Gathering for the Wurm (Derek)

[Miki]

Ash 47 4621¤

It would seem the brave group of riders were neither friendly nor talkative. They had formed familial groups and quietly talked amongst themselves, eating drinking, smoking pipes, but not causing too much of a ruckus. There were eight men and women total who showed up for the hunt, a meager amount but if ole Reiki was right the wurm they were to hunt was small anyway. Izul, Miki, and Derek sat in silence at their own fire. Izul was skinning wasteland taters and adding the cubes to a simmering pot with some dried meat floating in the water.
"Waste of water, don't you think?"
Miki said finally. Izul grunted but didn't respond other than that, stirring the pot. Miki swished her tail on the ground a few times, rubbing it into the cracked earth and dust, before standing to her feet and dusting her legs off.
"I'm going to see if anyone has a smoke."
She didn't ask Derek to join but wouldn't complain if he did. She made her way to a group of two women and an ugly, burly scarred man. His skin was a bold grey and part of his lips were missing-- replaced by a fabricated and sordid metal plate on his upper and lower jaw. Still, he stuck the pipe between the metal part of his lips and blew out a mighty puff of black smoke upon their arrival into the campfire. It was a drug which smelled like Bel's depths, a sure sign of debauchery in most dens in the Wastes.
"You were the ones to rally us, the red ladies. What's the plan, where are we headed?"

Business first, bullshit second Miki supposed, she squatted beside him and told him everything she knew about Reiki's prediction.
"Used to ride with the Dust Runners, before they got themselves blown to pieces. See the old man was a sleuth in his own right and said between the jagged rocks outside of Traphole he had seen a 'baby' wurm. Our numbers should be enough to take it down, I'm prepared for anything though. If I should catch this wurm I have the most rights as proxy leader of this mission, but I have a proposition for you. I need help transporting the blood back to Greater Daravin. I haven't approached anyone else with this but if you assist me with taking the blood back to my contact I will give you complete rights to the remaining blood."
The ugly old man crossed his arms and rocked back on his haunches, thinking. The women in his crew looked to him for guidance. Kicking out a leg he rubbed the knee above a metal shaped peg leg.
"That seems fair, you know what boss I think we'll get along just fine."
Miki grinned a tooth grin and swished her tail with delight.
"Good, pleasure. Mind letting me hit that?"

She listened to him gossip about the attack in Traphole, he described a lizard devouring the local meat man. Miki's skin prickled and goosebumps ran up her arms. She gave a slight glance to Derek before cutting the conversation short, standing up in a wobbly haze. The stars above her spun as if on an axis, had she needed to she would be unable to orient with the stars or tell her position while stoned. Shaking her head she staggered out of the light of the campfires and towards the open wastes, needing a breather, not wanting to think of what she was currently sharing a bed with, so to speak. The campfires receded in the distance as she stumbled farther and farther away from the group. Finally unable to stand any longer she sat light headed on a protruding stone and watched the world spin, trying to forget her troubles.

[Arkash]

He hadn't meant to, he assured himself while his misty eyes looked on at the firepit on the cracked earth. He'd just... Lost control for a second, just a second... Or five, or ten. Maybe thirty? How long did it take him to chew through an arm? He hadn't timed himself, but he imagined it wouldn't take him more than ten seconds in his true form. Ten, he settled on. Ten seconds was all he'd let loose for, was that really so bad? When he thought of it that way, it really wasn't all that severe. When he added the context that he'd literally eaten a man's arm in a public market space, it was a bit worse.
It didn't sit right with him. The hunger was always massive and overbearing in his bones. His teeth always ached to feed the crunch of bone and his throat was always dry in a way that only a cascade of blood could quench. He was never satisfied, always empty, always starving, and surrounded by the succulent stink of salty meat, rich stringy flesh wrapped tightly around a frame of calcium-caged marrow. Arkash exhaled as he pulled away from the rabbit hole and shakily unfurled his fist.
He felt all those things, the unending desire, the maddening need to feed. It was constant, eternal, always without pause. But he knew that; he knew that feeding wouldn't help him or even sate his hunger to any degree. He lived with a blight, he thought he'd mastered the hunger as he'd spilled the guts of foes in combat and stayed his jaws from their lifeblood until he'd at least assured they were still and breathless... But it wasn't good enough, apparently.
He could still lose his cool, his control. Fayeth had said his control was excellent, but he still had to be careful. Perhaps he'd just never been that hungry before? No, he was certain he had. Fayeth had gone through the motions of starving him on and off for weeks upon weeks, months. He'd starved until he was certain the pounding ache in his head would split his skull if he didn't taste blood in the next minute, and he'd still stayed his claws and teeth, he'd still fought the urge.
What changed in the marketplace? Why did he attack that stranger in Traphole?

