Hand Puppet

[Urthdigger]

Max took one last look around the village, to remind him of what he was fighting for. When he really bothered to think about it, it didn't matter too much if they were killed by the fallen. He knew of the immortality the Non-Gifted shared with the Gifted. Almost the whole village could be slaughtered, and in a few days it'd be right as rain. However, he had the gifts he had for a reason. He wanted to help protect his people, and for that he traded his immortality for power. It would be a shame to run and hide right when he had a chance to use it.
There were others like him, other Ungifted Ones, who lost their immortality in exchange for powers that often rivaled those of Gifted Ones with similar training. For some it was voluntary, for others it wasn't. One thing was always the same though: Nobody ever wanted their old life back. He knew of a number of Ungifted Ones in the village, and knew for certain one was behind the events at the fort. Non-Gifted couldn't cause such a major change, and Gifted couldn't exert such control over the Non-Gifted. There was still the matter of just HOW whoever was in charge managed to get there in the first place, but he figured they'd burn that bridge when they got there. What mattered now was the present, and the sun was beginning to set. As he returned to the command room, he could hear Turbo practicing out back. The others would be returning soon, all that was left was to wait.

[Urthdigger]

Elsewhere...
The news of Rick's capture was soon spread throughout Edon... and Vlad couldn't feel worse. The crime was resolved, the story would fade into history, and an innocent passerby would get the credit. There was only one thing left to do, and that was to turn himself in.
Down at the guard station, the interrogation was just being finished up. Vlad paused in the street in front of the station. Whatever he did, it had to be profound, it had to be bold, and most of all it had to be attention grabbing. Just telling the guards he did it would be anti-climatic. He saw an opportunity in a little girl doing some shopping with her mom. He pushed the mom away and grabbed the girl, dragging her to the center of the intersection.
"You've got the wrong coon you fools!" he laughed "I'm the murderer, and to prove it I am going to perform an encore of my latest work!"
He kept one arm wrapped around the girl's neck with his paw over her mouth and held her body close with his tail. With his free paw he ran his sharpened claws down the front of her blouse, leaving a trail of blood as he sliced the flesh along with the shirt. He tried to recall everything he did to Eve, it had to a perfect copy. He pressed his knee against her thigh to hold the skirt in place and ripped it from top to bottom.
"I'm not going to lie and say it'll all be over soon. This is going to take a while, and it's going to hurt like hell."
He was completely oblivious to the scene around him, so intent was he on remaking the gruesome murder. He didn't notice the people screaming, didn't notice the guards not performing the execution running out onto the street, didn't notice Aya telling him to put the girl down, and he didn't notice her taking aim with a thunderstick.
BANG!
Vlad Mason looked up at the last second to see a thunderstick slug and grinned. The last thing to go through his mind was of course the slug itself, bringing bits of brain matter and skull fragments with it out the exit wound, but the second to last thing to go through his mind was that, considering all the last minute revisions to the script, the play couldn't have gone better. He knew how it'd end. The guards would be the heroes, and the convict would be slain, but he would live on in infamy for the sheer gruesomeness of his crime, and the boldness of his death. The grin was important not just because he was happy, but because he wanted to freak out the people who would examine his body. His brain tried feebly to communicate around the gaping hole, but as the last few nerve signals fired off he went limp and died.
Aya laid her coat over the little girl and tried her best to console her. The child was traumatized, and sobbed into her mother's dress, too terrified to even speak. The wound on her chest wasn't deep, an arakun's claws aren't very long, and were it not for Vlad's diligent sharpening of them they wouldn't even have cut as easily, so she didn't need medical treatment... Not for her body anyway. It was hard to say how she'd take it, what kind of person she'd grow up to be, but she'd likely need a psionicist to set her mind back on track.
"I'm sorry mam." apologized Aya to the girl's mom "I would have acted sooner, but I didn't want to risk hitting the girl. I can't imagine how you must feel after this." Her mind drifted to Ed, her arakun co-worker. While she didn't particularly like his sense of humor, she appreciated his kindness and passion for his work. Then she recalled the captain's reaction upon first hearing of the crime "I hope that you, both of you, remember to not let this shape your perspective of them. People are individuals above all else, there are plenty of nice arakuns out there. Don't hold them all accountable for the actions of one piece of scum."
She ruffled the girl's hair and went back to the guard station. She felt she had to do more, but there was nothing more. Nothing that is, except to tell the others the news.

