How We Survive

Steam rose from the charred black terrain of a burnt forest. The sun had only just begun its crest of the horizon but Tarjia was already awake, staring off into the distance. Smoke still rose from a point in the distance she couldn’t see, the source of all the turmoil brought to the land. Its effects had reached even so far as the Shattered Mountain Clan, which had been nestled in the crag of a split mountain where some unknown phenomenon generations ago had cleaved a swath through the rock.

At the base of a tree a hollow had been burnt out, and Tarjia had spent the evening reclined back into it with her legs stretched out before her. Her fire had been long since doused, though wisps of smoke still trailed off from it. The hollow provided her warmth before the sun could make its appearance, still radiating a heat that shouldn’t have lingered so long, though Tarjia didn’t know how long it had been since the cataclysm had purged the land. Time became irrelevant in solitude.

She had once had traveling companions, at different times, but neither had ended well. The dry ground emit a scraping sound as chunks of dead wood and debris were pushed aside from her foot drawing inwards. Her hands lifted to grasp the edges of the hollow and drag her out and up to her feet, tongue darting out to moisten dry and cracked lips as she fell into her routine. Water. Food. Keep moving. Not that she knew where she was headed.

Exhaustedly she gathered up her energy bow, securing it to her back, and a rough looking spear crafted from a shard of obsidian and bound to a long slightly bent stick. She’d reinforced it around the haft many times with vines and whatever other vegetation she could find, which became more frequent as the land recovered from its wounds.

The spear acted in part as a walking stick as she continued the distance out of the burst expanse of forest. Rumbling in the distance gave her pause, but the greenery wouldn’t let her dissuade herself from pushing on. She paused and set her spear down, rubbing her hands through the soot and husks of wood. She blackened her palms and hastily rubbed the soot across her clothing, the color of such long since lost, her face, hair and any bits of exposed skin found in tears of her garments.

Her spear was taken up once more, black lines the same width of her fingers traced down from beneath her eyes and across her neck as she crept forward as stealthily as she could. Each step was meticulously taken, once more a pause at the shudder of the ground and the thud that had caused it. She waited, the sounds of large steps trailing away, and moved nearer. The corpse of a rancor lay within some of the freshest grass she had seen in a while, deep lacerations of an even larger rancor’s claws raked across it’s torso while a jagged curve of teeth impressions at the back of the neck suggested the size of the predator that had felled the creature.

Tarjia quickly slipped an obsidian dagger from her hip and began cutting away portions of the meat, her head turning quickly in the direction the tracks had gone. She sawed off chunks of meat, then laid it atop a rather large leaf. The meat was rolled up, stuffed in her satchel, and she moved on as quickly as she could. She was careful to monitor the wind’s direction, aiming to keep herself downwind while also searching for what she knew provided sustenance to the oasis she had found.

Her entire life spent on Dathomir, she had begun to learn the ways of the land. It was the one thing that had kept her going as long as she had, given her age and lack of support system. She slowly crept down a slope, her body angled diagonally to keep herself from tumbling down the increasing grade, moving in the direction of the increasing volume of the flowing water. That was where she imagined the Rancor had gone, so she took the more difficult line of terrain towards it, and the most distant from the kill left behind.

She finally reached the stream, dropping her satchel and spear and bending down to cup handfuls of water to her mouth.

There was water to be found, flowing both into and out from the mountain. Khthonia had filled a number of bottles, strapping them to the saddle of her Gaping spider, Empusa. They were added weight, but Empusa could take it. Not far away, her sister Kinzie and her own arachnid mount searched the slopes for survivors, tools, anything they could bring back. The sisters also both kept a watchful eye for threats to their new clan..

Up the river from her, she could hear something large moving. Empusa reared back on her hairy legs, twitching her chelicerae at Khthonia in a series of quiet clicks. The Nightspider nodded, silently moving to her mount and swinging into the saddle without a word. They might need to move fast to get out of there. Her mission was to scout, that was it. She had given Mother Anjali her word. With naturally stealthy steps, the spider moved up the slope on agile legs, along side where the sound had come from. The deep, stomping, hollow thump of a rancor..