Arkash was sat with his knees close to his chest, a turban properly wrapped over the features of his head. His eyes stared on at the pot boiling over the fire, but he didn't want the food inside. He wanted one of the rallied raiders. Even so, he tried to convince himself it was the food in the pot that he wanted. He focused solely on the dried meat that bobbed and floated in the boiling water and tried to breathe naught but the smell of the stock.
To his dismay, his nose led him astray. He couldn't un-smell the sweat, the old wounds. he couldn't deafen the sound of their own eating, the sound of blood pushing through their veins and the steady, relaxed, beating in their chests. He'd been that way for more than a year, he was accustomed to it. What he wanted and what he could have were never the same thing, and his coping method involved focusing on something else. For the night, he imagined it would be the cooking pot, the smell of burning wood beneath the overwhelming stink of living meat. He did his best to revel in it, to immerse himself in the scene before him and paid attention to nothing else... At least until the food began to move.
His eyes lifted to Miki, affixed upon her with that same sort of strained hunger that he was trying to avoid. His eyes moved to izul then as he forced himself away, and he asked a simple "what? What's happening?" Quickly he pulled himself from his mind space and reset himself in the world proper. Arkash blinked, then reached between the cloth of his turban to rub at his eyes with his calloused fingers. "I'm... Tired, sorry." he explained his lack of attention, then returned his gaze to the other red woman.

Lizard... Traphole... Eating meat man... Arkash furrowed his brow. Was someone shit-talking him? Curiously, Miki's heart began to beat faster as the story unfolded. His gaze remained upon her, not unlike a wolf with sight on its prey. Did the idea of lizards eating people just unsettle her that much or...? He squinted a bit while he looked upon the man with the metal jaw from where he sat, then looked back to Izul. Of course, it was unlikely she could hear the conversation as he had. She wasn't a dranoch. His gaze returned to Miki as she began to move again, and wandered off away from the light of the fires. He saw her clearly in the dark, but could anyone else with all their sights adjust so well to the light of their fires?
"...I'll be back," Arkash assured. "I'll be good, shoot me if I act funny or something," he assured falsely; he knew he was too fast for her draw. His hands pushed against the dirt floor to lift his body from the packed earth. As he stood, he took a moment to quell the onset dizziness that came with his dehydration, and he looked back to Miki before he began his short-strided approach.
Quite purposefully, he lightened to falls of his bare feet on the earth and routed himself to came at her from the flank, a blindspot, he hoped. When he was close enough, he paused, then reached for her shoulder. The moment he took it, if he did, he spoke a brief "hey," to steal her attention. "Miki," he continued. "I wanted to say thank you for the food, water, clothes, and everything. You've been real nice to me, and I won't forget it." If she'd turned to look at him, he'd hold eye contact through the expression of his gratitude, then sit beside her if there were no objections.
"I also wanna say sorry for any trouble I've caused... You know, drinking all the water and everything." Arkash paused. Derek wasn't normally so forward, was he? He hadn't spoken once with confidence since he got to the badlands.

Arkash smiled a little beneath the turban when he realized he wasn't in character anymore. It was hard to maintain a persona for so long, he had to get better at it. "Did that guy with the metal jaw upset you?" asked at last, and moved his hands to entwine both his fingers. "If he's a problem, then..." He started. Arkash had no intention of doing anything to the man he described, he just wanted to see her reaction. Would she panic? Would she become curious and ask what he meant? Once he left his offer open-ended, he focused on the beat of her heart, the sound of her voice.

Image source.

