Talaitha froze dead upon revealing the condition of the man. Unsure of how she was to even attempt to save the man, she instantly turned to the wooden cross beam. There was no way she would ever be able to lift it in her lifetime, but she might be able to pull it from his leg if it was no longer attached to the structural skeleton of the wagon. Composing herself, she tried to look away from the metal stake and ignore the impossibility of her making an impact. Oh, if only Nadia were here, she thought to herself. Two people could probably lift this beam, but with only her it was unlikely.

"I'm going to pull this off your leg" she calmly told the man, hiding her doubts. "Relax and remain still."

She wrapped her arms around the cross beam and with all of her strength she used her body to attempt pull the beam toward her. It was so heavy she was unsure if it would even budge, but right now that could not matter, she had to believe that she was doing the right thing by helping a man she know would die.

The smoke which circled about Lucia and the foreigners rapidly dissolved and in the distance the far heavier smoke began to fade from a deep black to light grey. The fires, as expected, flared up momentarily when introduced to an influx of fuel, but through the flames and now thinned smoke Lucia and the foreigners were able to just barely make out a group of silhouettes in the near distance huddled against the opposite side wall of the rectangular, house-sized caravan.

"With me!" The olive skinned man tugged Lucia by the wrist and pulled her from the inside of the caravan to the outside in one fluid motion. He then continued pulling Lucia about until he arrived at the opposite side of the wagon. On this side, the fire seemed more contained but there was no entryway or broken hole in the wall, just solid wood.

"There, there!" the man pointed towards a portion of the wagon wall which slowly beginning to burn and leak smoke, it seemed he believed that this was the exact wall the silhouettes were gathered about.

"Too heavy- thick- hard to smash..." he slammed his fist into his hand in an attempt to illustrate his point. "You, make wall thin... weak wall with power..." He seemed to believe Lucia had some sort of magic she could use to weaken or even break the caravan wall. "-I can break with hands if thinned." As the man attempted to clarify his point to Lucia a terrible moan bellowed forth from somewhere inside the wagon followed by a large piece of the caravan's ceiling caving in. At this rate the people inside would be crushed unless they were able to find a way to break through the wall and usher them to safety.

_______


"You're taking a what?" The man squawked in disbelief as turned to face Erratus. "Just who the hell do you think you are?"

"Quentyn!" The young, fiery-eyed man who was speaking with Erratus quickly sunk back as a voice called out his name in disgust. Behind Erratus another man appeared- well his head at least appeared though the back curtain of the wagon. "This man means no ill will, he wants to help and we should be willing to accommodate his needs." The more reasonable man appeared fairly old, not as old as Kariya, about as old as Gonye. His hair was brown, long, greying and tied into a messy knot in the back. His face was rigid and heavily aged and all about it were small scars and cuts which probably accumulated from his time in Gonye's company.

"I'll give you a horse to ride, but I'm taking the other horse and coming with you. Along the way you can try and explain what happened to Kariya and perhaps maybe you can even tell me what exactly this urgent message for my captain might be."


"Andreu, you can't-" The younger mercenary attempted to interject but before he could finish the man had vanished from the back of the wagon and was beginning to release the horses. The younger mercenary quickly turned himself forward and pushed his face out a window at the front of the wagon so that he could speak with the older mercenary named Andreu. "You can't just take both horses!"

"I can and I am." Andreu calmly replied as he pulled out a pair of saddles from a box hidden beneath the front driver's seat of the wagon. "You... You'll go back with the others and inform Richter he's to head south with the company and hide until this blows over, just as the Captain ordered."

Quentyn scowled as he watched Andreu finish the saddling and mount up on his horse.

"Don't be petty, boy." Andreu's horse tenuously moved forward and then turned as he yanked on the reins. "We all have a part to play in this thing and we all need to work together for this to work. Just this once swallow your pride and let that glory-seeking nature of yours subside so that you can do your duty."

As Andreu finished speaking he turned to Erratus and gave him a quick glance up and down. "Hope you can ride, you don't look to be the kind of man who's real familiar with a horse."



