56th of Ash, 120
Four days had passed since Arkash's last contract. Though the boy's cries still followed him, he came to accept what had happened. His previous assassination contract involved the murder of two farmers and the kidnapping of their son. Arkash had originally believed the son was a tall, strong, hardy farming lad, but he was revealed to be a small four-year-old boy. The fact had eaten at him for a while; despite the boy's young age, Arkash handed him over to his client.
Did he feel bad? Of course, at first. But the more he thought about it, the more he felt it couldn't be helped. Arkash, a one-armed half-blind cripple had killed both his parents; they were too weak to protect the boy; unfit to act as guardians. If it wasn't Arkash that overpowered the humans and ripped up everything they knew, it would have been some other thug. It would have been someone far worse than Arkash, who might have done unspeakable things to the family prior to taking their lives. Arkash wasn't to blame, their weakness was.
It was baffling, to say the least. Arkash had never thought that he could amount to anything, let alone a destructive force. Unlike the family he'd destroyed, he'd had nothing his whole life. He dug through pig troughs for his meals whenever he had the time outside of work, and they very clearly ate well. But he was still able to overcome them in the race of might. Why? Because just for a sliver of time, he ate well and made decent money. Perhaps that was why the humans walked all over him? They knew he was dangerous, capable of rising above them.
Despite his life-long struggle, all it took for him to catch up to those that abused and oppressed him was quite literally fighting against them. With the money he made, he was able to afford new, proper winter clothes and a more comfortable lifestyle in which he ate properly. He didn't have to worry about his expenses with the doctor so much either, as he knew Cyrus and the gang he'd joined hired one to come by every so often. With more earnings came more growth, came more earnings. Arkash was on the fast lane at last.
The gang's doctor had sewn his chest wound shut, and it left ample time for him to heal before the ratty man came by with another contract. Again, he left it to Asmodei to translate, then collected the one written in vithmi by his stalwart protector. He didn't seem to have as many qualms about the new contract as the last one, but something about the insignia still unsettled the avialae. Nonetheless, the offered payment was one thousand df; double what he received in the last contract, but the task was something he perceived to be easier than the last.
There was a cave in the woods that housed a bear, Arkash was to sneak in and kill it, then paint the entrance of the cave with the bear's blood. No risk of running into trouble with the law with a handsome pay made for a lucrative contract. What was more? Arkash wore thick leather clothes that trapped the heat of his body inside with greater ease. He could last for some time in the wilderness if he wished. Even so, Arkash built a small campfire on the outskirts of what he perceived to be the bear's territory. He didn't know much about bears. but couldn't imagine a big fat sleeping fluffy thing would be hard to kill.
With a sigh, Arkash tested his stitches, then looked about the barren trees. Frost was coming, he'd need to find clothes even warmer than what he wore that day if he wanted to remain mobile through the season, but how and where, he didn't know. It was a problem for another day.
The young rathari was getting sidetracked, he recognized. So, he drew his knife, then stomped out the fire as he proceeded even deeper into the woods. The trees offered a good amount of cover from the wind and allowed him some sense of comfort with the temperature there. The cave wasn't far, either, so he retained the majority of his body heat as he approached the gaping hole in the rocky earth.
With a low sigh, he glanced at his blade. He didn't have too many reservations about killing animals. After all, he'd already set a dog on fire and stabbed another to death. Bears weren't something he particularly cared about either. The things he did that day wouldn't follow him as the boy had, and he knew so as he arrived at the entrance of the cave, where he expected an easy job.
His stance was wide to evenly distribute his weight, and it kept the movement he made quiet as he proceeded into the darkness. The cave stank of death, like rotting meat and abandoned carcasses. It was more than apparent that the beast had dragged more than a few meals to its den... Or was that just what bears smelled like? Either way, he wouldn't be able to rely on his impressive sense of smell to find the bear, as the whole cave rendered him nose blind. His eyesight with his one yellow iris wasn't too impressive either, so he resolved to move exceptionally slow.
The deeper he sank into the dark of the cave, the further the daylight that flooded the entrance receded from his form, and before long, he was one with the shadows. He couldn't see a thing, which he had anticipated. So, with slow breaths, he waited a moment for his eyes to adjust, then paused as something in the darkness began to rustle as it moved. Had the beast awoken? The low rumble of an ursine roar confirmed his fears, and Arkash's maw began to flood with venom. How had it realized he was there? Unknown to Arkash, bears had the most impressive senses of smell of all the woodland creatures.
A second blood-curdling roar rumbled from another part of the cave, and Arkash's head snapped in its direction. There were two. Two bears! With a hiss, arkash turned on the spot and bolted. He had to lean forward to throw his weight and momentum in the sprint, and the moment he was in the sunlight, he gripped the ground with his claws for added traction and propelled himself forward. A glance over his shoulder confirmed his suspicions; there were two bears. And they were fast. Both of them were huge, far too big to fight. What was even more impressive was their speed. Despite the massive, lumbering sizes, Arkash couldn't outrun them. So, he turned hard with the use of his claws and flexed his superior agility on the massive furred creatures, to which, they skidded and slid before they picked up their speed again to chase him.
As he suspected, they didn't have the agility to keep up with all their forward momentum. It wasn't enough, though. Even if Arkash had the agility to evade them, he doubted he could outlast them. His eye danced across the woodland before he made another hard turn, then dashed and weaved through a thicket as he had while he was younger. Then, the moment he broke through, he rolled across the ground, turned, and dashed toward a tree.
He gripped the bark with his foot claws, then sank his dagger into the woodwork, then pulled himself up before he gripped the bark again with his toe-claws. When it came time to move his arm, Arkash bit the tree and used the anchor of his serrated teeth to hold his body in place while he scaled with his knife, then pulled himself higher. He repeated those series of motions and scrambled up the trunk until he could reach one of the branches, which he hooked with his stump arm, then slung his body over it in time to see the two bears catch up to his position.
Below him, the two scratched at the base of the trunk and climbed to stand on their hind legs while they sniffed at his body, and roared their ursine calls. What was he to do? The last time he'd ran up a tree to escape some hungry predator, Liu came to his rescue. That was years ago, however. Liu was gone. The same trick wouldn't work twice. What was more? There were two bears. Even if he could somehow take out one from above, how would he kill the other? His yellow eye began to trace his surroundings in search of something he could use to his advantage, but he found naught but the barren branches of ash trees.
With a sigh, he looked down. Perhaps if he dropped his knife on them, one would be hit in the eye and die? Arkash shook his head; that was a dumb idea.
Time seemed to roll on by, and the bears remained in their places, staring up at the prized lizard. If it weren't for the leathers that adorned his form, he would have long since slipped into a deep sleep. Unfortunately, he remained fully conscious. The chitter of bugs rumbled in the background, as well as the occasional tweet of a bird, the rumble of a buzzing hive, the occasional ursine grunt. Arkash exhaled deeply. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't find a way out of the problem. Perhaps the could try and drop a branch on them? No, that would just make the bears even angrier, he imagined.
Somehow, he doubted the bears would leave of their own volition. So, he had to think of something sooner rather than later; he didn't have all the time in the world.
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