Lescar

Hands covering her face as she sniffled Lescar tilted her head sideways, hearing the slight taps of something hard on stone.

'Was the master back?'

Moving quickly to hide her vulnerable display, Lescar stopped sobbing, forcing the emotions back under a more stringent control, she doubted the master would have any compassion for such a display and did not want to let him see it.

Rubbing her eyes on her patchy sleeves Lescar kept trying to wipe all evidence of her weakness away as the tapping sound drew nearer.

Lescar looked up and around in the dark cave and did not immediately spot her master.

"Master?" Lescar said aloud, tentatively.

She did not get a response from the big bug but the tapping had ceased, a little worried Lescar began to clamber to her feet.

As she was half straightened, Lescar heard something that made her eyes widen.

The sound of metal sliding against metal, a weapon being unsheathed, it was behind her.

Lescar threw herself to the right, just barely avoiding having a blade shear through her neck, receiving only a shallow cut instead.

Heart beating at the pace of a war drum Lescar turned and scrambled to her feet drawing her sword in time to deflect the follow-up attack.

Lescar blocked the blade with a forceful slap from the metal haft of her sword, trying to bat the weapon away, instead, the weapon met Lescar's own and quickly slid down its length to slash at Lescar's fingers.

Wanting to keep her fingers, Lescar stepped back and twisted her sword, aiming to divert the enemy's weapon into the ground, the opponent predicting this with contemptuous ease, converted the downward motion into a flowing strike, forcing Lescar to retreat once more.

Lescar jumped back and the individual attacking her stepped forward to follow her, Lescar instantly recognized who it was.

Blinking one eye at a time and wiping her tears on her sleeve, Lescar carefully studied the visible man, being sure not to leave her guard down.

It was one of the adventurers the master had been fighting and judging by the pulsing distortions rising and falling around him he was a mage, a very angry looking mage.

The brown-haired and exceedingly ordinary-looking man had an expression carved into a sneer and brows furrowed with a scornful frown and running down the sides of his face Lescar could see that like herself he had recently been crying.

Not another trace of that vulnerable expression, however, remained on his visage the only thing Lescar could read on his hard face was hate and a desire to make her hurt.

The man's bloodshot eyes followed Lescars every movement like a hungry tiger watching a lamb and Lescar felt herself take another step back, the intensity of the man's gaze was uncomfortable.

Why had he come after her? she had not even done anything! had the master lost?!

Lescar still felt that weird bond to her master in the back of her mind so she discounted that possibility, the man in front of her was just after her for some reason, maybe she could negotiate, try to avoid a fight?

Pricking up her courage Lescar made to speak, although uncertain on how to deal with the man.

"Umm what do you want? I don't have any treasure so..."

Lescar trailed off lamely not sure what to do with a man with murder in his eyes and hatred clenched between his jaws.

The man at first did not respond instead, advancing forward sword in hand driving a nervous Lescar back with every step.

The man was not tall, only slightly taller than average for a man but he still loomed over Lescar by half a head, Lescar felt she was being backed into a corner and not wanting to have no leg room she spoke once more.

"Don't come any closer!" Lescar warned feeling the man's Irate gaze drift over her as she waved her sword threateningly, "I don't really want to fight you, but I will!"

The man stopped after hearing this, coming to a halt with a sharp intake of breath before he looked slightly down and Lescar strained her ears trying to pick up his mumbling.

"You don't want to fight?... you don't want to fight?... ...It doesn't matter if YOU don't want to fight."

The man looked up again eyes staring with the utmost pure wrath, his eyes were so bloodshot, so full of rage, that Lescar thought his eyes had turned red, opening his mouth in a shout almost a roar, the man bellowed, spittle flying from his lips in a fine foam.

"I'LL KILL YOU! YOU FUCKING WHORE WITCH! YOU KILLED HEATHER! YOU KILLED MY CHILD! YOU KILLED EVERYONE!"

Lescar stood frozen for a second, she hadn't killed anyone, then the man sprang forward at surprising speeds his blade lunging for Lescars legs while he shrieked, the pulsating aura around him fluctuating and warping.

"I WILL MAKE YOU SCREAM YOU WHORE!"

Lescar, surprised at the man's unreal speed hastily brought her sword down to deflect the blow the Last filaments of power from earlier running through her nervous system as she put the blade down to intercept.

Blocking the attack was easier than she'd thought it would be but also harder, the enraged man simply flowed past her as he moved, slashing twice at Lescars thighs and scoring another light wound on her before smoothly dancing out of reach.

Lescar knew quite immediately that this guy was better than her easily, he was a veteran and she was but a beginner and he was also toying with her, he could have easily landed a heavier blow when he hit but refrained from doing so.

