Chimerical

Dead

"Fuckkkkkkk!" Caleb shouted angrily as he mounted up and the two took off. "This is fucking stupid." He said seriously to anoch as they rode.

Anoch nodded. "Maybe we'll actually get lucky and she either doesn't find the churnog or succeeds." He said seriously. (Why did I let her go like that? By the Strada her parents are going to kill me when I die.) He thought.

Reyna continued to run through the woods towards the beast still audible through the trees. But not at full speed. She wanted to save some energy in case this didnt work. Part of her wanted to talk to iseki one more time. Just in case. But she didnt need to hear anyone elses doubt right now. She only accepted positivity. This just had to work. Her heart raced in her chest faster than her feet could pound on the ground. She was starting to feel like she was having a panic attack but refused to show it. And that was when out of nowhere something hard struck across her chest just below her throat from arm to arm, taking her flat onto her back with a gasp for air. Struggling to sit up, she found something pressed hard against ger throat, cutting off her oxygen. Her hands fumbled against it to find it was a rod of some kind. She kicked her feet and struggled against the rod when a womans face came into view. She was very thin and muscular and her black hair formed beaded dreadlocks around her head. Her hazel eyes were calm and intent on reynas. She was much stronger than she looked,with how feminine she looked, holding reyna down with no effort at all. The womans temples sprouted black horns from the sides of her head that curled to the back of her head. Her skin was covered in delicate tribal tattoos and she was wearing something comparable to leapard furs. She leaned down more to peer at reynas face. "Vou do not look like a zoldier." She said plainly, an accent thick in her voice. Reyna growled with the effort of trying to keep her throat from being crushed. She couldnt even respond to the woman. She heard rustling and a softer voice come from somewhere in the darkening edges of her vision. "She iz naught a zoldier. Joure killing her." The sweet voice pleaded. The dark haired woman rolled her eyes and stood, releasing reyna but keeping the staff pointed directly at ger face. Reyna gasped and sat up, clawing for air to get into her lungs. "Im not

A fucking. Soldier." She reassured breathlessly. She looked up at the other woman then. She was much shorter with brown hair frizzed and curling down her shoulders and back. A singular large woven braid hanging beside her face. This womans skin was darker with dark brown eyes and horns of the same rich color. Along with the tribal tattoos she alsp had some white dotted markings under her eyes that seemed to be part of her skin. The woman looked at her sympathetically. "Are jou trying to zave someone from zem as well?" She asked sweetly. The dark haired woman didnt move a muscle except to make her face look more annoyed. Reyna nodded. "Yes. My friends." She wheezed. The dark skinned girl nodded once slowly and moved, kneeling at her side. "Ve live in dez woods. And ve zaw a priestess wooman of our people held dhere. Ve too are zaving zomeone." She soothed. Reyna had no fucking idea what these people were. "Are you part of the resistence?" She asked, a hand rubbing the growing bruise on her chest. The dark haired woman laughed then. "Ve have no part in dat world." She said as if the notion were stupid. Reyna nodded once. "Well, I have a plan and more people helping me. Maybe we could work together?" She asked plainly. The two women looked at eachother for a long minute and reyna wasnt sure they had even heard her when the dark skinned girl turned back to her and nodded once. "I am Svenja. This is Vigdis. And ve agree." She explained. Reyna blinked and nodded then, moving to stand. The dark haired woman spun her staff and stood it at her side with a hand still on it, allowing reyna to get up. "Im reyna. And im going to ride that chernog." She said confidently, gesturing towards the crashing and roars nearby. Both women laughed then for some time before they realized she wasnt kidding. "Ou does reyna think zhe will do that?" The dark haired woman asked, still smiling with amusement. Reyna had honestly thought these women of the woods would have some kind of help in thay area. But they thought she was fucked too. Reyna shrugged. "Im going to tame it i guess." She reasoned plainly. The women looked at eachother again and made some hand gestures before looking back at her. "Ve vill help you." The dark skinned one agreed, standing as well then from her low crouch. Reyna nodded. "Well...great." She said with more optimism than she felt. She turned and started walking towards the chernog again with the women behind her. She didnt know how much help they would be. But she hoped it was alot. The men should be waiting for her to show up already with how fast the nogos were. She could hear the chernog was close and moved into a clearing just as it came crashing in through the other side. She didnt show how her heart skipped a beat or how her legs tried to pry her in the other direction. Before she could make a move, svenja stepped forward and crouched low to the ground, pressing a palm flat to the earth. She started speaking in some language and the clearing filled with a calmness she had never experienced before. The chernog itself took pause and shook its head as if trying to clear it. Svenja looked at reyna then and nodded for her to do whatever it was she was going to do. "Zat iz all I can do u." She explained, keeping her hand on the ground. Reyna exhaled and nodded before walking forward as bravely as she could muster. The chernog glared down at her and roared in her face, hard enough to make her hair blow back. She swallowed hard and continued to walk towards it. "I am queen reyna. And I am going to ride you into battle to save my companions." She commanded authoratively. The great beast snorted at her, shaking its head once to show its disagreement. But if sunlaw and anoch had taught her anything, they said if she tapped into her strada enough she was capable of anything. So she took a steadying breath and glared back at it. "Ill make a deal with you if i have to. I'm not asking you to do something for nothing. What do you want for your help?" She demanded to know. She really hoped it was an intelligent enough creature to have desires. It let out a low growl and she realized she wasnt anoch. She had no fucking idea what it was trying to say. But she was running out of time. Vigdis stepped forward then to stand next to Svenja. "It zays it vants nothing from you." She explained plainly with an eye roll as id it was a ridiculous question. Reyna sighed then with frustration. "Fuck it. Fine then. I tried to be nice. But youre going to fucking help me whether you want to or not." She said angrily, earning another growl in her face from the chernog, whipping her hair back again. Svenja stood. "I cannot hould it any longher. You wasted vour time." She said sweetly, with a head shake as she stepped back. The chernog seemed to be released from his hold then and shook again before rearing back to charge directly at her. In a last ditch effort, reyna picked a hand up and tried to remember what sunlaw had taught her. She didnt think it was going to work but she was dead anyway and only a few feet away from its face. There was no outrunning it. She drew an intricate ward she had never seen before, not that she had ever seen more than one ward in her life, and put all of her intent into it. The chernog charged then and the ward sealed just as his head brushed against her hand. Reyna clenched her eyes closed, preparing for the end, when nothing happened. She peeked her eyes open and saw the chernogs eyes were glazed over and it was simply standing where it had been. She blinked at it for some time before the other two women approached her. "Vat did you do to it?" Vigdis asked in awe. Reyna shrugged. "I have no fucking idea. But ill take it." She said, adrenaline coursing thick through her veins. She exhaled again and approached the side of the chernog, hoping with all her might it wasnt a temporary fix. The two women looked at eachother with disbelief when reyna commanded the chernog down and it silently obeyed. She grabbed onto its fur and made her ascent up its side, swallowing back her fear of heights only barely. After much struggle, she finally made her way to nestle in behind his head. "Alright. You two can follow and use my distraction to get your friend out." She said before holding onto its fur hard. "Up." She commanded and the chernog obeyed. The women were still dumbstruck. After a long pause they nodded their agreement. Reyna smirked proudly and commanded the chernog to run. "And kill all the fuckers in red." She demanded as the churnog took off running. She held on tightly and repressed the urge to vomit, refusing to look down. Fuck was she high off the ground. She crashed through the trees as the churnog roared, spilling onto a wide cleared path full of soldiers and prisoners. The churnog swiped and took a dozen or so men up, sailing them through the air with shouts of pain and agony as the other men below drew their already readied weapons.