[Valtoria] High Yeenas

[Arkash]

73rd of Ash, 4621

It had taken some convincing to get the older rathor to agree to allow him to work on her, but she did in the end. He'd offered alternatives and backup plans if anything went wrong and wove a web of lies around himself, a web of lies he eventually encased him in a cacoon with the help of all her questions, but he thought he'd made a convincing story of his false identity, with certain elements of truth, that was. He didn't yet know how to consider the older Rathor, especially given that she was so perceptive and quick to dig under his lies, but he knew she was at least a good person. How could he be opposed to someone good if he was meant to be good?
Reiss had even called him her friend, which spoke volumes. She was lonely, which might have been obvious. Who knew how long she'd wandered for without speaking to anyone but the horse she carted around? He couldn't imagine too many people were tolerable of her. Either by sight or by smell, she was sure to offend the gracious people of Daravin. They spoke on the walk, of what his plans were and what he might begin to work on with her body. he'd thought about it, and came to the conclusion that he had to start from scratch with her.
"The problem with just patching up the missing spots is that the rotting spots will quickly spoil the fresh spots, see?" He began to explain the reasoning behind his decision. "Same reason as to why I can't just replace the top layer and call it a day; all your organs and muscles will rot your new skin from the inside. You'll bloat as you decompose, then burst in patches." Arkash only knew such things from various dead fauna that he'd seen while in Lorien. Lots of animals were trampled by hollows and the like in the labor camps he worked at.
"...So I need to rebuild everything, from the bone up. I don't think I need to replace your bones because they don't rot, but your muscles and stuff, for sure." he did wonder if Necromancers had an easier way of keeping meat fresh, but if there was, he didn't know about it. He'd never touched the tools before, what was he going to do? The only things he'd seen used were that mortar and pestle, the gun, and the razor... All things he didn't know what they were.
"I know it sounds scary, but... At least you'll be all completely fixed, right? And hey, if you want any changes made, I can do those too..." he began to wonder. "Like hey, what about hollow bones? Might make you lighter, and it's not like you need marrow. Hell, why do you even need organs? Why don't we just replace your- OH!" he called in excitement, grinning. "What if we gave you swords for hands?!" His fists clenched close to his chest while they walked through the arid dryland. "That would be freaking awesome, wouldn't it?"
Evidently, he was modifying her body in his head while they walked on their way to the deeper parts of the wild. He began to wonder with every step, and looked her up and down. "What if we gave you a really big tail, like mine? Then you could bludgeon people with it." Were all of his thoughts so violent? Why didn't he suggest giving her bigger arms to hug people with? He thought for a moment, then pursed his lips. "Ah, sorry. I get a little carried away sometimes." He looked away, partly in shame, partly in the search for something to kill.
The sun that had once been high was starting to come down. They didn't have much time, it was almost sunset. Raphael would go to bed shortly after, and Arkash would have to return to steal the tools. They only had the eight-hour timeframe, and Arkash would have to make the most of every second. The sooner they got the hunting out of the way, the better.
"Okay, so... here's the plan," Arkash began as he caught the scent of one of the beasts on the breeze. He breathed deeply through his nose, then exhaled through his mouth. "You lay here, and I'll get into an ambush position. The moment they turn up, I'll jump out and we'll just stick as many as we can, okay?"
He looked about the dusty dryland then, and began to rip some dried bushes and foliage from the ground with the coarse scales of his palms to guard him against thorns and the like. He cleared up space in the ground near the taller rath, then began to pile foliage on himself as a sort of camouflage. it was crude, but it broke up his shape to the point that one couldn't see him unless he opened his eyes. Thanks to his superior dranoch senses, he just had to listen to the heartbeats of nearby animals, whenever they came by. His eyes would shut if Reiss got into position, and he waited in silence, sort of like an ambush predator. He wasn't a monitor lizard, but a land crocodile in those moments that he waited.

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[Mallory Reiss]