Lescar touched the wound on her thigh, it was bleeding prodigiously and it stung, but it wouldn't impede her ability to fight much.

Lescar looked up at the man, he had allowed her to investigate her wounds but now was again closing in going for another low cut, the man had said he wanted to make her scream and it looked like intended to do it by slowly breaking her down, cut by cut.

Blocking with her sword again, this time as the man ran his blade up and around her blade to seek her soft flesh, Lescar stepped to the left moving to attack, seeking to land a telling blow on the mans body, the man did not evade or deflect as Lescar thought he might the blade plunging towards him, instead he lifted one hand off his blade as the pulsing aura around him condensed and then...

Ping!

Lescar's blade was pushed strongly away from the man's body pulling Lescar off balance and in her seconds of being off-balance the more experienced man landed two more strikes on her.

"Ahhhhhh!" Lescar hissed air whistling through her gritted teeth, she had taken another wound in the thigh and a much more troublesome one to her ankle, both were deep and Lescar's right leg could barely sustain her weight, she could feel it already beginning to give out.

Lescar ground her teeth together and forced her leg to stay put with sheer grit, the leg releasing a steady stream of red to the cave floor. 

The man she was up against was a mage, something she had briefly forgotten and paid dearly for, he had abilities that Lescar didn't know how to counter and magics she didn't understand, somehow he could deflect her attacks with nothing but his bare hands while on the other hand, she had no good way of defending herself from him.

It didn't look like she stood much of a chance against this man, he was an experienced and jaded adventurer and she was a fourteen-year-old girl who had a history of petty theft, fighting him would be a bad idea especially at this point, she needed backup, help. 

"Master!" Lescar called out both aloud and through her bond causing the man in front of her to chuckle darkly and sneer, his bloodshot eyes drilling into her.

"You can't fool me, witch! Your no maiden in distress, you 'are' the master and you will die!"

Lescar had not meant the words for the mage but he had still reacted poorly, did he think she was the one in charge? what the heck!

The giant bug had not responded to her calls and dimly Lescar recognized something was interfering with her bond, jamming it.

Lescar eyed the pulsating light flowing off the mage, it had to be his doing, she didn't know how to deal with that, without the giant cockroach her chances of winning seemed very remote.

"Crap!" Lescar gasped as the pain from hobbling on her wounds intensified.

Lescar tried to stumble further away to get more distance between herself and the angry mage, but her badly injured leg didn't get her far.

The man chuckled again his voice a low and raspy purr even as his eye danced with rage.

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"There is no escape witch! I will make sure you get to feel all the pain you have inflicted on me and on my team!"

The man darted forward faster than before and unlike earlier he went high, aiming for Lescars arms, Lescar, completely on the defensive, was barely able to respond, the last dregs of her boost long since dissipated, the adults greater swordsmanship and expertise showing itself.

She managed to deflect two quick jabs and hopped on one leg away from another but that was all the luck she had, the man calling upon his magic again casually blasted Lescars sword off course as she retaliated and in rapid succession struck twice piercing Lescar's left arm at the elbow and the underside of her bicep rendering the arm useless.

"Mmmmmrrrrraaahhh!" yowled Lescar dropping her sword to the ground as her left arm was unable to support it.

Lescar was now bleeding from six wounds, three of which were deep cuts, unable to walk and unable to swing a blade, she tried to dive at her weapon and retrieve it in her remaining good hand, the mage did not let her.

Stepping over Lescar's weapon the man wound back his boot and kicked Lescar unceremoniously in the jaw, sending her crashing backward into the cavern wall, sheathing his shortsword the man instead pulled a much smaller blade out, a tiny skinning knife and stepped over the prone and stunned Lescar, sitting on top of her, trapping her under his weight.

Only half-conscious Lescar did not resist as the man grabbed her by the back of the throat and pulled her upright to face him, her eyes fluttering, struggling to stay open as she developed a concussion, her vision clouded, murky, and blurry.

"Hey! no sleeping yet whore! you do that when you're dead!"

The mage slapped Lescar in the face hard, waking her out of her forced stupor, eyes refocusing, hers came into contact with the man's and inside them, Lescar saw contempt, sadistic enmity, and loss... in the mage's clenched fist, the one closest to Lescar, he held a small knife that was trembling with anticipation.

Lescar looked from the blade back up to the man's wild eyes, this man was going to torture Lescar to death she could see it in his maddened state.

"Witch, I am going to cut off your nose, skin your left arm, gouge out your right eye, and remove your foul tongue."

The man watched with an abhorrent grimace, looking for a sign of fear or weakness, any reaction at all.

He was not disappointed.