[Urthdigger]

BANG!
Rick tensed up, his body deciding at the last moment that it didn't quite want to die. The pain didn't come. Sure, his ears were ringing from the blast, but he didn't feel any impact from the slugs, just a hanging silence. He slowly opened his eyes. The guards were gone.
Inquisitively, he went back inside the guard station, just in time to see Aya and the other guards come back in.
"You there!" Ivan shouted at Rick "I want a word with you. While you were busy being suicidal, the real killer attacked again. It's a lucky thing Aya's such a sure shot or it could have gotten messy. What in Sikkar's name were you thinking!?"
"I wasn't thinking." said Rick. He tried his best to avoid saying exactly what happened, but took care not to lie either "Things have gotten a little hairy lately, I thought I'd lose everything. My wife, my friends, my students, everything. So when you picked me up, I figured it was just what I deserved. I'm so sorry..."
"Damn right you're sorry. I'm not going to arrest you for this, but I expect some compensation. I'll think of a fitting punishment later. 'Till then, you're dismissed, beat it!"
Ivan unlocked the arakun's shackles and Rick wasted no time in scampering out of the station. He paused to catch his breath a few blocks away. He was right back where he started, feeling guilty as ever. He couldn't live with this burden on his shoulders, but he couldn't just tell anyone. His paws brought him to rest right in front of an answer to his problems. An answer he should have visited before deciding to turn to alchohol...
"Forgive me father, for I have sinned... that is what you say in these things, right?"
Rick had gone to a confessional in the Sikkarian church in Edon. The priest nodded, then said "Yes" after realizing that Rick couldn't see him.
"I know I'm not much of a church goer, I serve Gaia rather than your lord, but I didn't know where else to turn."
"Well, your heart is in the right place. I know you do your best to help the forest, and that is an admirable goal, so I'm sure Sikkar will forgive you. Please, tell me what's on your mind."
Rick confessed the entire story, or at least all the important bits. There was silence for a while after he finished, and it seemed hours before the priest responded.
"We all make mistakes, we all have our sins, that is what makes us human... or arakun, or elf, or whatever. The important part is that you feel remorse for what you have done, and are actively seeking forgiveness. While killing another person in cold blood is quite a horrible thing to do, I'm sure that if you continue to do what's right and, and especially continue in your work teaching others how to do what's right for our world, you fill find forgiveness in our Lord. May the light shine upon you."
"And also on you." replied Rick. It was one of the few greetings of the church that he recognized. He quietly left the confessional and stepped out into the open air. The sun was already setting and the air was crisp and cold, but for the time being Rick felt sunny. He was still depressed about what had happened, still felt remorse for what he had done, but now there was hope.
Not all stories have a happy ending, but that's just the way life is. 3 people were dead, only 1 of whom actually deserved it. A little girl was traumatized, and a simple individual who was a caring teacher and loving husband would never be the same. Sometimes, the only thing you have left is hope, hope that some day things will get better. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't, but so long as you have hope, life goes on.

[Urthdigger]

Max waited outside of the command post, tapping his foot impatiently. They were all assembled there, with the exception of Ara, and Turbo, who had gone looking for him. It was a while before Turbo returned, dragging a groaning Ara behind him by the tail. He dumped the bard unceremoniously on the ground and stood next to Max.
"3 guesses where he was, and the first two don't count."
Ara was still feeling rather elated and tired, and giggled in spite of himself. "Totally worth it..."
Max gave him a swift kick to his head. Ara rubbed the side of his head in pain "...Still totally worth it."
Max sighed "Get up you worthless maggot, we've got work to do if you haven't forgotten. Now, with the sun setting, the training excercises will have stopped, in addition to limiting the sight of most of their units. I hope you still remember the earlier briefing, as I will not be repeating myself. As soon as we pass the barrier around the village, I want total silence. Natsuki will be responsible for maintaining a telepathic link between all of us. I'll lead the group and Terrence will take up the rear until we arrive. As for the rest of ya, I don't give a rat's ass how you're ordered. Let's move out."
The 6 arakuns lined up and quietly marched out of the village. Several feet outside of the borders they passed through the barrier, Max drawing his finger across his throat to signify silence. Urth had passed through the barrier 3 times now, but he still had no idea what it was. It gave a tingling sensation as he passed through it and seemed to nullify sounds, but aside from that it was completely unnoticeable.
"It's a powerful druidic spell." said Natsuki's voice from inside Urth's head "It makes an area of the forest completely unnoticeable to it's enemies. You can't hear anything from inside, and any trails leading inside are just ignored. Unless you already know it's there or are extremely lucky, it's impossible to find the way in."
Urth was a bit surprised by what happened. He had known telepaths in the past, but it was always a shock, especially when it's been a while. "I suppose I should be careful what I think about?"
Natsuki telepathically giggled "I wouldn't say that. I don't really mind most of the things guys think about, it might even be fun to share!"
She was walking 3rd from the end, in front of Urth and Turbo and behind Ara, Sakura and Max. The entire group was on all fours to minimize noise, which gave Natsuki the perfect opportunity to sweep her tail up immodestly. Urth blushed, among other things.
Natsuki's mental image was rolling on the floor, laughing it's head off "I'll keep THAT mental image for later. Too bad there's not more where that came from. Loosen up a little and have some fun. There's no harm in letting the mind have a little fun while the body's working, so be as dirty as you please and let me see what you've got."
"Stop it! You're embarrasing me." thought Urth.
"Hmph, you're no fun. Guess I'll just play with Turbo instead."
Urthdigger glanced around uncertainly. With all that going on inside his head, it was a little hard to realize that in the real world nothing had happened. Despite being inches away from the others, nobody heard or saw anything. Even if he did the most perverse and depraved things in his head, nobody would be the wiser.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" exclaimed Natsuki