Spots, Spots, the bits of decaying flesh and broken tissue that the sun had rotted off her body. That's what most of her missing pieces were. There was the occasion where a branch would snag at a tuft of few and it just didn't grow back; sometimes from a nasty fall. She just wasn't able to heal like everyone else, so everything stayed the way it was left. Most if not all of her holes and tears were freak accidents that any normal person could heal in a year tops and a month at the least. That was probably what irritated her the most, numerous problems that could've been fixed if she'd just not been who she was. Mallory was just.. Worn down and dirty after every path she walked, every day she neglected herself and didn't watch her footing.
Mallory recalled back to a few times where they weren't accidents and cringed, stopping in place to linger and drown in those thoughts before Arkash's words brought her right out of the trance. Bloating, exploding, dead and living flesh rotting, yes, she knew it well and tried not to think about it. Never experienced it thankfully but Mal saw plenty of things while she ran around Atharan.
"Right. As much as I wonder how bad my liver looks right now I'd rather not actually check." Mallory muttered and kept herself from thinking further on the consequences to her own actions, or lack of.
"Hollow..?" Modifications were something she briefly thought about.
"I suppose that might be a good idea." Dazed eyes looked over her lower arm while her hand flexed, gripping the air, muttering something about getting stronger in all parts of her body. Eventually, learning necromancy herself would be a big goal. Mallory didn't want to run to this poor lizard every time, the Dunash had to be a little self sufficient in the future. Arkash had mentioned putting swords in her hands, and while the visual was an amusing one, it didn't sound very practical for the more mundane tasks in life. Like handshakes. Still she couldn't help but smile at his excitement. It honestly seemed like he was more excited to actually try necromancy than to fix up her broken body.
"Tell me more about your ideas later, Arkash. Not sure about the sword hands but I'm definitely interested." The corpse nodded her head and looked back to their path. Mallory noticed the greenery- what it lacked, and how weirdly shaped the trees were, then Arkash and the prints he left in the sand. She'd yet to see any hyena's around, but Mal noticed a few birds not too far from them, screeching at each other as if their conversation was something for all of Atharan to hear. The two of them walked further on for a bit longer, the idle chatter slowing to a stop just as Arkash explained the plan. It seemed simple enough, just get the hell out of the way when the time came. And beat on any strays going after the one that could actually bleed. They were just about far enough from civilization; and as if he'd read her mind, Arkash stopped and went over the plan. It sounded simple. Lay down and wait for the beasts to get after you, jump them when they got close enough, and beat down any strays that went after the one who could actually bleed. "Right. Of course." Would asking him to be careful be insulting? Would it be like she was calling him weak?
She watched the lizard a bit longer as he scrambled into his makeshift disguise, and Mal glanced around a bit longer before snapping her hood down and kneeling. Mallory leaned back until gravity took her, creating a dust cloud. The joke was 'supposed' to be that she'd just keeled over and died, but the comedic effect would be lost on anyone except Arkash. That guy had his eyes closed though. The giant lay still as death in the dirt, listening for sniffling noses and cackling furry dogs with her eyes lidded. Hyena's traveled with each other, they were loud, and they ate whatever they could. That was about all she knew about the beasts. Honestly if something happened Mal knew things would be alright, but the gnawing in her tummy could've been mistaken for hunger if not for the fact she'd not eaten in a few years. Maybe that's why?

[Arkash]

His eyes shot open at the sound of her body hitting the ground, and he stared with concern and confusion as she lay sprawled out across the floor. "Reiss?" He whispered, voice rich with worry. Then he realized, she didn't feel pain. Despite the weight of her drop being enough to shake the ground he laid on, she was probably fine... Unless she'd broken a bone or something in the fall. Arkash cringed at the thought of having to piece her skull back together. "Careful not to damage yourself even more before I can fix you, okay?" He warned, almost like a concerned parent.
His eyes closed then, and he continued to listen for the ambient heartbeats of the beasts. He curled his nose a little at their scent on the breeze, then exhaled. It came time to address the elephant in the Savannah. How did he expect to be able to take down multiple Hyenas without any weapons? His claws were Sharp and his bite was lethal after a few days without treatment, but he'd heard tales of the High Yeenas, and how they could crush bones with their bite. Arkash was outmatched, he needed an edge. Reiss at least had her stature and strength... Plus the fact that she couldn't really feel pain.
There was bloodshaping, but how did he conjure up a sword and justify it after the fact? Perhaps he'd concealed a dagger on his... Burlap rags? Somewhere? Under his clothes, perhaps? His rags were certainly baggy enough to hide something like that. So, he peered at the wolf through a crack in his eyes and began to press a claw to his wrist... then paused. That wouldn't work; Reiss was a wolf, she'd smell his blood with ease... Worse yet, the High Yeenas might also smell his blood, then what? Arkash bared his teeth. He had to think of something, and quickly.
Arkash was made to hold down his camouflage as a hard gust of wind blew by, dragging Reiss's scent in the direction of the clan he'd smelled. He heard them, some sort of whooping and cackling on the breeze. With his eyes shut, he decided he'd just wing it and see what happened. The pad of paws on the dry, cracked earth whispered in his ears. It was quiet at first, but grew louder as the beats of their hearts came into his range of hearing. There was... A lot of them. Arkash was startled by how many came, like a chorus of beating hearts. The thrum of their organs was almost as loud as the scampering and scraping of their feet, dragging across the arid dryland.
He couldn't tell exactly how many there were, but it was easily more than ten, more than double that... Maybe thirty? Thirty High Yeenas, all rushing in to get a load of the cadaver that lay fresh on the ground... Well, not fresh, but appetizing all the same. Driven by the company of their clan, they spent little time sniffing and testing the meat. it was a competition after all. They had to compete with the other members of their clan for their spoils. There was no time to try and decipher what had felled their food, and unless Mallory moved quickly, they'd be on her like starving humans on bread.
Arkash gripped the ground and threw himself out from his hiding place. Like black lightning, he ran the short distance and swung his claws through one of the Yeenas. An irate cackle sounded, and a number of them broke off and scampered to try and circle both Arkash and Mallory.
The rush of feet behind him brought Arkash to spin on the spot, where he brought his sharp foot claws straight into the jaw of a charging Yeena, and bludgeoned another with his tail. There was blood on his claws, but he couldn't use it.
A series of feint attacks ensued while Arkash and Mallory were surrounded, all coordinated in a way that was to provoke the most energy expenditure in counter-attacking, they were trying to tire Arkash and Mallory out before the kill. "This was a bad idea!" Arkash spoke with some degree of worry, but he had yet to tire. "How are you holding up?!" He kept his back to Reiss, and his stance wide. "Don't let them bite you, they won't let go!"
Easier said than done, there were so many of them, and they kept charging in, only to dip at the last second. Arkash fell for it every time, and swung. he knew that if he didn't, they might just carry through the attack and land their jaws on his leg. If he lost his ability to stand, that was it, game over. Did he need his magic? Certainly, but maybe Reiss would be of enough help? His jaw ached, not with the urge to bite, but with the urge to rip his own wrists open. his own blood was far stronger than the likes of those animals, he would destroy them with ease if it weren't for the fact that he had to keep his magic secret from his company.
Even so, they were in dire straights. A thought struck him then, at the worst possible time, too. "SWORDS FOR HANDS DOESN'T SOUND SO BAD NOW, DOES IT?!" Arkash called, clearly under immense stress while he faced the horde of High Yeenas.
Mallory was undead, and she wouldn't trie out no matter how many of them feinted an attack. She had a clear-cut advantage as they dove at her and buckled at the last second. Any attempt to close the distance with the circling, cackling beats was met with a hasty retreat and quickly filled with more Yeenas. They wouldn't allow her to land a hit on them, just as they didn't allow Arkash. Of course, the feinting and the retreating were all phase one of their hunting strategy, phase two was an all-out attack.