______

Lucia looked at the wall realizing something quite new about herself, she had never attempted to spin a stagnant object into string before. Fire, lightning, water, wind, light, all of these things were subjects that moved and flowed, making their transition into string quite logical for the girl. She had never thought to literally create string from a stone, from a piece of the earth, or from the bark of a tree. Nevertheless, desperate times oft called for desperate measures, she pinched a piece of the splintered wood from the caravan and began to spin her fingers around it, wondering what the string would look like, or if it would produce any such threads at all.

Erratus took on a somewhat indignant expression at Andreu’s statements. He had stolen more than his share of horses back before this whole hollowing business, and he was about to tell the man as much, but he decided against it.

“I’ll manage.” He replied instead. Then, after a brief moment, “And, uh, thank you. For understanding.”

As the two men rode eastward, Erratus explained all that had happened, from the betrayal of Ostarius’s servants to their encounter with the black-cloaked man, though he conveniently omitted the part where he left Kariya to die. He had given the warrior’s map to Andreu, as he didn’t fully trust himself to follow it properly.

Even though Talaitha was almost certain her efforts would be in vain, she attempted with all her might to move the large cross beam which had fallen across the merchant's leg.

At first it seemed as if she were right to doubt her own strength, for even as she pulled with all her power the large beam barely moved and her hands and fingers were quickly becoming bloodied and cut by the rigid wood she was so tightly grasping to. Regardless of this, Talaitha continued to struggle with the beam until, miraculously, she felt the beam begin to slide in her direction. Somehow through sheer will the girl had summoned up just enough strength to the lift the beam a few inches off the ground and move it off the ensnared traveler's leg.

The man's leg was quite gnarled and bloody from being crushed, but miraculously he was still able to move the leg just barely.

"Guess this stake in my back didn't hit anything important." Carefully the traveler lifted his body from the ground and pulled himself to his knees.

"I can't move by left foot at all and even if I could with my leg like this, I doubt I could stand on it." The man reached out to Talaitha with his left hand and used his right hand to brace himself against nearby rubble. "I'll need you to act as crutch for me. I need to get somewhere where we can get this boot off my foot so we can figure out what's wrong... and maybe while we're at we can get this rod out of me without me bleeding out."
_____


Lucia touched her forefinger against the wooden paneling of the wagon and closed her eyes and she began to focus. In front of her was a solid object which had an elemental link to the earth, she could feel within it the natural energies that existed in water, air, fire, and lightning and she could feel the energy within her moving and shaping itself to match the earthy energy before her. Carefully Lucia pinched her forefinger and thumb together and then with a deep breath began to pull her hand away from the wall. When she opened her eyes, Lucia saw a long golden-brown thread which extended from the wall to her finger tips, with quite a bit of concentration and incredible amount of will she was able to spin solid wood into thread.

Quickly she continued at it and after a few minutes of spinning she had a neat, but small pile of golden thread gathered at her feet. It appeared as though solid objects spun to thread quite slowly and were evidently very dense.


"Good!" The man called out to Lucia and delicately pushed her away from the wall as he began to notice multiple small holes forming around the area where she was spinning. The man braced himself and turned his shoulder towards the wall before he began to ceaselessly charge and slam into the weakened surface. The man charged and charged until his shoulder was bloody and bruised but eventually he succeeded and a hole large enough to fit an adult was formed through the side of the wagon.

Nimbly the man crawled through the hole and moments later he reemerged with a severely burned young man behind him and a pair of unconscious children in his arm. The older child who was no older than ten appeared fine, his skin was unburned and he seemed to be breathing normally, but the other, younger child's face was red, fleshy and covered in black sores.

The young woman who had been watching safely in the distance stood devastated as she watched her children and brother emerge from the wreckage. After she regained her senses she quickly ran to her burned child and pulled her away from her elder's arms. She cradled the girl and cried desperately as she ran her fingers through the young girl's remaining strands of auburn hair.

"Thank you." The older man placed his free hand on Lucia's shoulder as he watched his daughter grasp to the dying body of his granddaughter. "I..." His grip began to tighten around Lucia's shoulder as he tried to fight back tears in his eyes. "I am in debt to you- forever."


________


Andreu looked over the map for sometime and remained silent as the pair continued to ride east towards the prairie.