[Urthdigger]

The fallen fort wasn't far from the village, and there were still a few remnants of light left when they approached. The place was still and forboding, with nobody but a pair of guards at the entrance.
"James and I will wait here." said Max over the telepathic link "Keep us posted every five minutes so we know you're still alive. If I have to come chasing after you because you lost track of the time, I am not going to be very happy. Now get moving!"
The other 4 scattered into the woods surrounding the fort, taking the hidden back trails to Makoto's base. Ara and Turbo stuck together while Natsuki and Sakura took a slightly different route. Along the way, the two guys whispered amongst each other, opting to trust in their distance from the walls and did their best to block off their thoughts from the psionicist.
"You know, I has my paws busy back there when you interrupted me..." hissed Ara
"Yeah, I saw you were busy." whispered Turbo, not bothering to hide his scorn. "Though I wouldn't say it was your paws that were the busiest."
"Hey, why the attitude? It's not like I'm hurting you. Rather than feel angry at those who are successful, you should stay calm and focus on what you want. Jealousy isn't going to get you anywhere."
"You're right Ara. In fact, I should be encouraging you. You're a role-model to all us little guys."
"That's the spirit!"
"In fact, I think you should be encouraged to finally fill out your collection." replied Turbo with a sly grin "Let's start with Sakura."
Ara turned so white that Turbo could swear he saw a few gray hairs appear on the arakun's muzzle "You can't be serious, tell me you're joking..."
Turbo grinned and telepathically contacted Sakura, Natsuki, and Ara with "Hey Sakura, I was just chatting with Ara and he really wants you to show him a good time."
"Turbo, I'm gonna kill you..." said Ara, but the speedy scout had already run off. "Sneaky little bugger..."
Back at the front, Urthdigger sat alongside Max and watched the gate. It was incredibly dull. On top of that, he was starting to feel a little awkward sitting alongside Max for so long. His heart was beating fast in his little chest, and every so often their paws would touch, sending a pleasant chill up his spine. There was no getting around it, his form was in love with Max.
"I wish they'd hurry up." moaned Urth "This is borrring!"
"Well, we should probably make the most out of our time." replied Max calmly "Want to make out while we wait?"
Urth couldn't believe what he just heard. It was weird enough finding a guy attractive, but to be hit on on top of it? "What!?" was all he could exclaim in surprise.
"I said can you make out anything past the gate!"
"I dunno, I'll take a closer look..." said Urth hastily.
Max hid behind a bush for a while as Urth walked off and tried to catch his breath. He couldn't believe had the nerve to say that! After all his talk about keeping one's emotions in check, here he was coming onto a guy he just met. Maybe it was that they were alone together in the dark or something. He resolved to keep an eye on himself from then on.
"Not much to see." said Urth as he silenty returned "The guard situation is light, only 2 at the front gate. Nobody's up inside, or at least nobody near our location. Should be easy to take them out and get inside if need be."
Max nodded in comprehesion. "We probably won't need that, we've got a way in through the back wall, but thanks for checking anyway. Just need to wait for the others."
They waited in an uncomfortable silence, Max counting slowly to himself. It was getting close to 5 minutes and so far no new news.
Max telepathically contacted the group "I haven't heard a peep out of you guys, what's going on?"
"...sorry, we're doing our best to try to find anything positive to report." reported Turbo "The secret entrance is blocked up, the base has been totally ransacked, and there's not a sign of the original unit. I'm sorry Max. Looks like none of them made it."

[Urthdigger]

The 2nd group of arakuns returned to the front gate shortly. An examination of the outer walls revealed no easy way to get in aside from the front.
"Ok, we obviously can't fly over the walls." said Urthdigger over the group's telepathic link "Though we may be made for stealth, we've got by far the noisiest method of flight aside from dragons. Now, the front gate is only lightly guarded, a pair of uruks."
"You can take them out right?" asked Ara
"Well, I can take out one silently. Problem is the other one's going to hear what's going on, and then we're going to have a lot of noise. Now, it may be possible for us to strike both of them at the same time, but I'd rather not risk failing."
"Then what's the plan?" asked Max
"I'm thinking... lemme see if I can find something."
Urthdigger began to search the bushes and ground around the area, eventually finding a tomato plant. Grinning to himself, he picked the largest, juciest one he could find and made his way near the side of the gate. Both of the uruk's were staring straight ahead down the road, looking a bit bored and agitated. Just perfect. The arakun tossed the tomato up and down a few times to get a feel for it's weight, took aim, and hurled it at the uruk on the far side. It's splattered all over the fallen's dark armor with a loud SPLAT.
"Hey!" grumbled the now colorful uruk at his partner "Why you throw red thing at me?"
"I not throw anything." replied the other. He chuckled as he saw what had happened "Hur hur hur, you got red on you."
"You lie! Who else here?" said the first guard, unsheathing his Fellblade.
The uruk sliced open a gash on the clueless guard and pressed forward with the attack, leaving the gate unguarded as he chased the fleeing fallen. Urthdigger returned to the group.
"Well, all the blame's on that idiot now. Let's just let ourselves in shall we?"