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[Mallory Reiss]

Mallory's hearing was pretty good all things considered, it was one of a wolves' best senses, and though it was nothing compared to a Dranoch's even Mal could hear just how many wild animals were clambering their way. She figured it they were lucky they'd get a smaller group, but Mal wasn't sure what would happen if they got unlucky. Granted the Dunash wasn't all too informed on how big their hunting groups were on average, so who knew. Thoughts were brushed away quickly, the corpse in the sand tensing as soon as a hyena's cackle could be heard next to her ear. Was she waiting for a sign from Arkash? Should she get up? With some delay shot her fist up, aiming for a predators nose and just getting the side of one's head.
Amazingly her timing was good, Arkash had shot forward and clawed one just as she hit another, but the beast she'd hit seemed to shake it off and back away with the group that thought their meal was already dead. Spotted, giggling furry animals were surrounding them at all sides, and Mal was just barely able to evade another that'd seemingly dove for her throat. She pushed off of her hands and threw herself up on her feet, scrambling to right herself as she teetered on the tips of her toes. Mal regained her balance and stepped back from the hoard to gather just how many were after them. The corpse was dancing on her feet the whole time, pushing forward just as soon as a hyena backed off, and moving back just as it moved forward. It was enough to keep herself from feeling helpless, staying in one spot while she tried to intimidate them with her size; the situation looked terrible however. Her toes dug into the sand and kicked the sand up at the animals. It was a cheap move, but she wasn't lookin' for fair.
Mal glanced to see how the lizard was doing in between nervous swiping. Her height made it a bit awkward. "You didn't bring a knife of anything?!" She tried to shout over their chorus of cackling, hissing through her teeth when Arkash told her of their impressive hold. All Mallory had for a weapon was a fucking spreading knife that she'd left on the equine, as if Fruit needed it more than either of them did. "I'm fine, just watch your heels!" Mal couldn't feel a thing, but if they could rip something out of her it wasn't like walking wouldn't be effected. He brought up the sword hands, and even with the situation the corpse started to grin. "I'll think about the sword hands now." It wasn't a shout, she made no effort to relay the information to Arkash; It wasn't that important.
Gods this was a weird feeling. Her heart, something that'd given out entirely felt like it was pounding. There was a fuzz in her head that distracted her from thinking about a definite plan, and her limbs were tense. Mal brought up her foot, twisting her body around to make a pass at a High Yeena- It connected, and the one seemed dazed, teetering and dropped after a moment to recover with it's maw agape and it's tongue setting into a pant. Great! One of what seemed like two dozen. Mal felt herself on the edge of her proverbial seat, excited. Why was she excited? The Dunash was left with her back turned for a moment, and rather than sluggishly turn she rushed forward to get closer to Arkash.
It was then Mallory began to swing, engaging a bit more with the ones that had gotten daring, a bit closer. It was an awkward angle to punch at them, her kicks were better and seemed to hit much harder, but they left her open for too long for a nip at her ankle. Mal seemed to panic when only a few of her punches were just grazing their heads, and they brushed it off for the most part. The one she'd hit with full force struggled to fit back with the rhythm of the rest of the pack, that much was obvious. Still, one of 30 wasn't doing much.
"You alright, still?!" Mal was just barely avoiding them now, but it might of been only because they weren't trying to eat them yet. She knew if they all attacked outright they'd be struggling remarkably harder. Exhaustion wasn't a problem for her; Mal never slowed or stopped, and managed to beat another's skull in with a lucky swing down. It was strange, this was strange, she was eager to keep going. Mal had to wonder if she was an adrenaline junky, pulse or no.