"I take it Kariya's dead then." Andreu's eyes remained fixed on the map as he continued onwards, he didn't need to turn to see Erratus' expression. "Suppose it's possible he survived, though to fight one of his own and at his age... He must have pitied you, or maybe his loyalty to Gonye finally got the best of him." Andreu carefully folded up the map Erratus had given him and placed it into a bag on his belt before he continued speaking.

"Don't trust Pitt and be wary of what my Captain might end up doing when he takes you farther east." Andreu's voice had lowered to a stern tone. "Pitt's not one of us, one of the mercenaries I mean. He's an outsider who convinced Gonye he could help us get what we wanted... He's dangerous, Kariya knew that much and that's why he left our little mercenary band quite a few years ago... In the end he couldn't outrun that little bastard's will though, he ended up getting killed to further his agenda."

Andreu sighed before looking back towards Erratus.

"Consider my warning a kindness, I don't suspect you'll be getting any like this ever again."

OOC: Awesome~

Lucia marvelled at the string that she had spun from the very wood itself, tying the end of it and putting it into her handbag. It made sense when she thought about it, how it was a slower process with a string that was much thicker and dense than the usual types that she had spun. Still, she could not believe how far she had come, even now, with her life in danger not too long ago, she was still learning new things about the magic she wielded.

She was brought back to reality when the man had put his hand on her shoulder in thanks. Lucia blushed, feeling quite proud of being able to help this man and his family.

"Oh! You don't owe me anything" she said softly, "I am glad I was able to help you" Looking around, she tried to see if she could spot Pitt "I think I shall look and see how else I may help, unless you need any other aid?"

Somehow Talaitha had done it, but the task was no complete just yet. She was so affected by the adrenaline from her action that she did not consciously take note of the stinging pain in her hands. She watched as the man pull himself up with surprise, unknowingly wiping her brow and covering it with blood when she realized that he was not paralyzed by the rod piercing his body. The man could somewhat move, but it was hindered by him bum leg. She reached out to his arm and wrapped it aroudn her shoulder so her could put his weight on her.

"We should leave this area and meet up with others from your caravan so we can find you suitable help," she told him. "But while we're on the way, where is this caravan from and why did this happen?"

Erratus gave a solemn nod as he rode a pace behind Andreu, then followed it a subdued ‘thanks’ as he remembered his new acquaintance couldn’t see him. He was wary of taking a stranger at his word, but this man’s allegiance certainly seemed to lie with Gonye, and he had no apparent motive for lying. At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye on Pitt. The thief was silent for a moment. He hadn’t yet confided in Andreu about the strange occurrence during his fight with Kiliment. It seemed unwise to share information he himself didn’t understand, and perhaps more significantly, he was afraid he wouldn’t like what he learned if he did. Fishing for information would be a better use of his time now.

“You spoke of Kariya fighting one of his own. What did you mean by that?” He suddenly inquired. “What I saw back there was like nothing I’d ever experienced before, but perhaps knowing more about it would afford me some peace of mind.”

"In the High Aestarian they're called Seldori, but nowadays they've have innumerous names. Witch Hunter, Mage Slayer, Inquisitors... They're called all sorts of things, wherever magic is practiced the people have names for them."

Andreu paused for a moment and reached deep into a pouch which was slung around the side of his horse's saddle. After quite a bit of digging he pulled out a small red gem which he tossed back towards Erratus, but not before calling out for him to, "Catch!".

Instinctively Erratus reached out and grabbed at the palm sized object that was flung his way, right away he noticed something familiar about it.

"To put it simply they're mages that hunt other mages for the Kingdom. Mages are becoming rarer and rarer as time passes, but a rogue mage is always a possibility and magic is incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands- at least, that's what the people running this kingdom believe. I suppose calling the Seldori mages isn't really proper, they're not really magic users... it's complicated but I suppose you could call them artificial mages."