[Urthdigger]

The recent additions to the fallen fort were hastily built. The most obvious change was a large parade ground that now occupied what used to be a length of the road leading to the front gates. Shacks containing dull-ish blades littered the sides of the areas, and the ground was soaked in the blood of those who couldn't learn how to duck. Natsuki took point, relying on her mindsense to keep an 'eye' out for any fallen hanging around the shacks. She waved a paw to indicate that it was get to her location, then leaned against one of the wooden shacks.
"There's a goblin just on the other side." she telepathically said to the others "Nobody else nearby... he's just bored, not posted or anything. Can't find anything about the first group, we'll need some way to make him think about them if I'm to probe his mind."
The others nodded silently "We'll have to restrain him of course." said Max "First step, knocking him out. Ara, if you will..."
Max passed around a few pieces of putty that the arakuns promptly placed in their ears to block the sound as Ara approached the far corner of the shack to sing. The song was low pitched and slow, and Urth swore he heard the word 'anvil' a few times. The sound of armor pitching to the ground indicated the bard's success.
"I appreciate the idea of taking the guy's armor for use as a disguise..." groaned Urth "But did you have to take ALL of it?"
The fallen had been stripped, tied up, and tossed in the shack. Max was busy setting up a field to contain any noise along with Natsuki and Turbo's help.
Sakura snickered "Oh please, like you wouldn't pass up the chance to make a fool out of a captive."
"Well I'm not going to wear his loincloth, who knows where that's been." protested Urthdigger.
Max placed a few leaves at even intervals around the circle, sliced his index finger with a knife and let a few drops of blood drop inside the field. "It should work, though I've never actually tried this spell outside of a natural enviroment, so try not to make too much of a ruckus.
Sakura walked into the shack and slapped the goblin awake. His arms were secured to the wall and a some rope coiled around his ankles kept his legs together. "Ok, let's get things straight: You're my prisoner. I want to know the whereabouts of the arakuns that were found north of the fort. If you do not tell me, I will not hesitate to kill you and find someone else. Are we clear?"
"I don't know anything about-"
Sakura swiped her small claws across the goblin's face, making her heart race. It had the perfect amount of resistance from her claws digging through flesh, easy enough to be fun, but with enough drag to make it feel all the more real. And the blood! The wound was already starting to drip, and her blow has splattered some onto the ground and stained her claws red.
"Mmm, hit me again, I like that." said the goblin slyly. Sakura could clearly see just how much he enjoyed it. She placed both of her paws on his shoulders and dug her claws in, dragging the fallen over to her.
"So, you like that eh boy? Just tell me all you know and I'll make it worth your while. Scratch my back and I'll claw yours. I love doing this just as much as you do, but my friends outside are going to consider you a liability if you stay quiet."
She took advantage of her prisoner's helpless position, giving in to her urges, both sadistic and otherwise. The prisoner denied all knowledge about Makoto's group when asked, but otherwise appeared to be enjoying himself. Sakura's tail flexed and danced around as she had her fun, and eventually she spun around and placed it around the fallen's neck.
"Well, this is kink-gurk!"
The goblin was cut off for a bit as Sakura curled her tail in pleasure. She relaxed her tail for a bit, then choked him again stronger as she continued to enjoy herself. The goblin struggled to breath as Sakura's tail wrapped itself around his neck tighter and tighter, until finally, with a sickening crunch, his neck was pulverized. She gave out a pleasant chittering and sat up, keeping her tail around his neck and pushing down on his chest with her foot until she decapitated him.
"Here, he's all yours Hand" said Sakura as she walked out of the shack, chucking the severed head to Urth. "That was pointless. He didn't say jack, though I did find out it's true what they say about Fallen. Someone else take the next captive."

[Urthdigger]

Urthdigger slipped into the dead goblin's armor, grumbling loudly about the armor not fitting very well. The chest was too tight, his wingflaps were getting pinched, and he was beginning to regret his decision to not wear the fallen's undergarments. It was all for the best in the end though, as he now had a working disguise.
Their next victim was an Ettin. Urth merely walked up and began questioning him. "So, whatever happened to those arakuns attacking us?"
The ettin looked down at him in annoyance with one of his heads, and for a second Urth thought his voice had blown his cover. He looked like any other fallen behind all the heavy armor, but the chittering of his voice was a dead giveaway to his race. Luckily ettins aren't known for their intelligence. "What is arakun?" said the first head.
"You know, tiny little things, about my size. Masks on their faces, rings on their tails, big flaps of skin between their limbs?"
The first head continued to look puzzled, but the second head bellowed out "What you want done with ringtails?"
Urthdigger grinned "Yeah, the ringtails. They stole quite a few things of mine, was wondering if I could get some payback for that."
"Commander want them, not know what he do with them."
Urth nodded "Well, you've been most helpful. Seeya!"
The little arakun unsheathed his daggers and plunged them into the ettin's back with alarming speed. The fallen hadn't even hit the ground before Urth sliced his dagger through the first head's neck and removed it.