[Arkash]

Against humans, Arkash considered himself a rather talented hand-to-claw fighter. But against others with claws and teeth? Arkash didn't have what it took. He wasn't heavy, he wasn't strong, and he hadn't a venom strong enough to kill, at least not quickly enough. What he did have was his cunning, and his magic. Alas, cunning alone didn't look as though it would be enough to get him out of the mess he'd landed them both in.
"Fine!" he called back, keeping his back to the wolf while he listened to the thrumming heartbeats that echoed like thunder, all surrounding them. "You?!" The ankles were a good point. Using his legs to kick them was an effective strategy for keeping his distance, but also landing a strike. There was only so far he could back up before bumping into the wolf, however, and she had her hands full with the beat-down she delivered. How much nicer it would have been to be born strong, he thought. If he didn't have to depend so heavily on swords and guns, he wouldn't be nearly as cornered as the High Yeenas pushed him to be.
Another dove toward him, and Arkash called the bluff, pulling his foot back to evade the strike. He'd be lying if he said that it wasn't wearing him down, little by little. Their tactics in exhausting him were very much effective, especially while his heart was racing and his teeth were constantly poised to strike. it was like he couldn't help but fall for the bait, time and time again. Venom pooled in his maw, and the urge to snap his drippy jaws around every Yeena that dove at him was all too tempting.
Another came in for a low-aimed strike. That time, however, its jaws were opened wider than the rest had. Instinct told him the beast wasn't bluffing, he had to call that strike, so he did. A kick of his claws quickly sprayed dust from the sandy ground into the beast's eyes and mouth, disabling it despite its momentum. The beast shut its eyes and charged through with a skid. Akash spun on the spot and clubbed the creature with his tail, head-on. It was the heaviest part of his body, designed to bludgeon his opponents. The beast fell to the floor, and in Seconds, Arkash was clawing at its eyes. Deafening cackles echoed as the creature scrambled to stand, and to its aid came another.
With all those hearts beating around him, it was difficult to tell where every individual Yeena was at any given time, and one of them managed to get the jump on him. Fangs pierced and pulled at his arm. In an instant, Arkash cast sway to harden his blood in the wounds to twice the strength of steel. He hissed as he looked on at the beast, who pressed its jaws tight around the fresh, clotted gashes in his arm. had it not been for the strength of his bloodshaping, he feared he might have lost that arm... broken it at the very least.
Nonetheless, the pressure of the bite was immense, and he closed his claws on that arm in a fist so tight that he cut his own palm with the press of his claws, and growled under the strain. The animal just kept pressing, and its friends were soon to join him.
Desperate, he used bloodshaping on the floored Hyena's face to pull a small dirk from the wound, and drove it straight through the arm-biter's throat, directly into their skull and through their brain. The creature jolted and twitched at the introduction of the solid spike to the brain, then released his arm and fell in a writhing pile on the floor. Evasive maneuvers ensued, rolling aside and kicking off the ground as strikes came inbound from the Hyenas in the crowd. He was panting when he stood, arm hot with searing pain. Was it broken? If it was, Adrenaline kept him from noticing too much.
At least his body had its priorities straight; survive first, whine about broken bones later. He looked at the wound and the shiny, hard, black blood that coagulated there. If he wanted a real weapon, he just had to release the cap and pull it from his veins... Had Reiss even noticed the dirk? Did he care if she had seen him during a do-or-die situation? Arkash's body might have had its priorities straight, but did he?
"Totally fine!" he called back, hissing as his body trembled under the adrenaline.
They were three down? However many left to go? "Kick dust in their eyes! Fucks up their aim!"
Of course, with Arkash's exhaustion came the Clan's confidence. Less and less of their attacks were feints, and a lot of them were aimed to strike, grapple, and pile on.

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[Mallory Reiss]