[Miki]

¤

A different sort of wasteland. Total anguish. Her ribcage felt simultaneously filled with black sludge and a gaping void. Miki stood with her husband on their balcony, holding him and petting his head while he sobbed, crumpled into her chest. Two solid streams fell down her face as behind her two empty bassinettes sat. Their children had just died. Her soft husband, such a caring and kind man, was beside himself with grief. Miki felt something else, not just sorrow, but the feeling of impending doom. They had been working hard on the ship but the scourge had hit too close to home, the Outlander would be here soon to devour their world. She would mourn the empty cribs later, she had work to do. Leaving her boyfriend, gently setting him down while kissing the top of his head goodbye, Miki quickly left back to Headquarters.

~~~

The vision faded, replaced by a black headache that wouldn't go away. She considered getting back up to find Izul as she wiped the tears from her eyes. How long was she out for? They said the black smoke drug was evil, but Miki had done it before no problem. This time, instead of swirling fuzzy feelings and strange, shapeless visions the smoke had pulled up a repressed memory and played if in front of her eyes like the day it happened. That was when a hand braced her shoulder, making her bare her teeth and hiss.
"Oh. Derek. I came here for some privacy, do you need something?"
He began by thanking her again, as he had many times before. Miki chewed the tip of her thumb as the young man spoke and nodded her reply. He then apologized for drinking all the water.
"Don't worry too much about it. It's bound to happen with a malnourished slave, would happen to anyone not ready for the Wastes conditions."
Then, a question, did the metal jaw man upset her? Miki frowned, but didn't reply. The moment lasted a little too long before she focused her eyes on him and sighed.
"Do you know what I am, child of Atharen?"
She continued on no matter his reply.
"My people are called Moroi, we come from the planet Kornos. It's hard to translate into Common, but have you ever heard of a "star-skiff" or "spaceship"? I was building those around your age."
Her eyes looked up to the stars, tracing her finger in a pattern among a few bright orbs in the night sky.
"I believe this is where my homeland is. You see every Moroi knows where they are, always, due to the stars. I have my home marked on my soul, the one where I was once married and raised my children."
Shaking her head she came back to the present, it would seem as if she was blank and automatically speaking-- not thinking, like her words were coming from some dissociated place.

"In any case, I haven't thought about my home in a long time. That pipe he gave me, I knew what was in it when I asked for it. Powerful shit that is. I guess I quite frankly asked for that blast from the past. Tell me, Derek, where are you from? You seem different than the Daravinian prude you find in Greater Daravin and I know you ain't from here."
She smiled slightly, and patted the ground beside her for him to sit.

[Arkash]

She seemed stolen from her lost thoughts when he approached her; it was as if she'd been considering something carefully before his approach. Arkash repressed his grin, but the manner in which she addressed him felt off. There was no fear, nor semblance of shock created by his presence, she just greeted him and that was that. His tempted smile receded, and he rose a brow. Had the metal-jawed man actually upset her? Was she not disturbed by him?
He cast a glance over his shoulder while he considered the happenings of their conversation, then hummed as he pursed his lips. He nodded to her understanding, she was an empathetic soul. It was good she thought so, his disguise really did work, it seemed. Nonetheless, he delivered his question, and a story unfolded. He shook his head when she asked if he knew what she was, but he didn't know what that had to do with his offer to undo the metal-jawed man.
Wistful, was how he would have described her as she opened her heart to him, and told him of all that had she had come from and all she'd left behind, far into the sky. He looked to the obsidian tapestry and squinted to peer at the dotting of stars that littered the sky before he nodded. "...You came from up there?" he asked, clear uncertainty in his tone.
Spaceships, star-skiffs, Morois. She was a mother? Arkash hesitated. Tension wormed its way into his limbs while he considered everything she was telling him. Through it all, Arkash remained silent. A pensive, almost remorseful frown took his lips, and he looked to the right while he adjusted the turban around his mouth.

"...I didn't know you was a mom," he added once she'd offered him to sit, then did so. He lowered his body to the sand and crossed his legs as he brought his elbows to rest of his knees, fingers entwining and furling while he thought.