[Urthdigger]

The team entered the main portion of the fort through what used to be the main gates. Weeks of passage by uncivilized brutes had left one side hanging by a hinge, and the other side lying discarded off of the path. New tents had sprung up like weeds around an incomplete stone tower.
"$10 says the commander is in the tower." muttered Urth
"Well duh!" said a passing devil.
Urth froze, momentarily glad his tail was coiled up inside the armor so it couldn't thwack against the inside in alarm. The devil walked over to one of the tents to sleep, not giving the comment a second thought.
"Smooth." said Ara, stepping out of his hiding spot.
The rest of the approach went uneventful. Urthdigger pushed the front door open and motioned for the others to follow. The tower didn't go very far up, and the stairs had yet to be built, but a ladder led down to a torchlit cavern.
Down there laid the commander of the fort. A massive dragon lying on top of an even larger pile of gold and treasure. Given any other circumstance, the urge to paw through the shiny baubles would have been overwhelming for the six arakuns, but the gravity of the situation allowed their logical side to override their irrational instinct. It didn't help matters any that the heads of the previous group were mounted on plaques on the walls like some sort of sick trophy display. They did their best to resist the urge to hurl, but Urth had a far more pressing matter on his mind. He recognized one of the heads. This was of course impossible, as aside from Kereth and the people he had just met in the village, he had never gotten to know any arakuns since he entered the Retroverse. Still, the memories stored in his brain came to the surface.
"Mom..." he stuttered.
It wasn't his own mom, but this form wasn't his after all. It had never occurred to him that it might have had a life before he inhabited it, given that there was no sentience in it when he got it, only instinct. Still, the form did know what it was looking at. It was eerie to say the least.
While they were all distracted, a section of the wall walked behind Max and placed his fellblade across the general's throat. "Hello." said the arakun "You're looking for the survivors... I'm sorry, SURVIVOR of Makoto's group? You've found him."

[Urthdigger]

"Now don't think of trying anything funny" said the arakun fallen "or the general dies."
"Urth smirked "I know how this world works, he'll come right back."
"No I won't." pleaded Max "Have you ever heard of Un-Gifted Ones?"
"Sure." said Urth "They're guys who aren't Gifted, they come back too."
The fallen made a buzzer noise and pressed the fire imbued fellblade deeper against Max's torso, causing him to scream in pain. "Wrong bucko! That's a Non-Gifted, what I used to be. They're the ones bound by fate. Then there's Gifted Ones, the ones who write fate. That's what you are. Finally there's Un-Gifted Ones, the ones who change fate. That's what the general is, and what I am now. An Un-Gifted one is... hold it."
He noticed Urthdigger was no longer with the group and pressed the fellblade against Max again. The general was beginning to have trouble breathing as the heat began to sear his lungs. "I said no funny business Urthdigger, get back where I can see you."
Urth did so and the fallen continued. "As I was saying, an Un-Gifted One is a Non-Gifted who gives up their immortality in exchange for the power to change their fate. Sometimes it's a choice, sometimes it's not. They recognized the passage of time, and can increase their power as they see fit, even getting skills Gifteds can only dream of. Everything has a price, usually time, but there's a faster route for those willing to sacrifice something. No matter what though, one death and it's all over. That goes for the general, me, and most of your friends."
"So what do you want from us?" asked Ara "If you wanted us dead wouldn't you have done so by now?"
"How very astute. The only one of you I care about is Urthdigger. Once he's dead, I could care less what happens here. In the meantime however..."
The fallen gave a sharp whistle, waking up the dragon. He looked around, slightly annoyed, then approached the ladder. He eyed the intruders. "What are these vermin doing here Procyon?"
"Just some rats I caught for you Lord Tallian." said the fallen.
Tallian grinned toothily "Excellent, I could use a snack."
Procyon bowed "Oh, I'm sure one as great as you can surely find better uses for such important guests. Maybe a stay in the dungeon will loosen their tongues?"
The dragon paused for a moment, then grabbed Natsuki, Terrence, Sakura, and Ara in his paws "Good work in finding some new squealers." he said, having completely forgotten about using them for snacks. He stormed off in the direction of the jail cells.
"Well, if you want any chance of rescuing them you'll have to... oh bloody hell." cursed Procyon. Urthdigger had vanished from sight once again. "I'm going easy on Max you know, I've been granted a fellblade with power beyond what you Gifteds can wield."
He sliced the blade into Max, this time having imbued the blade with electricity. The general went into a spasmic fit from the jolts, and when the blade was removed he slumped down in the fallen's arms.
"One more strike outta do it..." warned Procyon. He waited a few seconds, then stood Max upright, took a step back, and swung, grinning with grim satisfaction as he felt the blade make contact.