Andreu began to scratch his chin as he pondered over the idea of an artificial mage

"Yeah... that's a good way to put it... they're not really born with any magical talent like most mages are. Somehow the court mages in Sol Erra figured out a way to imbue young children they personally selected with energy and force their bodies to change and accommodate foreign energy- energy that's not created inside their body." Andreu found himself lost for words, it wasn't easy explaining magic to someone who's never really encountered it before. "When a normal person suddenly ends up with energy in their body it tends to kick start the creation of their own energy, though generally this energy is unstable and unrefined. The end result is a person who can naturally create energy in their body like a mage, but unlike a mage they lack a way to tame that energy and use it with finesse." Andreu stopped and looked back towards Erratus, he was genuinely unsure if his less-than-scholary companion was keeping up with his explanation.

"To make it simple, not all mages use magic the same way. Everyone has energy in their body but mages have energy that has an affinity for a certain type of magic. The Seldori lack this affinity and can only use magic to boost their own physical abilities, they can run faster, lift incredibly heavy objects, endure excruciating pain, regenerate minor wounds... The point is they're just incredibly strong assassins who have been armed with tools created by mages who have an affinity for enchanting. For example, that little red gem you have there is a resin stone, that one in particular contains the power of a pyromancer. Crack open the stone and its gooey innards will run out. Once that goo meets a source of magic it ignites into an explosive blaze. The Seldori carry heavy thick steel blades which they apply these resins to in combat. A swing of one of their swords can create an eruption of fire or ice- they even have resins that create deadly miasma clouds which fill the lungs and turn into a thick stone like material. Of course the resins tend to destroy the weapons they're applied to, but because the Seldori's swords are specially crafted they can apply multiple resins to a blade before it becomes faulty."

Andreu's voice began to take a far deeper tone as he prepared to wrap up his now lengthy explanation.

"There's a few major draw backs to creating a Seldori though... Generally speaking the Seldori have little to no self-control when around auras they're not comfortable with. See, all mages have an aura, some mages can sense other mages' auras and some can even hide theirs from others but the Seldori... something inside them... something in their bodies triggers when they're around an usual aura and they become quite feral. With age this problem only becomes worse and eventually the Seldori can't even be around one another without feeling a type of sickness. When they get to this stage their minds are generally so far gone from madness that they generally can't be safely and reliable used any further, it's around their midlife period that they're put down for good."


_________________


The elderly gentleman shook his head. "For now we are fine." The man gave Lucia one more look of deep gratitude before he released her from his grip and allowed her to go on her way.


Lucia had spent a considerable amount of time putting out fires and helping the foreign mother save her children, by now most of the small and medium sized wagons had collapsed and nearly burned to the ground. A few of the incredibly large wagons were still standing but it was hard to make it through the now widely spreading flames to see if anyone near them was awaiting rescue. In the distance Lucia could make out large groups of people huddled together, they were most likely the communities that made up the caravan coming together to seek help and comfort from one another. On the other side of the caravan, opposite of where their camp was, Lucia noticed a figure with long platinum hair sitting atop the crest of a nearby dune- there was no doubt it was Pitt watching the tragedy continue to unfold.


______

"There's no one left from my group, girl. The raiders saw to that" The man spat as he hobbled along with Talaitha. "And as for where this caravan is from, it's from Variya in east, but the people are from all over. Most of 'em are from Yarris, the eastern continent. They're running from some terrible natural disaster and a plague. They're paying any money they can to be moved across the desert safely to Aestaria and merchants like me are jumping at the chance to make easy money. The why is also pretty easy to explain." The man let out a sneering laugh as he thought over how to word it for Talaitha. "We just got unlucky. Those riders are from Mek Dranik, they ride all around the desert and like to harass caravans that move between Aestaria and Variya. They particularly like to wait around this area because caravans go fairly far north and then cut down south to here to avoid the Twilight Desert. All and all they just wanted to take some of our people as slaves and bring 'em back to Mek Dranik to have as wives and labourers.."

The man looked about for a few moments and eventually halted himself and Talaitha. "Seems like most of the fires around here burned out or died... Put me down against a rock and remove my boot." He seemed to be commanding Talaitha about now. "I wanna' see how bad it is."

Talaitha quickly did as she was told; she removed the merchant's arm from around her shoulder and placed him on the ground against a rock. Next she undid a strap at the top of his boot and removed it with a hard tug.

Beneath his boot his flesh had began to rot. All the way up his shin the skin had turned a deep black and blood and puss was oozing from every opening and break in his skin.