It was close to home to think about. She, this woman he'd considered for a meal more than once, was a mother to multiple children. How many other mothers had he robbed from the world, not unlike the fashion that Liu was taken from him? "...Are they still there?" he asked in reference to her children, the family she'd left behind. "At Kornos," he pointed. "We call that the sky here," he explained, an attempt to be helpful that might have come across as demeaning. "Or... The stars?"
He frowned quietly beneath his turban, and looked at the dried earth they sat upon, unlike the sand in other parts of the wasteland. With a deep breath, he leaned back onto his open palms and cast his dark eyes to the shining night sky. She'd asked him where he came from, but everything she said left him with so many questions; he needed to know more.
"Is that why you're here? You're tryin' to get back?" he asked. Maybe she had some plans to build some sort of flying machine with chariots, or maybe to use Wurmblood as fuel for a machine she'd already created, a space-skiff, or whatever she'd called it.

Image source.

[Miki]

¤

She snorted as the high lifted her off though she spoke in a monotone as if she was recanting something blaise.
"I was a mother, in the past. Never will be again."
She nodded and swished her tufted tail on the dusty ground, thinking.
"You call the sky... Kornos? In anycase I've been here for most of my life now, I can't truly consider myself from anywhere though. Except the badlands, but even then I don't have a real place to call my own. I guess I'm saying, no. The metal-jawed man didn't upset me, it was just the drugs. Makin' me pensive. Sometimes you gotta exhale."
Balling up a fist she pierced her eye directly at the star which was once her homeland.
"If I could have gotten back I would have by now. There's nothing left. It's all gone, the Outsider took it all."

Miki let a single tear well up in her eye, pent up emotions welling in the leaky part of her body. Somewhere to let out the guilt and fear, the tear slid down her face in its escape. She wiped it away from her red flesh and looked at him with her solid yellow eyes, a genuine question.
"Have you ever felt so far from home, even when you have a safe bed to sleep? It seems to me no matter where I go this sense of dread and loneliness follows me. I feel as if an outsider even in welcome homes. I wish I knew what in my soul had me so unsettled, or at least how to quench its thirst."
She moved her head away from him and sighed, tapping her feet on the ground and following the curves of her horns with her hands.
"We can't hide who we truly are, no matter what physical form we take our soul stays the same. The past is the past they say, which shapes the future. If the present is where we always are, what does the past mean? And are we ever truly absolved?"

The drug took its last hold on her as she rolled on the ground at his feet, looking up at the stars.
"See that one? That constellation is the Wurm, Badlander bullshit but they say these beasts are blessed by time. I've never played in to the superstition other than maybe they are corrupted like the Mad Ones."
She was rambling but stayed in her vulnerable spot on the ground, with little higher function from the drug she was at Derek's mercy.
"I wonder about you sometimes. You're different. Like a big gash on your soul, maybe hidden well but it's something I can see. What happened to you Derek?"

[Arkash]

Idle thumbs toiled in the hardened dirt while he stared in deep thought, eyes shining like some beast at the fringe of a campfire's light. His lips pursed a little harder at the revelation, that Miki had lost her children, but he didn't immediately speak on the matter.

His silence rolled on, and Miki continued while he seemed to think, then cast his gaze back to the stars. His brow furrowed at the mention of a word, then his gleaming gaze returned to the red one while his night eye saw her in full clarity. "Outsider?" His voice carried a certain tenderness as if to relay he'd heard the subjects prior. "Who's the Outsider?"

The smell of her tears hit him before he saw the glint, and he seemed to startle without sound while his eye followed the stream. "Sorry, don't answer," he said quickly and turned his gaze to the floor.

"I..." He started and trailed on with parted lips before she refilled the silence. The frown he wore in tandem with the tension in his shoulders spoke volumes of his discomfort and remorse. He stood ready to speak but it was as though some invisible force held back his words; as though his hands were full just with the task of drawing breath while the conversation deepened.

When the subject changed again, he took a moment to look from the cracked earth that he picked apart, and cast his gaze where Miki pointed. His brow rose above his frown and he cast a glance to her while she rolled on the floor before he withdrew his calloused hands and nodded. "You like the stars, huh?" He spoke in regard to the constellation, then leaned back on his hands to get a better view of the night sky. The shine in his glare drank the light of the night sky, and the lights vanished from the stark darkness that reflected there.