[Urthdigger]

Procyon's grin turned to shock as he noticed the stinging sensation and copious amounts of blood issuing out of his neck. Adding insult to injury, his fellblade bounced off of a dark shape that popped out of nowhere.
"Grr...grgle...glork." he tried to speak but the cut was making it difficult. He wound up settling for pointing menacingly before scampering off.
Urthdigger collapsed rather ungracefully to the floor after tackling Max out of the way. It had taken a small while to get the spell up to protect himself, but it did the trick. As he grabbed Max though, he found it hard not to notice something... or rather, some things. He pulled his hands off of the general's chest in shock.
"So he's a she." he thought to himself "Sure explains a lot... or maybe he's just fat. Dangit, I just know this is going to drive me nuts."
His form had seemed rather convinced Max was a girl from the start and was goading him to investigate. He looked over his shoulder to try to see where Procyon had gone to, but when he saw the fallen was gone he started bandaging Max's unconscious body. The little voice in the back of his head was being noisier than ever. As he applied a mixture to one of Max's cuts, he took his other paw and inquisitively stuck it under Max's skirt.
"What the HELL do you think you're doing!?" said a remarkably concious Max.
"Erm... well, I..." stammered Urth
"This is NOWHERE near the time or the place, I can't BELIEVE you would try something like that!" yelled Max "Go after him, I'll take care of myself!"
She watched him leave and sighed. It hurt to move and there wasn't much left to do but wrap up what Urth had started.

[Urthdigger]

Procyon was standing atop a mound of gold in the next room, the wound on his throat having clotted. Urthdigger got a better look at his opponent now that Max wasn't in the way. His fur was mangy and unkempt, and there was a scar on his chest where no fur grew, showing the pale newgrown flesh underneath.
"I said no tricks Urthdigger." spat Procyon "I was going to let your friends go free after I killed you, but just for that they're all gonna become dragon food. I hope you're happy."
Urthdigger pointed at the fallen with one of his daggers in what he hoped was a cool pose "What's this obsession with me anyway? I don't think I've done anything to you..."
Procyon closed the distance to Urthdigger and swung his sword, the Hand expertly catching it with his blades "Oh, but you did! Do you see the scar on my chest? That's from when I become an Un-Gifted One, a choice I made after you killed me!"
The two broke their contact and Procyon dashed back to attack again, swinging from a greater distance using more the tip of the sword "I was just an arakun traveller trying to get some sleep in the hostel in Welstar. I had been there for as long as I know, always telling myself I'd head to Keystone in the morning... then you came in and killed me. I now know I had died many times before, but this time was different. I was annoyed that you tried to kill me in my sleep, annoyed at how easily you dispatched me. I wanted revenge, and the Nameless One gave me an opportunity."
Urthdigger hid behind a large vase to bandage his wounds while Procyon continued his speech "You know, He's been keeping an eye on you. His unique vantage point gives him a glimpse of all possible outcomes. Apparently there's a 25% chance that somewhere down the road you'll do something that, while it won't cripple His efforts, will be a major pain."
"Doesn't seem like much of a reason to kill me..." panted Urth.
"It's enough to allow me my revenge. It's all I live for now. In fact, once I kill you my contract will be over, and this life will perish. I guess we're one and the same, both anticipating dying for our respective masters."
Urthdigger had stepped out from his hiding spot and rushed to melee range in an instant, but Procyon was able to dodge before he could get a swing in. "Give up Urthdigger. I'm stronger than you, more skilled than you, faster than you-"
"Bullshit" countered Urth as he attempted to attack again.
"Oh? Then ask yourself, how am I dodging your attack's so easily? I don't even need to have what the Nameless One told me to know that body isn't your own. Though your movements themselves are graceful and quick, the manner in which they are executed is not. You're not one with your body, and this separation is why I can see your moves coming a mile away. It'll be a snap to kill you, and then I should have enough time to easily finish of Max and persuade Tallian to kill the others."
Urth swung his dagger in rage and sliced open a wound on Procyon. "Well, it appears you are capable of cooperating sometimes after all... but no matter. The season's in my favor, you're distracted and irrational." chittered the fallen.
"So are you!" retorted Urth
"One of the perks of being a fallen is that my blade wields me. I don't need to think at all to use it, I just need to have a good body for my blade to wield. What's on my mind is irrellevant."
The Hand circled behind Procyon's back as he dodged a blow, finding a new hiding spot before Procyon turned around. He had thought a bit about what Procyon had said about him and his form. He had noticed that ever since he had started giving in to what his form told him to do, he was feeling healthier, he wasn't blacking out during world transport anymore, and everything he did just seemed to work out better. It wasn't enough however... but he knew of one instance when his form had complete and total control. Quickly digging through his pack he brought up a few vials of hash and proceeded to down them one by one, slipping deeper into paradise with each swallow.
Procyon caught sight of his prey passed out behind a column "Got you now..." he said, bringing his blade down. The Hand rolled out of the way, quickly transferring the dagger from it's hand to it's tail and using the extra reach to slash at the back of Procyon's legs.
"Damnit Urth... just die!" shouted Procyon.
The Hand blinked it's eyes in confusion. As his opponent was an arakun, he didn't bother translating it into common. It was difficult for him to do so, far more suited to the civilized parts of the brain. Instead it chittered something in Sylvan which when translated meant "I'm sorry, Urth isn't here right now. I'm afraid he'll have to die some other time."