Tarjia let out a gasp of breath as she finished drinking, the several seconds spent doing so done without oxygen. She wiped the dirty back of her palm against her lips, only further adding to the disheveled mess that she had become. From her hip she withdrew a waterskin, an experience to retrieve it not something she was too keen on repeating and turned it, so the stream flowed right into filling it. She secured the stopper within and tied it back off to her hip.

For a moment, she considered making a temporary residence out of the land surrounding her. Vegetation and water could sustain her for a time, but…As if on cue, the ground rumbled with the steps of the Rancor, reminding her of the predator dangers that lurked near such valuable resources. She didn’t hesitate at the rumbling ground to reach out and close her fingers around her spear, keeping low in a crouch. Her eyes swept the forested area for movement, particularly focused the direction she assumed the loud thud to come from.

She carefully and quietly eased the spear into place, having only taken it up because it was the nearest unsecured weapon in that instant. With it placed in the makeshift sling, she withdrew her energy bow instead. Her fingers hooked the grip located along the bowstring, applying the tiniest bit of tension but not drawing back to manifest the arrow of pure energy.

So focused on the direction of the Rancor was Tarjia, that she found herself caught unaware as the massive spider snuck up on her with it’s stealthy approach, no doubt also trying not to draw the attention of larger predators. She didn’t even at first notice the mounted rider, her arm snapping back and the lance of pure pink energy manifesting between the nock and grip. She didn’t loose the bow though, merely shuffled back in a low crouch and kept her weapon poised on the spider.

It took a moment to notice the rider, but when she did her sightlines rose up to train on Kthonia. This earned her a defensive hiss and chitter as the spider reared itself a bit to protect its rider, and she was forced to quickly turn her sights back down on the beast. It took Tarjia a few moments to find her voice, and even it sounded foreign to her. She hadn’t used her voice in months, losing that desire to speak to herself after several weeks of doing so. “I don’t have much worth taking, but I promise I will defend what I do with my life and you will regret it.”

Empusa did not appreciate the threat of the energy weapon being aimed at them. She reared to defend her mistress, even as Khthonia was nocking an arrow, and likewise taking aim on the other female. It was on the tip of her tongue to snipe her with a retort at least, but... Khthonia recalled how it had been. Before she and her sister had found, or been found by, the other survivors. She was not a wise, patient sort. Far from it, but she could be understanding and mature if the situation required it. A cataclysm had a way of aging the young quickly..

"Nice bow, petal.. ", Khthonia remarked, eyeing the one thing she would have taken, had that been her aim.

"I'm not your problem. She is." The Nightspider lifted her chin, indicating that the other female should look behind her.

The rancor was old, and huge... She might have been a herd mother, or the mount of a Beast Warden at some point in the past. She had the remains of burned lizard-leather ornamental armor covering parts of her already armored hide, and she looked hungry.

As the spider-mounted Nightsister remarked on her bow, her grip tightened to the point that her knuckles whitened and fingernails bit into her palms. Her eyes focused with a ferocity at what she perceived as a threat to take her bow, fighting the twitch of her fingers to release her arrow. The warning given by the Nightsister forced her to turn and twist, her knee scraping up a small plume of dust as she tucked her frame lower and stabilized herself and her aim. The knocked energy lance was released, vibrant pink tearing through the air, the intense radiant heat burning at the foliage it passed close enough to.

Tendrils of saliva dangled from the lower jaw of the Rancor, a ravenous look etched within the glossy black gaze. The energy arrow struck the lower jaw of the rancor, charring the leather skin black. It reared back, reaching a massive clawed hand upward to shield its massive head belatedly from the pink arrow, then thrust its claw down to scrape the dirt Tarjia vacated and thrust its neck forward in a drawn-out roar that flung it’s spittle in all directions, the rancid scent of it's last meal and decay saturating the air and challenging Tarjia's fortitude.