Lescar felt the tears from earlier begin to well up again, she felt her eyes water, was this it? was this her end? tortured to death by a madman.

Lescar felt the sorrow begin to take over again but resisted it, a hard caliber infusing into her expression as the water leaked out of her eyes.

The man's revolting demon-like grin widened upon seeing Lescars tears flowing but at the same time he faltered briefly, his eyes widening shortly. 

The mage muttered under his breath as he looked away "No... No... No mercy for you witch... My wife and kid are dead! because of you I will- I WILL AVENGE THEM!!"

The mage narrowed his eyes again into determined hatred, his face again taking on demon-like qualities in Lescar's worn mind as he drew the knife closer.

Looking up at the hateful man above her, a man who was waiting on her to break and crumble, Lescar decided she did not want to give him the satisfaction, she wouldn't give this sick asshole the pleasure of breaking her.

She would do her best to remain silent, all the while trying her best to contact her master.

"I think I'll start with your arm," the crazed man said.

The man seized Lescar's useless left arm, her other pinned under the man's weight, before he dug the sharp knife into the soft skin, sliding the cold metal under Lescar skin and slowly moving it up her shoulder parting her skin like a zipper being undone.

Through the tears, Lescar struggled to not let out a sound, refusing to give the man his fulfillment.

"Tough little witch," the man said furrowing his brows more, "but I doubt that will last," the man finished with relish," this is a skinning after all."

Having cut Lescar in two lines down her arm, the man grabbed one half of the sliced up flesh before pulling on it hard, tearing the flesh slowly and excruciatingly away from Lescar bloodied arm, slowly peeling away her skin. 

Despite her resolve, Lescar couldn't help but scream, it was just too much.

 "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Lescar shrieked as the meat on her arms was torn away like bacon strips.

"Good, good! you little bitch! scream! SCREAM!" the mage brought his knife to Lescar,s arm and began carving up the exposed muscles and nerves.

Breathing fast and lying in a growing pool of her own blood Lescar screamed again as the man began pulling the other half of skin from her arms, the man being sure to be as rough and violent as possible as he did it.

Eventually, the man pulled the sheet of human flesh from Lescars quivering and trembling form, shaking it in front of her eyes like a wet rag before tossing it aside. 

Lescar had never been in so much pain, her left arm was like a fire and digging wires all at once, even being half crushed had not been as painful.

Lescar felt her conscience again slipping towards oblivion, but the man once more slapped her awake.

"You are staying awake until I'm finished with you, witch," he spat taking his bloody carving knife and waving it before Lescars waning vision.

"Now I think I will start on that dirty tongue of yours," the mage said brandishing his knife with a flourish.

Lescar felt the resolve in her begin to crack as her fear overcame her resolve, being mute was worse than being dead in Octaal, Lescar did not want to lose her ability to speak.

"No! get off me! Get away!" Lescar cried and as the mage moved closer, she flailed and tried to push him off but to no success, she was smaller, badly injured ad partially delirious with pain. 

Lescar felt a force surge through her as her fear, pain, and raw terror culminated into instinct, it wasn't the same sickly power from before but rather something more eclectic and shocking, it felt like every nerve in her body was charging up before...

Crack! Zap! Boom!

A blaze of yellow Lightning thundered into the mage, punching the man off his feet and throwing him into the opposite wall ten meters away.

Lescar lay on the ground, her own blood steaming around her, having burned up after the lightning burst from her.

'Did I do that?' Lescar thought bewildered and more than a little dazed, she had made small streams of lightening before but never one so powerful and never in combat or purposefully.

Lescar sat up slowly and painfully, her ruined leg and arm making movement difficult, 'had she beaten the crazy mage?' Lescar peered at the distant wall, the smoke from her blood obscuring her view.

'Is he dead?' Lescar hoped so, she was pretty sure she didn't have another bolt of lightning in her to spare.

The bloody smog was thick and did not clear, for a whole 10 second's nothing moved, Lescar felt relieved.

Then the smog parted and a slightly charred and extremely angry mage stepped out, his sword again unsheathed.

"You little cunning bitch! you waited for me to let down my guard before you used your magic" The man was practically foaming at the mouth but he looked wary too.

"I have little choice but to kill you immediately now." the man spat, "know now that you die by the hands of Naython Keithstine and rot in hell bitch."

Naython charged forward, that pulsing radiance fluctuating around him again, he would arrive in moments.

Lescar closed her eyes there was nothing she could do, she was immobile, badly injured, and completely out of lightening.

'She was-'

Naython's blade arced towards Lescar, but it never hit its intended target, it did not hit the soft defenseless skin of a 14-year-old girl but the hardened armor of a horse-sized monster.