[Urthdigger]

Procyon swung again at the hashed up 'kun as he recovered from the blow, missing by hair's length. He seemed somehow different now. A creepy grin was plastered on his face, and gone was the hesitation the fallen had grown used to.
"What the hell is up with you Urth?" asked Procyon.
"I told you, Urth's not here." chittered the Hand in Sylvan. He calmly walked just out of sword's length, his paws kept ready to jump away at a moment's notice "He left for a bit, but you didn't know he could do that, did you? He's no fun, and he doesn't trust me much, but still I don't want you to hurt him. This is the first time he's put so much trust in me, I won't let him down. I will kill you. Let's play."
"If you're not Urth, who the hell are you?"
The Hand stopped pacing for a second "...I'm nobody. I used to be somebody, then I was nobody. I guess you could call me Urthdigger now, he's me now. Enough talk, let's play."
In the blink of an eye Urth had vanished amongst the dragon's treasure, his paws padding silently amongst the shifting coins. Procyon turned around just in time to block a backstab, but before he could counterattack the Hand had vanished in a brown and black blur. Without Urth having to tell it what to do, his form was far better at gauging his skills and his hand spring reached it's peak right at the ceiling. Procyon soon discovered where his foe had gone when the gravity aided arakun plunged a dagger into his shoulder, narrowly missing his head. He cried out in pain and bludgeoned the Hand off with his fellblade and swung again. Urth's form didn't even bother this time, choosing instead to do a short hop onto the blade and ride it along the follow-through, crouching low and sweeping his tail to keep his balance and slicing just above Procyon's eyes as he passed. He hopped off, doing a front flip with a half twist so he landed facing the now blinded Procyon and barely waited for his toes to touch the ground to rush forward and stab the fallen in the heart, the dagger passing straight through the scar caused by the last time.
"That was fun!" chittered Urth
Procyon stared down at his chest and grabbed onto the blade. He knew he was going to die, and that he had lost, but he wanted to keep the blood loss to a minimum until he had taunted his opponent "You bloody idiot. I don't know if you'll remember this in your primitive hashed up brain, but you'll recall the dragon Tallian, the 'Gifted One' in charge of this damn fort. Why do you think he does what I say? Why do you think a Gifted One can control the Non-Gifted like that? He's a f**king clone, under my influence to keep him in line. The moment I die he's going to want to kill everything, and he'll have just enough sense to give the orders to march on the village. We know where you are, and by tommorrow night all your newfound friends are going to burn. Best of all, the destruction of the village should be enough to turn the Non-Gifted into Un-Gifted, ensuring they stay dead. Have a nice life."
With that, Procyon yanked the dagger out of his chest and coughed violently as his blood poured onto the floor. Urthdigger made a note to remember what Procyon said so Urth could remember it when he came back. While he watched Procyon die and beheaded the corpse, he debated going back to Max, or going to free the others. In the end he decided to be the hero. It didn't matter that he was running on pure instinct rather than rational thought, it didn't matter how his hormones were: some things were just too important to screw up.

[Urthdigger]

Terrence picked himself up off the floor, rubbing his head tenderly. He had been thrown into the jail cell a bit harder than the others and had hit the wall pretty hard. He drew his paw away from his head, wiping the sticky blood onto the stone floor.
"Glad to see you're finally with us." said Ara. He was sharing the cell with Terrence. Natsuki and Sakura were in the neighboring cell, blocked from sight. "I was worried you bit it."
Terrence sighed "I had just the craziest dream. Something about arakuns, Gaia, fertility gods... I can't remember the rest."
"You're horny." said Ara dejectively "If you're gonna deal with it, please go over there." he waved towards the far side of the cell where a corpse was laying. "I'm sure Makoto won't mind anymore."
Terrence didn't actually feel horny, at least not enough. He walked over to investigate the corpse anyway. It was a gruesome sight, he had apparently died of malnutrition. While arakuns usually have a chubby layer of fat around them, Makoto had used all his up and was nothing but skin and bones. The stench coming from the body was horrendous and flies were everywhere.
"We're gonna die here..." said Terrence, his mind having snapped a little twig"The dragon is going to go back and help that traitor kill Urth and Max, then he's going to come back to eat us, or leave us here to rot. We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die..."
He quieted down except for a near constant state of whimpering. On the other side of the wall Natsuki was feeling the effect of her companion's emotions. She had given up her own emotions for psychic power, what emotion she did show was empathy from others.
"It's all hopeless. We shouldn't have come. We trusted too much on that Hand, and now we've been caught and it's all his fault."
The depression she was picking up off of Terrence spread telepathically to everyone around, further worsening the problem. Terrence laid down on his side, chittered agitatedly about dying a virgin. Ara paced back and forth, going over every happy song he knew to try to cheer himself up. Even Sakura, despite her insanity, felt the effects of hopelessness and began trying to rip the bars out... and a few feet outside the flynd guarding the cell was wondering just why he had decided to become a Fallen in the first place. He became depressed, immediately placing the blame on all the people he'd mistreated over the years. All the people who's souls he'd sucked into the blade for his own greed. He couldn't stand what he had become, and decided there was only one logical choice. Getting up from his chair, he wielded his fellblade for once rather than the other way around, and did something the blade really didn't want him to do. Resizing the blade to the size of a short sword, he sliced deep into his belly and slashed across, spilling his guts onto the floor.
A brief expression of pain passed through Natsuki, but it was a pain without regret. She coldly watched the flynd die right outside her cell and began wondering if she could somehow find a blade in her cell to follow suit. Her companions had a far different mood however.
"Sweet Sikkar, that fallen just killed himself! Lucky!" shouted Terrence
"Woohoo!" cheered Ara "Hey Natsuki, check his pockets for some keys."
Natsuki nodded slowly, the happiness of the others taking it's grip on her. She closed her eyes and concentrated on telekinetically emptying the flynd's pockets. A few copper coins, some lint, and then a brass key skidded across the floor to the cell. She left the rest where they lay, but levitated the key up the lock and unlocked the door.
"Showoff..." said Sakura jokingly.
Natsuki ignored her sister and took the key out of the lock and unlocked the guys' cell.
"Way's open, let's go." said Ara "Bring Makoto along. It's only fair that he leave this place in some manner."
"Why do I have to do it?" protested Terrence
"Because you pissed me off earlier? Consider us even after this." said Ara with a thingyy grin.
Terrence grumbled to himself and waved a paw over the corpse to clear the flies. Taking a deep breath, he lifted Makoto's corpse and was given yet another introduction to the wall as Makoto flipped him out of the way.