"I used to join them up on my way to work, found some cool ones," he said with a slight smile that quickly receded. "The wurm, if you look closely, is joined by some other stars, and it makes a big wagon wheel. Look," with that he moved closer and laid down beside her. A point of his finger aimed to where she'd gestured. "You can see where it comes around, and all the stars point toward the center to make spokes," he explained, then turned his head to glance at her, checking if she was actually looking. "Do you see it?"

He stayed there in silence while the subject of the conversation then turned to him. Then tension he seemed to bleed returned, and his lips pressed hard while he gazed upon the night sky. A smirk briefly claimed his features, and he laughed a breath. "Nothing you haven't heard a hundred times, I bet," he spoke dismissively.

"Have you ever heard of Koltoska?"

"It's north of here, a land between Greater Daravin and Lorien, and serves as the front line for their war." He gave pause to let that information settle, then continued with a budding smile. "It's sorta like here, just... More colorful. The sky is bright and the clouds are soft. The people are simple, but friendly in their little towns and villages, always smiling despite everything... At least 'til they end up in Lower Nivenhain."

"You see... Daravin and Lorien wage war with golems, these huge machines, product of Artificing, with no heart or mind. They're programmed, hard-wired to do only one thing; and that's to kill." His smile had fully withdrawn, and it reflected in his tone. The dark of the night sky still reflected in his eyes, starless in its shallow abyss. "They go rogue sometimes, and because they're designed to fight, they're really hard to stop... So neither side does anything about it unless they get too close or stray into the fray. The Koltoskan's have guns, but that ain't nearly enough to bring down one of those things..."

"Those things that wage war and slaughter everything down to the individual like it's their purpose... Because it's all they know how to do."

He gave pause again, eyes darting quickly between the stars while he thought, then turned his head to face her. "I'm sorry about your kids, Miki, I am," he said with a distinct sincerity to his frown. "And I don't want to sound insensitive... But the number I've times I've heard a story like yours..."

"Recounted on the lips of some stump-legged mine worker, or a crippled waif in the gutter..."

"Their world ripped up and destroyed, whole families erased in one night..."

He turned his gaze back to the stars and shut his eyes while he exhaled deeply, then sat up. "People like us have heard it all before; you already know my story," he said at last, then shook his head dismissively. "I hope you find peace, Miki. And if not, I hope you settle for blood."

Image source.

[Miki]

¤

Perched there like a vulture as Miki came to her sense she realised who, or rather what, she was speaking to. It was him, the man who ate the meat man at Traphole. After all, she didn't see any blood at the time but knew the center of the chaos is where Derek had came from when he wandered wide-eyed up to her. Those eyes were devoid of any color and the stench of his sweat was that of pain. She had hissed at him then and gave her her own sort of ultimatum. "Keep up and tell me later." Now here they were looking, laying together, and talking about the stars. At first she didn't get up from her spot on the ground but still nodded to show she was able to see the wheel .

Even though she had dreamed of using that change in him against him she wasn't sure she could. After opening up she felt understood in a way that people didn't usually make her feel. He was right, the suffering she felt from losing her home and previous life was more common than she gave credit. Did he suffer during those changes, as the Madness made people surely waste away in the Badlands? Putting a hand to her chin she sat up and brushed off the dust from her garments.
"Koltoska? Not familiar. Is that how you came to be in slavery, ain't that s shame? I must admit you're different from the usual fearful tumbleweeds that I see for sale."
After that she listened to him speak if he had more to say if not a silence came between them as she lost her grip on her thoughts from the last whims of the drug.

A shower of sparks and the cold ring of metal on metal. Hammers kept the metronome as riveting came out in bursts. It was reminiscent of her job in Traphole and yet, as the sparks disappeared she was able to behold the star-skiff being pieced together, towering like a fortuitous monolith.

The a sudden rumbling in the earth disturbed her daydream. Its crescendo was marked by the crash of something huge coming through the earth. Miki jumped to her feet and looked on the horizon for any sign of the wurm and evidently she wasn't the only one. Chariots revving pierced the night as the moroi spared no time gathering herself to head back to the assembled crew.
"Derek, let's go. I think it's here."
Above her the stars twinkled timelessly as she ran back to the campsite to get on her chariot.