"God almighty..." The man's face turned blue upon seeing his rotting foot. "I need a minute..." the man gasped for air as he let his body slouch back against the rock. "I... I- I just need a moment to breath." He was completely overwhelmed by his state and was clearly in some sort of shock.

Talaitha sensed the faint scent of rotting in the area, but, unaware of its origin, merely though that it was from the corpses nearby. However, as she removed the merchant's boot, the smell grew stronger. The moment she revealed his leg the boot dropped immediately and she covered her mouth with her hands as she retched, blood from her hands covering her lower face in the process. The merchant had gone into shock and wasn't responding at all to her own vomiting.

Once she had finished her gaze returned to the merchant's leg. She lacked any sort of knowledge of how to deal with this situation and was unable to do anything. Her hands being filthy she could not physically treat the wounds without risk of infection in the process. The merchant being unresponsive due to shock was not making the situation any better either. With nothing else to do she cried out in vain.

"Nadya! Pitt! Anyone! I need help!"

Andreu’s description was certainly informative, explaining both Kiraiya’s and the assassin’s abilities very neatly. Erratus mulled this over for a few moments, thinking carefully about what he should say next.

“If the problem gets worse with time, why not wait until they’re older to turn them into Seldori?” He inquired, putting on a bemused expression, though that was mostly for Andreu’s benefit. Even if it would be easier for the thief to ask the questions he truly wanted to, doing so would likely reveal more than he was comfortable with sharing for the time being.

Seeing Pitt standing atop a hill, Lucia headed towards him, seeking further guidance. It was difficult to know where one might attempt to help next, but so much of it was beyond her. As far as she knew she couldn't heal, which was unfortunate, as she knew that healing magics existed. She had heard tales of those who could perform such feats throughout her travels, though with the waning of magic, she had never seen such a thing herself.

Walking up the dune, her silver bangs and raven black hair blowing about in the wind that was stirred up by the fire, she called out to Pitt as she approached:

"What else can we do?" she said looking sadly down at the burning caravan. She wasn't sure whether to mention her magical feat of spinning the wood into magical string. She found that speaking magic with him only seemed to confuse her further.

"Perhaps the problem isn't related to time, but rather age." The older mercenary seemed amused by Erratus' questioning and slowly his voice was becoming friendlier.

"This doesn't interest you one bit, does it? I suppose the subject is quite dull and I've never been the best lecturer but... Perhaps you have other questions, I'm sure you've seen quite a few things that puzzle you and overheard even more things you weren't suppose to hear." Muffled laughter of the slightly malevolent variety eked from Andreu's lips, though it was somewhat obvious he was acting melodramatic.

_____


Pitt appeared lost in thought as Lucia approached and only until she spoke did his hawkish pale-blue eyes rise to life.

"It seems we were quite late in aiding this caravan, most of the containable fires have burned out." Pitt rose to his feet and quickly dusted away the sand from his tanned trousers.

"I fear giving medical attention to these poor souls is far beyond yourself and I." He frowned deeply as he approached Lucia's side. "We have no excess food or water to give them and in the morning we will be heading off in their opposite."

Pitt tenderly placed his hand upon Lucia's near shoulder and allowed himself a moment to look over her from head to toe. "You're quite altruistic, and daring to boot. The world is dire of individuals like yourself, individuals with great heart and great talent."

Pitt lifted his hand from Lucia's shoulder and delicately moved his finger tips towards her pale bangs.

"Nadya! Pitt! Anyone! I need help!"


Pitt retracted his hand and turned back towards the caravan for a brief moment before turning back once more to Lucia. "It appears we're needed else where after all."

At a brisk pace Pitt started out ahead, but was sure to beckon towards Lucia for her to follow as he started.


______


Soon after Talaitha's call, Pitt and Lucia arrived on the scene together. Pitt was quick to notice the situation and relieved Talaitha of her duty near the injured man's rotten food.

"Put this in his mouth." Pitt grabbed from his back pocket a large, handkerchief-like, cloth. "Put it in tight then hold down his left arm and shoulder, Lucia grab his right side and help keep him still."

Pitt quickly drew out the belt he was using to hold his sword at his side and tightened around the merchant's leg.