The flashing blade nevertheless came down with such force that it rent through the tough armor, carving a huge notch out of the creature's neck in a spray of yellow fluids.

Lescar her eyes having been closed tight opened them when she realized that the blade had not struck her, and saw the form of the devil standing guard over her, yellow fluids streaming from its head and neck, the giant cockroach had taken the death blow for her.

Lescar felt relief and hope fill her in equal parts, even as the master bled yellow goo everywhere, she also felt gratitude, the master had shielded her, protected her with his own body taking grievous damage in the process.

The cockroach turned its head slightly and Lescar knew he was looking at her with his wide range of vision.

"He hurt you..."

"Yes..." Lescar responded, unsure.

The master's voice was quieter than normal almost serene in the way he said that simple statement, but underneath that Lescar could feel bubbling fury.

"No one touches my people..."

Hearing this Lescar's heart did a little leap, 'his people?'

Lescar felt some of the doubts to the master fall away as she recalled part of his promise.

'You would have armies at your beck and call, legions of servants and not just that... you would always have someone guarding your back.'

Her master had her back, he promised he would protect her, the gratitude in Lescar heart deepened as she realized he was not the coward or simple manipulating monster she had thought he was.

The giant insect turned its head to face Naython and the palpable menace in the air jumped to new levels, Lescar who was not even the target of the devil's ire, instinctively shrank away despite herself.

She had no clue her master could radiate this kind of power, this... sinister authority, if she, who was not the target of this wrath was so shaken, then how would the crazy mage Naython fare.

Lescar watched through the master's legs, observing with one part fascination, two parts self-righteous pleasure, and one part pity, as Naython caved under the master's awesome presence.

The mage was sweating profusely, struggling to stay on his feet, his bloodshot eyes moving wildly as he searched for a way past the imposing sentinel.

It looked like he couldn't spot any and with a hoarse and desperate cry, he charged the roach head-on.

It was all over rather swiftly, one slice down which was blocked by a flicking Antena, then a thrust with a spear-like leg.

Naython the mad mage was impaled chest first as all his wards shattered like brittle eggs, The roach had already figured out Naythons little trick.

Lescar heard the dying man wheeze out a couple of words before he died.

"Heather... Everone... sor-"

He didn't get to say anymore as her master raised up a second limb spearing him through the lower body before with a wet wrench he tore the mage into halves.

Tossing the vivisected mage to the side uninterestedly, the master turned to Lescar with a slightly concerned voice.

"Hmmm, your health is looking kind of low, stay still."

Lescar felt a power course through her for the third time this day, but it was not full of that taint and it wasn't unpleasant, except for the itching, 'that was unbearable.'

Lescar was about to rip into her own arm due to the Itch but was sternly told off by her master.

"Stop! you'll ruin the setting."

Lescar resisted furiously scratching at her master's behest, a little grudgingly, 'this is really itchy!' Lescar thought but then stopped when she saw what was happening, eyes wide with astonishment, Lescar watched her torn-up arm seal over with brand new skin, skin as smooth as a babies, it took a whole minute to grow back, and for all of Lescar wounds to seal up but it was amazing.

"What was that!" Lescar asked staggering to her fully functional legs, her voice higher pitched than normal from her excitement

"A little trick I picked up not too long ago, nothing outrageous," her master nonchalantly said waving an antenna at her

Lescar looked down a little embarrassed that not that long ago she had thought so little of her master, he was powerful, intelligent and so far had been looking out for her, even if he had his own goals in mind.

Feeling all this Lescar desired something of her master, something that would actually allow her to appreciate him, to form a friendship with him.

Looking up at her giant insectoid owner Lescar said inquisitively.

"Master?"

"Yes, Lescar?"

"Do you have a name?"

The startling stiffness of her master's reaction was... interesting, he seemed at a loss for words and even a little afraid, his normally sinister voice oddly vulnerable.

"A name? W- why of course I do! yes! I have a name it is..."

Her master went silent, Lescar waited for him to finish but he never did, it seemed he was thinking furiously but couldn't come up with an answer.

"Do you not have a name master?" Lescar asked gently "Do you mind if I give you one?"

The master spoke with a start as if surprised then he went silent, thoughtful.

"No I- I..."

Some more time passed quietly before the master responded in a very steady if very tense voice.

"Yes, I would like a name, I have none that I can remember..."

Lescar smiled and gave the best name she could think of, one that meant the most to her.

"Your name shall be Taldur!"

Lescar beamed up at her master, now Taldur, the tears in her eyes having dried up, she understood the behemoth insect better now.

"Taldur huh," Taldur clicked, "Not bad."

Taldur the subterranean vermin king of the silent forest grinned in his heart, he had a name!