To Heal a Murderer (PeregrineXTShara)

[T'Shara]

In most circumstances, Zaia was not one to shy away from a fight. She had fought many creatures as part of her training with Master Kilan. She was trained as a Huntress of the Death Gods, for all the good that had done her. But this was a far different fight, one in which she was trapped on the side of evil and cruelty. All she wanted to do was kill her "ally," and short of that, hide away so that she could not harm anyone else. The last thing she wanted was to see the harm that Hael was doing. It was her fault she was here, her fault that she had not stopped him in Denir.

But despite her frustration, she did watch Hael from the shadows, finding spots beside the buildings and houses. With a bit of luck, she could have hit the Warlord with a well-placed arrow, fear of hurting the others be damned. From her place in the shadows, she even attempted to shoot him at one point, as he was distracted fighting the Sin'jara warriors. The former Huntress got as far as nocking her arrow, drawing back her string, and aiming towards Hael, before the pain paralyzed her arms and caused her to fall to her knees and drop her bow. There was no possible way for her to let that arrow fly. Thanks to the pandemonium and her shadow spell, no one had noticed her or her attempt at fighting back.

She was just getting up from the ground when the order came. Zaia simply cringed, trying to resist the force of it, and of the severe pain that her delay was causing. Trembling, she raised her hands and stared at him, healing his wounds from afar. Though she was distraught, there was a part of her mind that realized she had never healed another from so far away, and wondered if the connection between them was what allowed it. But now was not the time to consider that.

 

[Peregrine]

There was a brief delay between the order and the result, and, in the part of Nico's brain that wasn't actively occupied with fighting the enemies who were still swarming him, he logged the time difference as a standard delay between when he gave the order, and when Zaia's programming failed to counteract the demands of the bond between them. It would be good to know, should he ever get to the point where he was pushing his ability to survive right to the edge of his health.

The warriors of Onsif were seeing the wounds that were accumulating on his body, and despite the number that fell away under his blade, they were throwing themselves at him with all the more vigor. Perhaps they honestly believed that he was about to fail. Were he really in this reality, he might fail at this point, even with the massive difference in strength between him and the individual, for the pain would incapacitate him. But, although Nico knew Vanhaelsin was being hurt, there was no actual pain associated with it. He had disabled that particular feature before going into battle.

And then Zaia's spell came into effect. The wounds on his body sealed shut cleanly, and he began to move with increased speed and vigor. The few people who had come in close to him, hoping to finally overwhelm him with sheer numbers, suddenly and violently fell under his blade. It was simultaneously a brilliant attack strategy, and a wonderful intimidation technique. There was a momentary lull in the battle as the warriors backed away, panting, bleeding, and casting fearful glances at each other.

Zaia watched the carnage with a stunned gaze. She had fought many evil creatures as part of her training, but that many trained guards and citizens would have taken her down completely in hand to hand. Hael's fighting was almost... beautiful in a way, if it weren't so painful to watch so many die. She hated cowering, despised herself for it, but all options seemed closed. She could not heal the others, for such work had been forbidden, and she could not help anyone escape because that would require revealing herself. She had never been so helpless before, not since her town had been taken. The scene was so similar, just a different Death God. Her hands trembled in anger, and in so much pain, but her methods of channeling it into something were completely cut off. So she cowered herself away, struck by PTSD that she thought she had overcome years ago.

The warriors of Onsif were not remarkable fighters, and it was in many ways the perfect test of his new fighting strategy. He didn't have to worry about the cost of making a small miscalculation, because small miscalculations could be easily overcome. Not that he did make one. The fight went off flawlessly, and he only had to order Zaia to heal him one more time. Once more he clocked the time between the order and Zaia's delivery, about the same, and then he doubled it. Best to make sure that she couldn't resist harder when something her programming considered really important was at risk.

Slowly but surely, the last of the warriors of Onsif fell. Nico took a moment to recover, switching back from battle mode to general survival mode. The pain ran like shock lines over his body, not enough to distract him but enough to let him know what was going on with his own body. It was time to finish the remaining, noncombatant, population of this small city. He wanted to get moving again.

His search through the city took longer than he would like, but he was fairly certain he had gotten everyone hiding within its walls. However, just to make sure, he called Zaia over. "Is there anyone alive within these walls, other than us?"