Her eyes asked a question that her lips would not.

"Yes, I think I'm doing better." He responded as his eyes gathered the events with some displeasure. "I'm not sure I remember what happened after we..."

"... Fell." She continued for him.