[Urthdigger]

Terrence cursed whatever he had done to deserve this day. He hadn't hit his head again but he was far from feeling ok. Makoto offered a paw to help him up, which he graciously accepted.
"I'm sorry for that." apologized Makoto "I thought you to be one of the enemy."
"No worries, I guess. We thought you were dead. What were you doing anyway?"
Makoto sighed "The night of our capture, I decided to play dead in order to escape. I took what little food they gave me and smeared it into my fur for the smell, then used an advanced meditation technique to slow down my breathing and heartbeat, shutting down all my senses aside from touch. The idea was to wait until they took my body out of the cell and ambush them, but I assume that's not the case here."
"It's been 2 weeks since you set out from the village. We came to investigate and -"
Tallian's roar snapped them back to reality. "I suppose we better get going then." said Terrence.
Makoto tried to walk towards the cell door, but collapsed after a few steps. Terrence rushed to support the commander and they slowly made their way to the hall.
"Move your ass!" yelled Sakura
"If you think it's so easy then you carry him!" grunted Terrence.
Sakura came over and easily lifted Makoto with one hand "Fine. Now get moving."
Terrence nodded and promptly dissapeared, the air making a clap as it rushed to fill the space he had left. A second later he was back, bringing a mass of wind in his wake. "No good." he said in a panic "This way!"
He ran off at a considerably more visible pace away from the direction they had been brought in from, heading deeper into the fort. He paused at the turn and beckoned for the others to follow before running off to recon further.
The group passed vast stores of armor and weapons as they fled. It was clear the Fallen were more powerful than previously thought. They were clearly being chased now, as the relief guard had found the dead body of his predecessor and had called for reinforcements to recapture or kill them. The storerooms were nothing more than small chambers with racks of equipment lining the walls to decrease wasted space, but it also made for no way to lose anyone or hide. Sooner or later they knew they were going to run out of room, and unfortunately it was sooner. The passage ended in a considerably larger room than the others with the only way onwards being locked. Sakura and Natsuki stayed near the entrance to buy the others some time while Ara got to work dealing with the lock.
The replacement guard was the first to catch up to them, and didn't have much time to do anything. Sakura threw Makoto up into the air, tripped the flynd, and crushed his skull against the floor in time to catch the falling arakun. "Hurry with that door!" she shouted
As if on cue Ara finally heard a satisfying click as the door unlocked. The others hurried inside, Sakura grabbing the corpse with her free hand as an afterthought. The room beyond was truly a deadend, an empty storeroom that from the smell hadn't been put to any use yet. The arakuns heaved a sigh of relief as Ara locked the door behind them "We should be safe now. I don't think they'll realize we could have gone in here with the door still locked." said Ara "Nice work disposing of the evidence Sakura."
"Evidence!?" said Sakura, dangling the flynd by his tail "I was thinking we could use some dinner."
She ripped off a leg and handed it to Makoto, who graciously accepted it. They could hear the puzzled comments of the remaining fallen as they entered the room and searched it for them. Thankfully Ara was right, as they tried the handle to the storeroom then left it alone after discovering it was locked.
"They must have had a mage." muttered one of them "Break off the search."
Ara waited until they were all out of hearing range and then burst out laughing. Spirits were high among the group throughout the night as they exaggerated their roles during the escape, the stories becoming more rediculous with each passing tale. Eventually they all grew tired and curled up to sleep. The morning would mark the end of their escape.