Panicking, the answer was panicking. Mallory wanted to scream at the top of her broken lungs but the hyena's wouldn't stop for a matter like that. Excitement had shifted to terror and back to excitement again and now her thoughts an feelings were fighting each other amidst the conflict Mal was already in. Her hands balled into fists as she tried to bash in the hyenas' skulls. A beat down wasn't what she would call it though, it'd been a while since her last good fight, and even longer since she'd won one.
They were getting closer and louder, and the Dunash only had two damn legs. Every wide angled swing of her foot meant a wide opening for the animals to gnash at her while she took the second she needed to regain her balance, it'd only take one smarter than the rest to realize it was their opportunity. A short grunt left her lips, voicing the effort it took to land a good hit on a smaller hyena to daze it, but when it caught the one beside it the hyena wasn't bothered by it.
Was it her swings? Wider was better but after hitting one her momentum was slow enough to have no effect on the next. Mal was overthinking her previous strategy of knocking them around with her legs, taking too long to process and one took advantage of that. An especially mean looking hyena bolted forward and caught the edge of Mallory's ankle. She'd moved quickly enough to keep it from catching her full leg, but in doing so it'd torn away her skin. Her muscle and tendons were exposed to open air. Surprisingly (or not) she didn't bleed any, instead Mallory stumbled and shuffled backwards in surprise. The corpse opted for a new plan. Mal had claws and teeth! She was a Rathor, and promptly retracted her statement about apposable thumbs being better the second thoughts of clawing these beasts open ran through her brain. Her stance shifted and Mal lowered herself to the ground a bit more, keen on keeping her eyes on the mess Arkash had suggested they walked into.
For now she was just dodging, clawing and snapping her teeth, aiming for the eyes and throats of whatever came close enough and trying to scare them backwards with her feral growling. It was a miracle she'd managed to dig her claws into the socket of a hyena, but it didn't go down. When did she get bad at this?
She'd looked back a few times to check on him- which is most of where her close calls came from. Striped ears flattened out atop her head, angled back in worry. The smell of blood filled her nostrils, distracting her from her task for a moment. Mallory had punched away a spotted prick before turning to her companion, watching with her mouth agape as teeth broke through his scales. The smell of his lifeblood was rich enough for her to taste, it made her cringe, but there wasn't nearly enough gore to match how hard it looked like the hyena bit him.
Her feet brought her a few steps forward and stopped when a hyena jumped in front of her, but Mal's eyes were stuck on him. Did he bring a knife after all? There was blood seeping from the dead hyena, so she could only assume something had pierced it, but Mallory couldn't stare any longer. The one that'd stepped in from of her leaped and latched onto her ankle. She yelped, not from pain but as she panicked and used her other foot to hit it off of her. It didn't let go until she stabbed her nails into its skull. "Okay, right, sand! Right on that!" Mal was still in the middle of peeling off a hyena.
"Neither of us thought this through! How are we gonna pull this off?!" She said we, because knowing that these things were scavengers, would they eat her brain? Would they rip her skull from her body? Mallory was certain that was one few ways she could expire. Her fist beat the head of the one attached to her until it fell to the dust, twitching. It was brutal and Mallory felt a bit bad, but only until another snapped at her clothing and tore at it. "IT'S NOT EVEN NUTRITIOUS WHY ARE YOU BITING THAT?" Mallory was just getting angry now, whatever rush she was feeling earlier was gone, and with her ankle in tatters she dug her toes into the sand and spray it over the crowd, snarling away. Her eyes were on the ones that had stopped moving entirely to recover, and she went for the nearest, a small one who looked like she'd hit it before. Mal's hand gripped its fur and pulled it towards her, lifting it up to land a full punch to it's temple and literally throw it back to the rest of them with effort.

[Arkash]

At the yelp, Arkash looked back at Reiss. His eyes widened in shock and horror at the sight of the Yeena on her leg, but he couldn't stop it. Another rushed in from the wave-like crowd of spots, and Arkash was lucky to step aside in time to avoid it.
He gave his advice and his tactics to the wolf, just as she'd given him her advice with the kicking. Arkash stayed on his feet, where he was balanced, and where he didn't have to open up his sides to attack. Sand, claws, and teeth. None of it was enough to win. Arkash had managed to kill the one on his arm with the utmost ease... it was clear what he had to do.
Neither of them had thought it through, true. But it was Arkash's idea, to begin with. He was the one who convinced Reiss to act as bait, he was the one that didn't bring a weapon, and he was the one holding back. His eyes fell upon his injured arm a glance, which still burned with the lacerations caused by Yeena teeth, then quickly looked up in time to evade another Yeena strike, and kick sand in its eyes.

Inch by inch, the Yeenas closed in, cackling and whooping as if their victory was assured. Arkash and Mallory were offered less and less space to maneuver, and the clan was upon them, ready to pounce and maul them at the drop of a dime.
Arkash was out of time, out of choices, and out of luck. he glanced back at the older rath while one of the beasts pulled at her tarp, then bit into his wrist hard, piercing his armored scales. All at once, the clan pounced with the intent to crash upon the epicenter that was the two Rathor. Arkash pulled hard on his wrist to rip it open, and immediately cast sway and bloodshaped the suspended streak of blood in the air before impact.

Arkash went to the floor as a larger Yeena tackled him to the dirt. It was about as big as he was and utterly covered him while it stood on his chest and bit hard into his sword. Arkash held the weapon up with both his claws while the beast weighed down on him and simultaneously pulled his head from the snapping jaws of other Yeenas. His arms began to shake, and a cry of pain burst from his lips as pain in his leg lit up his nerves like the starry night sky. He cast sway at once to harden the blood in the wound there, and he felt the pull of a Yeena's stuck teeth in his scales.
His wrist continued to run with his deep-colored blood, and he yanked yet another stream of blood to his claw with sway and hardened it into a second sword. Both those blades, Arkash cast suffuse on to sharpen them to a degree that was almost unattainable by normal smithing, then pushed back against the Yeena with an extension of his chest.
The beast's teeth broke on impact, but it was;t enough to even slow down his swords. He cut through the animal's lip, the back of their throat, their jaw, skull, and the skin on the back of their head with just one push. A spatter of blood filled the sky above him, and briefly blocked out the sun as the upper half of the Yeena's head flew some few yards from its home. His pupils narrowed, and he burst at the seams.