~~~

Everyone was on their feet and assembling themselves. A group had formed around the metal jawed man but Miki paid it no mind as she came back to Izul who was cleaning up her rifle.
"Good, you're back."
Came the gruff Orkhai. Miki grabbed her rifle from the back of the chariot ready to hand it to Derek when he arrived.
"The slave will ride with me and handle the firing, I hope he's a good shot."
Miki gathered herself as she left Izul and came up to the larger group, ready to address them. This would be her first time organizing her own wurm hunt. Adrenaline buzzed in her chest, welling up as she raised her voice to get everyone's attention.
"I'll be heading this chase."
She said aloud, the men and women quieting from their own conversations and turning to face her.
"So I get the lion's share. But, I don't need most of it so I am willing to share equally among you all what's left."
While no one spoke up to challenge her a few people looked on guard, a couple people stooped down to continue what they were doing but Miki paid them no mind.
"Veterans you know the drill, but for the rest,"
A slight glance over her shoulder to Derek was given without missing a beat,
"we're going to weaken it and chase it back to its den. There we'll need to kill it. DO NOT kill it before we get it to the crystals in its den. This going to take all night and I'm not looking for anyone keen on dyin' themselves. If you ain't strong enough or fast enough leave now."

Everyone was quiet as the rest of the group silently agreed and started packing up and getting on their chariots. The last person listening was the metal jawed man. With her speech concluded she sighed, easing the rising tension in her chest. Would this few people be able to pull this off? The metal jawed man came up to her and spoke.
"Name's Plato. I haven't forgot our deal. I'll see you again soon in the wurm's den."
"Of course."
Was her short reply before saddling up on her chariot. She handed the gun and her bullets to Derek.
"Aim high and try not to waste your shots. I'll be driving. Hang the fuck on."
Izul was on her chariot waiting for Miki,
"We're doing this. Let's talk to them about the Snake Eyes after we kill this bitch."

And with that, Miki was speeding off on her metallic snarling lion. The sound of the chariots pounding against the packed earth filled the night air like a chorus of roaring beasts. They were headed east towards the wurm. The time had finally come for the hunt.

[Arkash]

A slight one-sided squint took his features at the question of whether he was taken from Koltoska, and he shook his head. "Well, no," he began with a shrug, then stood to brush himself off completely. "I came here for work, 'thought I might learn some sword techniques different to what they practice in Tyrclaid, but I just got arrested by the Halamire and enslaved for no reason," he grinned as though the story was funny. "I hear that happens a lot to foreigners though."

When the earth began to shake, his smile broke to a frown, and he widened his stance to steady himself. His shining eyes were wide in the dark, confusion apparent in his features under the light of the stars. He looked to the source of those readied machines and bared his sharp teeth. When Miki declared it was time to go, he nodded and followed hot on her heels.

Almost naturally, he reached to receive the rifle but didn't receive it at that moment. Miki still needed it, it seemed. Nonetheless, he took the moment to inspect it and furrowed his brow with bared teeth. It was a flintlock; a shoddy weapon. He could make do with it, but the fight wouldn't be nearly as easy as he anticipated. "I'll do my best," he said amidst the discussion of preparing.

He was riding with Miki, as declared. While she continued to prepare, he gathered a number of gunpowder charges and tied them to his attire in various spots. He had a number of bracelets that carried two of the tied hide bags, and a garland with several charges of the same size. He weighed and measured the amount in each purse to be sure how much he'd need for a good shot. Power would be important for something as massive as Miki and Izul had described, and he accommodated the task at hand well with his selection of volume, but there was always a risk with taking bigger charges.

He looked then to Miki and Izul while the shorter of the two addressed the gang, then nodded. He watched in the low light from the edge of the campfire's warmth and nodded carefully while he adjusted his turban to better cover his mouth. He couldn't have any of them recognize him, he realized when he met the eyes of the metal-jawed man. Plato, he was introduced as. As Arkash's brow furrowed, he found a distinct feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right about that one, he decided, and it reflected in the glare of his misty eyes.