The way the girl insisted the Rancor was Tarjia’s problem and did not suggest it as their problem led the woman to believe it was another pet of the Nightsister. “Call it off!” Her throat burned with the scream that poured from her lips. She used the slope to her advantage to gain speed, shuffling down the decline with the scattering of dirt and rock tumbling beneath her feet. She maneuvered in a diagonal to place the spider-mounted Nightsister between her and the Rancor, already drawing back a new arrow but holding that next one at the ready. Run. Just run. Survive another day, and then another. Her instincts kept screaming at her.

Wherever Khthonia went, her twin sister, Kinzie was never far behind. The mission was clear... The girls had to find supplies and be watchful for threats to their new clan. For Kinzie, it meant hunting and while Khthonia scouted elsewhere Kinzie had spotted a boar nearby. Taking the opportunity to hunt, Kinzie jumped off her spider and prowled the underbrush silently to get close to her prey. Taking her bow into her left hand, Kinzie nocked an arrow into it and prepared herself for the shot. As she did so, however, the deep thud of bigger feet vibrated the ground beneath her, spooking her prey to run away while her spider, Arcene rose up onto her hind feet. Annoyed at the loss of her prey, yet concerned for her sister, Kinzie growled in frustration and slung her bow over her shoulder, abandoning her hunt to go find out what that vibration was and whether her sister was caught up in the incident. Jumping on Arcene's back they raced through the burnt forest and came to a halt behind the rancor. She could sense her sister ahead along with a stranger in their midst. While she would be content to leave the stranger to her fate, Kinzie would not let her twin be hurt by this beast. No... She had to stand her ground and buy them both time for a plan of action.

"Hey Rancor. Back off!" Kinzie shouted as she stood on the back of her spider and raised her hands up to meet her shoulders in preparation of casting a spell. With a face of determination, Kinzie called out the name of her spell in Old tongue as she threw her hands forward. "Qeesucao!

The Force soon began to stir, turning into a whirlwind that picked up dust and debris around the rancor, blinding the creature in the process. As she held the spell, Kinzie snarkily called out to her sister. "I know you wanted to hunt bigger game for the clan sister, but isn't a rancor a bit much even for the three of us?!" she said, acknowledging the stranger with them. "And where did she come from? Did she bring this beast here?"

When the new witch told her to call the rancor off, Khthonia cocked an eyebrow at her like she was truly the soft little blossom she had already tauntingly called her once. Could be the girl was from one of the clan's that did not know the ways of the Nightspiders. Their kind did tend to be shunned by their rancor-riding Sisters. Whatever, they were somewhat less rigid on the aspect of who was worthy to be called Sister, or Brother, these days. Alive was a good place to start, even alive and being a pain in the ass..

The emergence of a second gaping spider from the sidelines further enraged the rancor, if the way it tipped it's giant head back and let out a roar was any way to know. Ropes of saliva bigger in circumference than Khthonia's arm dripped from the herd-mother's mouth, splashing to the charred, muddy ground below her. Khthonia grinned from atop her own spider as Kinzie and Arcene, circled conjuring a whirlwind around the beast.

"Yeah, well Kinzie you know me! Why do anything the easy way right?", she laughed at her twin. "No, the petal didn't bring it here, but she did piss her off with that pink energy bolt..", Khthonia muttered, her own arrow still nocked, but really not much good against a rancor.

"I'm positive Mother Anjali would not want us to kill the big bitch.. Let's get out of here, send the Hunters and Wardens back for her."

Another voice cried out opposite of the Rancor, snatching her focus to a second spider mounted witch. No surprise she hadn’t heard the crunch of dry leaves as the stealthy mount made its approach atop spindly legs. Amber eyes warily dart between the three threats, her bow humming it’s desire to release another arrow, but her mind staying the primal urge to fight when it might not be necessary.