Without warning, he cleaved through the body of the Yeena that stood over him and washed his scales in its blood. He yanked himself toward the Yeena that clung to his foot, severed its head with a single swing, rolled across the Savannah floor with its head still attached to his leg, and stopped on his feet with both swords at the ready.
There, he cast leech both on the blood that covered him and all the open wounds of the animals they'd been fighting. Streams of red blight flew toward him from all angles as he absorbed the power blood from the beasts, and even from Reiss. Flecks of red surrounded him as he released the cumbersome head of the Yeena. His leg resumed bleeding, but he paid it no mind, he just had to be able to move.

Like something from a nightmare, Arkash roared a war cry at the clan. His jaws spread wide as flecks of red drool flung from his fetid maw, right before he broke into a charge from his lowered poise to hurtle that short distance between him and the clan. The Yeenas seemed to notice he escaped, and some of them tried to run a circle around him and Reiss once more, only to end up sliced in two with a single swipe of Arkash's terrible, black sword.
They were wicked weapons, utterly primal and alien in shape, like nothing a forge would produce due to the drippy way in which the matte material formed. It was like they were melted into existence, formless at the time of their creation. Despite the incredible inefficiency of the blade, Arkash still massacred the clan in a series of furious swipes, powered by adrenaline and rage.
He spared no second to think or pause and attacked the next spotted thing to move in the corner of his vision after every mutilation the swipes of his wrists brought. They were like paper, utterly feeble and helpless to stop him.
Once he'd butchered more than half the clan, the few that remained turned tail and began to run, unless Reiss managed to catch them.
It was all so fast that the tables had turned. In mere seconds, the clan had gone from surrounding them to broken and bloody; twitching post mortem on the floor. They didn't have time to adjust their strategy, or even realize that they were suddenly losing the fight. Arkash had run through them like an inhuman blender, and only the very last few had enough time to recognize so and run away.

The younger Rath stood utterly drenched in blood, completely caked in gore and gunk. Unless Mallory had escaped the scene of the butchering, she too would be plastered in bits of Yeena. Miraculously, he'd not hit her even once with his terrible swords; she was unscathed... At least by him.
Arkash watched her for a moment while he caught his breath and composed his loosened rage. His eyes clung to her with uncertainty while he breathed through his dripping maw.
A slurp from his lips saw him pull the gunk into his mouth, and he swallowed hard. The blades in his claws turned to liquid and fell to the floor with an audible splash. "...I think I figured out why they call them High Yeenas," Arkash declared after a long moment of silence. "...You'd have to be blitzed to want to hunt those things..."
Whether she found his observation funny or not, Arkash remained quiet, fixed on her. "...Don't tell anyone, okay?" Came his ask, quiet and sincere, despite the storm of blades that had just ripped through the various broken bodies around them.

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[Mallory Reiss]

Mallory grit her teeth. They were so loud, and their cackling sounded arrogant to her. Another hyena had bolted towards her and with its maw open and she drove her fist into it's mouth on accident. How she managed to do that Mal would wonder later, when the feeling of it's throat swallowing around her fist didn't want to make her gag. Her eyes lidded, nearly shutting as she took her other hand and began to pry the beast off with some success. The other hyena's didn't bother to watch, and bolted at her nearly all at once. Wobbly knees sent her backwards, and Mal's balance nearly sent her into the sand. Her panic led to the urge to bite through it's ear, claw at its throat from the inside, but the Dunash settled for busting it's nose and tearing it away like a giant furry leach. Her feet scrambled to kick up the sand again, which messed with a few of them. She stalled for time and shook the loose skin off, but the rest were still coming and there were too many to fend off. She opened her mouth and managed to keep herself from cursing at the sight and sounds alike, running around just to keep herself intact. It was then Arkash just lost it, around the same time she'd just about lost her hand.
She'd just noticed him dip and land in the dirt with a hyena atop of him. Mal shouted and stumbled his way but as her hand reached for him she stopped altogether. The sight of him on the ground excited the little scavengers and terrified Mallory, but the gaping wound in his wrist wasn't from any of the hyena's, and it warped unnaturally. The scent of copper grew stronger, and brief shade flew overhead as Mal stared at the carnage that unfolded before her. Literal heads were rolling when Arkash had started to use a sword with incredible precision; he was experienced and using a type of magic she hadn't seen in person before. Blood pour from his wounds until it didn't, and the weapons he forged were sharp enough to cut through bone with ease, and the hyena's were smart enough to notice that. She'd still been pushing backwards and away from those who were focused on her but with a mad-lizard cutting through the lot of them they seemed terrified. A red light pulled from every body, including hers, but nothing but confusion tore through the Dunash as it glowed. Mallory nearly thought it was another weapon, and maybe it was, but none of the other moving animals had dropped dead, so it was impossible to guess.
Mal stood there a second longer, and tried to swipe at the light. When it hadn't pulled her apart she shook her head to right her running thoughts, snapping her wide maw shut around a hyena's throat. It'd pulled at her arm when it dropped to her side, and Mal responded by lifting it to her lips. Her teeth weren't strong enough to break bone like his sword was, but unlike her it needed a pulse to keep itself moving. It began to squeal and her teeth dug in until it's bite had loosened, and she tossed it like the earlier one, the last death she caused before the pack had started to retreat. Mal felt like she didn't do much suddenly, seeing as most of the bodies belong to the rampaging Rathor behind her. Her ever-still form was silent, watching them disappear over the hills and scrambled to escape the fate their other members had fallen to. When they were gone she looked to the bloody Arkash.
This tiny lizard was able to kill three dozen hyenas relatively quickly, and with what was absolutely magic. She wasn't upset he didn't tell her, more confused as to why he didn't use it earlier. If he was hiding she hadn't a clue why. Magic was praised in Daravin from what little she knew about it, and it would've saved him a few scales.
Blood decorated the sand, both Arkash's and the hyena's- but it was considerably more hyena. Her maw parted to speak but it closed when he'd beat her to it. She was there, standing in the sand for a bit longer while she processed it all. "I think it's just Hyena's, I'll be honest with you... Why didn't you do that earlier? Only got more work to do now." She gestured to the tearing and the bite marks she'd suffered, bending down to inspect the damage with a considerably awkward grin. Mal took a moment or two before it hit her and pearly eyes went wide. "Aw hell, I didn't even--" Mallory scrambled up straight and stood, treading along to reach the lizard with a grimace etched into her expression. The smell was horrible. "You alright? It- It looked like a lot that you used." The Dunash stumbled over herself, half tripping on her tarp and half on her words, which came out in tone like a question. "Y'Shendra, your leg." She hissed and kneeled down. "You can stop the bleeding, right?"