When Miki and Izul returned, he accepted the rifle and immediately pulled back the hammer to inspect the inside of the barrel, and found that it wasn't loaded. indeed, the gun didn't even have a safety lock, it would have been madness to keep it loaded outside of combat. So, he poured a gunpowder charge into the barrel through the top and began to stuff a rounded ball bearing into the soft bore barrel. The entire process took nearly twenty seconds to fully load; he was rusty with primitive guns.

"Thank you," he said while holding the hammer from the steel with his thumb. Carefully, he tested the drop with the hammer's clamped flint to see its reach and determined it would fire properly before he resumed locking the weapon with his thumb. "I'm using more gunpowder than you normally would... It's guaranteed a harder blast, but it's gonna wear down on the barrel quickly and the recoil might push us around a bit while you're driving," he warned.

"Probably won't explode though..."

When all was said and done, he mounted the chariot behind Miki and held her shoulder with one hand. To test, he turned back and lowered the gun from his shoulder to reach behind him with an extended arm. The weight of the weapon was fully supported by his outreached arm, but he didn't shake with strain. He shut one eye and aimed down the iron sight with a tilt of his head, then tapped the trigger guard with his index finger. When he was certain he could shoot like that with the alignment of his shoulders, he nodded and brought the weapon back to rest against his collarbone, aimed at the sky.

"Okay," he said. "I'm ready."

When they were off, Arkash found his night eyes peered over the way they'd come often. The rush of wind would pose a problem, he knew, The cold of the desert air would chill his fingers and make it difficult to load the weapon with any sort of haste. He had to be resourceful.

"When will we see the wurm?!" He called over the roaring engine and the rushing wind. "Is it obvious or-?!"

Image source.

[Miki]

¤

After their conversation she felt more sure of his prowess. It was curious to think that the Halamire would just arrest him and cast him into slavery, but she supposed good slaves were hard to find. His off kilter smile unsettled her, but it was short lived as the wurm made its appearance. Now, with preparations made and Derek's adjustments to the gun, Miki was heading the group to chase the wurm down. The Moroi didn't bother to grace his question with an answer, it was clear she was completely focused.

It took about ten minutes of riding to catch up to the beast, but when it was had the animal was unmistakable. At first they seemed to be riding fast into the horizon when the behemoth erupted through the ground about a mile off, snaking though the air before crashing back into the ground like a great land whale. Comparably it was about the size of a whale, likely weighing close to thirty tons. None faltered, they all headed off towards the beast which was now in total view by the craters in the earth and the ruptured ground following its snaking path. As they gained on it, not far from the beast at all, Plato came forward in front of Miki. His natural arm held a gun while the mechanical one was clamped tight to the handle bar. Both he and the woman riding with him shot off rounds into the ground, one stuck as the earth trembled below. Right in front of Miki the earth erupted, she had little time to swerve and narrowly evaded the angered wurm. Gathering her baring's she shot a quick glance back to Derek to make sure he was still riding.

They got in formation, those who were close enough rode in circles around the writhing beast, taking turns getting a shot off before it disappeared back into the ground again.
"This is going to be a long fight!"
Miki cried, hoping Derek could hear her over the gun shots. The wurm was gone for mere moments before erupting from the ground yet again, this time beneath a pair of riders. It rose up with the riders and chariot in its maw as it chomped and slavered. One person leaped from the teeth and hit the ground with an audible crunch as the chariot and remaining rider were chewed to bits. Shots rang out even more now, there was visible blood pouring from the hide.
"Still isn't enough to weaken it."
Miki said, mostly to herself as she sped off in its direction. The group would be dodging and shooting as much as they could until the beast was wounded enough to try to get away. But if they were all as shitty as the two who were eaten would they even last long enough? Izul was driving and shooting not far from her, Miki watched as Izul passed in front of her and Derek. What did Izul always say? 'Everything will be alright.' Well, for once Miki wanted to believe that. Maybe she could bargain to free Derek? Would she be able to stomach seeing this capable boy, man, go back into that bastard's clutches? Seemed almost like a disservice, but there was still the matter of his certain-- behavior.

The ground shattered in front of them yet again, grounding Miki back to the present as she swung the chariot to its side, stopping them in their tracks, as the wurm soared and screeched above them. Miki wasted no time and throttled the chariot back on, speeding away. The gun fire rang out true as the beast screamed in pain, disappearing beneath the ground yet again.