"Wait! Wait no!" The merchant rose up from the side of the rock but was unable to force himself to his feet. "It's fine, it doesn't hurt! It'll get better!." Quickly the merchant flung out his arms in an attempt to keep the two girls away. "You can't, I don't want to be a cripple!" He wailed and pleaded as he tried to shake loose the belt from his bum leg.

"Get the rag in his mouth and hold him down!" For the first time ever Pitt's voice had lost its natural eloquence and turned stern and commanding.

Erratus began to laugh along with Andreu as the two continued to ride. It lasted for a few moments before subsiding, and the thief’s face became somber.

“What a cruel joke. All this time, I’ve been seeking answers, and now that I’m being invited to learn some, I don’t know what to ask. These past weeks have been incredibly trying. It’s as you said, I’ve seen and heard much I don’t understand, and everything I think I know is competing for attention in my head. I can no longer tell whether the things I’ve learned are of any significance at all, while I’ve likely forgotten or simply overlooked important details. Always missing something. Always an incomplete picture… I know nothing!” Erratus’s impromptu spiel came to a sudden crescendo, all of his frustration released in one breath. His steed gave an irritable snort at the outburst, bringing him back to earth. He sighed miserably.

Will things always be this way? Will I never be able to put my paranoia aside long enough to do something worthwhile? Why can’t I be stupid when it matters most?!

The thief’s eyes suddenly became focused, determination drawing his mouth into a straight, unwavering line. This was his opportunity to finally learn something important, and he wasn’t going to let his cynicism hold him back any longer. He would spill everything, and speak his mind without trying to be sneaky or manipulative. What was at stake if he said the wrong thing, or asked the wrong question? Embarrassment? Betrayal? No, he had nothing to lose here, and everything to gain. It was unlikely that Andreu knew anything too important, but that wasn’t the point.

“I’m sorry.” The thief finally continued. “But I’m afraid I have to impose on you yet again. You see, my mind is a jumbled mess, and I’d like your help to pick up the pieces. If we go back and forth, this is going to take forever, and you’d probably wind up saying ‘I don’t know’ a lot, so I’m gonna list the questions I have off the top of my head in no particular order. Uhm… What was the black box we lifted from the academy? Why do Ostarius’s men want it? Why does Ostarius seem to have suddenly lost interest in his own daughter? Is there anything special about this sword?” Erratus quickly gestured to his blade. “What does Gonye hope to accomplish? What does Pitt hope to accomplish? What the hell is the titan? Why did that hollow in the Academy tell me to bring it a mask? Why was the black-cloaked man interested in the fact that I’m infected? Why is my jaw still attached after taking a direct blow from an overgrown meathead like Killiment? As long as I’m talking myself into a corner, I should probably also say this. What you said about the Seldori being sensitive to magical auras reminded me of something that happened to an acquaintance of mine recently. She experienced some kind of overpowering sensation and nearly fainted in the presence of Pitt’s own magic. He actually seemed surprised that this was possible, explained some mystical nonsense to her, and said she was the key to figuring out this curse, though that part may have applied to all of us infected. She’s capable of spinning things like fire or lightning into thread with special properties, and releasing it at a later time if she so chooses. I’ve also seen her emit a powerful burst before, so her abilities don’t really match your description of the Seldori, but I thought I’d mention it anyway. I really hope I'm on the right track, or this is going to be incredibly uncomfortable. Well?"

Erratus fixed Andreu with a hopeful grin, his eyes glinting excitedly. Even he wasn't sure of what kind of answer he was expecting from such a convoluted and disjointed flurry of sentences.

Lucia followed quickly after Pitt, though she was no prepared for the sight that she would see. She nearly threw up at that very moment, though Pitt's orders kept her from focusing on the rotted foot.

What was Pitt going to do? She walked in a daze toward them man, a sickening sensation beginning to brew in her stomach. What was Pitt going to do? She grasped the man's right side, her body beginning to quake as the gears in her head began to turn. What was Pitt going to do? Her senses were beginning to numb, she could not hear the man's protests, nor did she realize that tears were beginning to coalesce in her ducts. Lucia could feel something of a cry rising from the depths of her chest.