[Arkash]

Somehow, Reiss wasn't immediately afraid of him. Arkash stood there, plastered in Hyena bits, but she didn't so much as flinch. Just what sorts of atrocities had the older Rath seen in her lifetime to be so conditioned to such grim scenes?
Arkash's attempt to soften the revelation with a joke was for naught, as Reiss explained that they were not in fact High Yeenas, but one word: Hyenas. "Oh..." He returned, still catching his breath as he came down from his blood rage. "I've been saying it wrong... All this time, huh...?" He let out a deep exhale and cast his gaze to his feet while they remained all but completely drowned in gore. "...That's fine... not embarrassing at all, really."
He had yet to address her question. Why hadn't he done that sooner? It hadn't occurred to him that she might not know what Blood Magic was. After all, the most he'd ever heard of it was that he'd be killed on the spot if he revealed his mark to another, hunted to the ends of Atharen.
He stayed in silence for a moment longer, and let his swords fall to the floor, returned to the fluid that they had once been. "...Well," he started, only to pause again while he tried to think. He seemed to focus intently on the messy floor, seldom meeting her eyes. What he was considering was a mystery.

At the gesture, he looked at her wounds. Indeed, she'd been ripped to pieces by those Hyenas. Her hand was almost completely torn off, too. He couldn't help but grimace at the sight, and the regret in his eyes showed through that remorseful squint.
Why didn't he use it sooner? He could have saved them both a lot of trouble. The answer was obvious; Arkash had chosen his own self-preservation over the preservation of another. He really was a selfish Rath. Had he not resolved to use his gifted mark for the better of the world? Did he not mean to save others from oppression and senseless violence? What good was his mark if he didn't use it when others were in need? The grim conflict claimed his features while his overactive mind sorted through his thoughts.
Another shaky exhale escaped his chest while he shook his head, unable to find the words. His empty, bloodied claws lifted to his eyes and wiped some of the gunk from his gaze. All that remorse and pity broke the moment she stepped toward him, and tension made him rigid. He stepped back as she stepped closer, and clenched fists pointed the tips of his claws to his palms, ready to break his scales again... Though he still bled at the wrist and the leg.
He couldn't gauge her, not without a heartbeat and with a face so deteriorated that he couldn't make out her expression. She didn't seem afraid, she didn't seem like she wanted to wipe him off the face of Atharen. Could he trust her? The visage of Liu played a heavy part in that answer.

He let her close, and it was revealed that she was more worried for him than anything else. She even kneeled before him, putting her head in a range of easy decapitation. No doubt she knew he could do that, didn't she? All it would take was a pull of his wrist to shape a sword of the blood that surrounded them, a quick suffuse, and a flick.
That settled it, she didn't know what he was. No one would take such a great risk to prove a point, he thought. The tension in his form receded, and he shook a little while he hesitantly cast a glance to his arm. The space that he'd ripped open oozed thick black bile; his own mutated blood. The thickness of his blood ensured a slow bleed and quick coagulation. "...I'm fine," he assured. "I do it all the time, I have to... to use my magic," he explained.
His leg, though, was a little worse for wear. Putting pressure on it hurt with explosive nerve pain, so very muffled by the bountiful adrenaline in his veins. It might have been a little fractured from the bite, he thought. "I'll heal," he assured. "Always do."