Dust and debris suddenly swirled, gathering speed until it began to form a mighty vortex that nearly completely enveloped the Rancor. She released the tension on her bow, sensing that all parties recognized the immediate threat as the Rancor. Bending down in her crouched state, her palm pressed to the forest floor and drew a circular pattern. Her incoherent words summoned the primal energy of Dathomir to grant her own contribution to the spell.

More debris gathered from outside the vortex, and was drawn in. Moderately sized branches, rocks, and just about anything that wasn’t secured swept in and pummeled at the Rancor. She swept her massive claw at the vortex, roaring in pain and anguish as she discovered the safest place was within the eye of Kinzie’s cyclone.

Clan. Mother. Those keywords resonated to a time that felt long since past for Tarjia, but seemed to still be the present for the sisters. Tarjia was already ahead of the pair when Khthonia gave the indication she intended to flee. Tarjia used the slope to her advantage. Her body coiled like a snake ready to strike, and she pressed off with all the strength she could muster. Her agile frame vault away from the Rancor and down the slope, the decline granting her greater distance and height.

When she hit the ground, she did so in a roll that came out to a shuffling dash down and away. Her temples pulsed a headache of her exertion, dashing with all the strength and control she could muster. She angled diagonally and hiked her legs up as high as she could to cross the stream. When it grew deep enough that wading would only slow her, she thrust herself beneath the surface and kicked herself to the shallower other bank.

She emerged with the water dripping from her garments across the stone embankment. Tarjia did not have the luxury of a mount to cross distances in a shorter span, or make the depth of the water trivial, so like every day that came before every moment present one more struggle to overcome.

The waning sounds of the Rancor’s rage filled cries suggested it had given up and left her with the threat of only the pair on their spider mounts. She kept her bow lowered, but her fingers upon the nock-point. She was about to speak but took a moment to instead swallow and gather her breath. “You helped me.” They perhaps didn’t mean to, but they had provided warning and distraction. She straightened her body, the tension and threat bleeding off her frame. “I managed to recover some meat from a fresh kill. I will share it with you.” Another roar from the distant Rancor cause a brief sink in her stance, and then for her to turn. “Maybe somewhere further away.”

Kinzie rolled her eyes slightly when he sister told her of the energy bolt the stranger had released onto the rancor. "Urgh! No wonder its madder than a razor cat on heat! We'll need to get as far away as fast as possible before this thing will calm down!" she suggested as she felt the additional power of Dathomir enhance her spell thanks to the help of the stranger. It was enough that it would give them all a headstart in their escape and the stranger had already got a headstart on them.

Once her twin and the stranger were at a safe distance, Kinzie let go of the spell and it sustained long enough for her and Arcene to get away in the opposite direction before doubling back in a wide circle to rejoin them. Exhausted from holding the spell for so long, Kinzie was thankful for the respite. "Phew! That... was... intense! You all OK?" she asked a she caught her breath. The stranger seemed grateful for the save and offered to share some meat from a fresh kill as the rancor roared once more. Looking up, Kinzie agreed with the stranger and looked to her sister. "I agree with the stranger, sister. We should leave before the rancor catches our scent." Kinzie said as she approached the stranger while still on her spider. She then offered her hand to help the stranger on to the back of her spider, willing so call the stranger's bluff with an air of confidence.

She then offered a hand to the stranger to help her climb up onto the spider. "We can cover more distance quickly on the backs of the spiders..." she said, her expressions kept neutral. "... Unless you wish to run on foot... That's up to you."

'Yeah, agreed." Khthonia nodded at her sister. They needed to get some distance between them and the agitated rancor.

There were other Sisters trained to deal with that situation, their job was to scout.

She glanced at the girl warily.

Their job was also to bring back survivors of the calamity. She qualified, and she seemed in need of some place to at least rest, maybe recover herself. No one had been made to stay with them. If she wanted to stay on her own, no one would stop her. Stupid idea really, but it was a possibility.

"Bring that meat... We have somewhere safe."

Khthonia did not wait for the girl to make up her mind, she turned Empusa and headed back up the slopes, easily traversing the shifting gravel on her spider's legs. The herd mother would be too heavy to follow this way.