"...I'm sorry," he began with some air of sincerity to his pressed brows. "I should have used it sooner, but I didn't," he began to explain. Something about the way he spoke felt much too familiar; like he'd apologized to her in this manner before; like he'd burdened her with his inaction many times before. He lifted his eyes to hers before he next spoke.
"I'm a Vandikar; a Blood Mage. We're hunted and exterminated all across Atharen because our magic is so vile and cruel... We sacrifice our own bodies and the bodies of others to fuel our abilities..." he swallowed in a vain attempt to dislodge the burning in his throat. "I didn't use it sooner because..." His gaze faltered in shame, misty yellow eyes cast to the floor. "...I just- ...I didn't want you to hate me," he choked and sniffled, covering his eyes with his messy forearm while they burned in the same way that his throat did.
When he said it aloud, the feeling of shame was only fuelled by his own stupidity and selfishness. Her focus and concern were on his own injuries while her own body was mangled. How could he be soo foolish and blind? She couldn't have hated him for the mark that was forced upon him, could she?
Why was he so weak with her? He hadn't cried in front of someone in so long. Why now of all times? In his defense, his leg did hurt quite a lot, but not nearly enough to warrant his tears. Something about her made him weak, it felt so much more personal to let her down. Though he knew what that something was, deep down, he didn't acknowledge it.

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[Mallory Reiss]

"You don't know until you learn. There's no need for embarrassment." Mallory was referring to the fact he hadn't been saying their name right, she figured she'd tell him before someone else did. Her eyes settled on his leg, head leaning forward to get a better look at the wound. She clicked her tongue and dug her claws into the sand to keep steady and not bump her huge nose right into the hole. His blood was thick and unnatural in color, oozing was the right word, not flowing like the animals had. She couldn't speak of unnatural blood when she didn't bleed presently, anyway. It was brutal magic, that's for sure. Mal leaned backwards to give the lizard some space, suddenly very aware of how close she'd gotten during her inspection. A flick of her tail made a small dust cloud behind her, the tip was barely enough to dip into the dirt from where she was, balancing on her toes, arms crossed over her knees. "Every time you need to use it..?" Mal looked up. Her brows had drawn together, and her lips might have been bent into a frown, but she looked down again too quickly for him to catch it.
Her complete disregard for her own safety was the result of her naivety. She had no wish for death, quite the opposite, but Mal doubted he'd hurt her just for being worried after a battle like that. It didn't run through her head once that he could've assumed she was angry at him. Emotionally Mallory was immature, still weighing others above herself unless given a reason not to, hence the rushing in to an animal that was still hyped for a battle. It was a toxic sentiment that often left her tired and more worn than her now broken body would ever show. For now she was alright, still coming down from her own high, though hers much more metaphorical and even more so from the threat of losing someone she'd been looking for for a very long time.
"That sounds pretty brutal," Mallory paused, flexing her toes in the sand. "I'll be honest, my knowledge of magic isn't extensive. I know there are consequences to using it too much, but I didn't know.." Her voice trailed off, unsure of what she was even going to finish it with. There was a lot she didn't know about magic, and while she'd love to learn Mallory didn't think Arkash was up for a quick lesson right now. Her gaze was on him as he began to speak, the apology slipping from his maw sounding smaller than he was, soft. In a sudden plot twist the bold little lizard had looked more fragile than he'd even been in front of her. Her gaze softened and she motioned for him to continue with a nod.
"Briefly heard of blood magic where I'm from. When I was.. Earlier in life I never bothered to look into it much. I wasn't a fighter, I liked fishing." When Mal explained her ignorance she went silent, going over the information in her head a few seconds longer. He had no idea that one, she wasn't from any part of the world he'd probably even been to, and two, in life the knowledge she sought after pertained more to raising and slaughtering cattle. Mal reached for Arkash and stopped. Was it alright for her to touch him? Her nails drew into her palm as she hesitated and thought through her options. He was sniffling. The way his arm drew up to hide his face brought a bitter smile to her own.
"You know," She started, claws tapping the palm of his other hand before she attempted to hold onto the fingers of his other hand. "My son did that. He would never tell me what he'd broken or if he'd hurt himself because he was afraid I'd get mad at him. He was clumsy for a zebra, knocked over a lot of my things in the house, but he'd always come crying with pine tar stuck in the cracks of my broken vases, loose string from the trousers he'd ripped a whole in but tried his best to sew together on his own. I was a big angry at first but the little cuts on his fingers blew it away." Mallory stopped, her lips parted and her eyes drifting to the side.
"You're kind of like him, not just in that way." Her shoulder met her cheek as she laughed, "No one was as clumsy as he was, but he too smart for his own good, a damn good liar, but what matters is he kept his word and tried to right his wrongs. Even as a kid he was dependable. That's what's important to me. I don't understand a lot of things about magic, and trust me that's an understatement, but I'd like to think after a life or death experience the type of magic you use wont negate the fact you saved my limbs, literally." Mal clicked her tongue, staring up into his eyes with a brow raised in question. "We all have our baggage. Maybe yours is a bit heavier, but its not for me to unpack."
After her long speech her mouth shut, maybe to let it sink in from his perspective, but from hers Mal felt a bit embarrassed. Comparing him to a child wasn't really what she wanted- She wanted to relate him to someone she knew and reassure him, but even after all this time she wasn't the perfect mother. "Well that was damn run on sentence, sorry. What I meant to say is we both got out alive and that's all I wanted."