"She said your name, the witch used your voice," she whispered to the grave.
Thrysta, laying prone in the dirt, rested atop the churned earth.
One taloned hand caressed the loose soil like the face of a lover as
she reclined on her side, lips near the earth, whispering.
"She mocks me love, I hate her," she murmured, stroking the loose dirt
on top of the grave, nuzzling her dessicated cheek against the earthen
mound.
"I need you, Wilek."
Tears gathered at the corners of Thrysta's ruined eyes, running slowly
to fall on the soil of the grave. She pawed plaintively at the dirt,
crying softly.
"I cannot stop, love," she moaned, "I cannot stop the terrible things I do.
"I rip, I tear, I open them all," she gasped, breathing raggedly between
building sobs, "I hurt them and break them and laugh."
A soft glow began emanating from the priestess as she writhed on the grave,
crying. Holy light illuminated the gloomy evening, throwing the surrounding
terrain into stark relief.
The ruins of the house.
Three other graves.
Thrysta rolled onto her back, staring through tear-filled eyes at the dark,
fetid sky of the Plaguelands. She raised her hands, each glowing brightly
with white light, reaching out to the sky. She closed her eyes.
Spreading her fingers, talons curved and wide, she brought her hands down hard
into the earth on each side of her. The light surrounding them flared brightly
before seeming to flow into the loose earth. The glow surrounding her body
faded, then finally extinguished.
Thrysta's eyes snapped open, her body rigid and still. She listened.
She waited.
Nothing happened.
Fresh tears rolled down Thrysta's ravaged cheeks as she started to sit up...
...just as the rotted, dessicated arm burst from the soil above her right shoulder,
wrapping around her throat.
Thrysta gasped, gurgling as her hands came up, scrabbling and clutching at the
vice-like forearm. Above her left shoulder, the soil burst, raining back down on
Thrysta. A smirking face appeared, ruined lips creased in a grin.
"Miss me, darlin'?" Wilek hissed in Thrysta's ear, tightening his grip.
Thrysta let out a noise, something between a scream and a laugh, her talons
tearing at the dead flesh of Wilek's forearm.
"Yessss...lovve," she managed to gasp out, gurgling, her robed legs kicking as
Wilek's arm tightened further.
"Missed you too, sweetness," he chuckled, the earth bursting up beneath Thrysta's
back.
The priestess arched, her back bending, eyes widening as the dagger dug viciously
into her. Wilek grinned, twisting the blade low in her back. Thrysta gurgled in
response, her taloned hands now scrabbling at the soil to each side of her, back
arched to the point of her spine almost snapping as Wilek worked the knife savagely.
The priestess began giggling, eyes closed tight as black blood ran from her mouth.
Spitting, she gurgled out the Forsaken word for pain, shadowy energy coursing into
the rogue still half-buried in the dirt below her.
Wilek gasped, somewhere between laughing and growling as he let go of Thrysta's throat,
writhing as the shadowy pain wracked his ravaged body. His grip loosened on the dagger
buried in Thrysta's lower back, letting go of it as she scrabbled off of him, rolling to
her hands and knees beside the grave.
Coughing blood out onto the dry earth, Thrysta slowly rose to her feet.
"Old dog..." Wilek gasped out, shutting his eyes tight against the pain, still half-buried.
"...but new tricks!" he yelled, concentrating on summoning the surrounding gloom to
cloak him. The shadows drew around the rogue, obscuring his form as they wiped away
Thrysta's word of pain.
Tensing, coiling, Wilek burst fully from the earth in a pirouette, landing lightly on
his feet as his cloak of shadows fell away, its work finished.
His remaining dagger still in one hand, he pulled it back, then flung the weapon end over
end at the risen priestess. Reaching awkwardly to try and remove the knife already buried
in her back, Thrysta never saw it coming. The spinning blade took her high in her right
shoulder, punching the breath from diminutive priestess, twisting her to the side. Wilek
moved like lightning to close the gap between them, levering a vicious kick deep into
her stomach.
Thrysta retched, doubling over as Wilek spun over her back, pulling free his buried
knife in the process. Landing lightly on his feet, he twirled, swiping the blade
across the back of Thrysta's shoulders.
She screamed, giggling as the blade opened her across each shoulderblade. Turning,
she faced Wilek as he reversed the blade, within a moment of swiping it back across
for another gaping wound.
Channeling her energy, Thrysta screamed in his face, her psychic howl causing Wilek
to stumble backwards in induced terror. Continuing to murmur words of power, she focused
her hold on the light, a shining arc slicing across the rogue's ribs.
The power of her psychic scream fading from him, Wilek chuckled, spitting in agony
as he looked down at his torn torso. Thrysta laughed with him, pulling his knife from
her shoulder.
They stared at each other over the short distance between them, panting, grinning.
Cocking her head, Thrysta smiled coquettishly at Wilek.
"Lover's quarrel?" she cooed.
"And then some, girl, and then some," Wilek chuckled as Thrysta channeled a prayer
of healing, both of their bodies mending under the power of her spell.
Giggling, Thrysta tossed the dagger in her hand back to the rogue, who caught the
spinning weapon deftly by its hilt. A grin of his own matching Thrysta's smile,
he brandished his knives, channeling a burst of speed as he closed the distance
between them in an instant.
With a word, Thrysta brought up a shimmering shield of light to surround her, deflecting
Wilek's stabbing blades. Gritting his teeth, he swiped and stabbed at the shield, carving
through it just as Thrysta brought a roaring column of holy fire downward at him.
Wilek dove away, rolling back to his feet at he batted at the flames licking at his
flesh and tattered leather armor. Her shield fading, Thrysta strode towards him, arms
raised for another spell.
In a flash, Wilek spun, sheathing one of his knives, his hand scooping up a small
amount of dry soil and flinging it into Thrysta's face.
Coughing, clutching at her eyes, the priestess stumbled away.
Coiling, Wilek sprung, crashing into her. Taking her to the ground as his weight bore her
over, he straddled her waist, pinning the priestess down. Raising both his blades, he
slammed them downward just beneath each of the Thrysta's collarbones, the blades plunging
through her and down into the dry soil.
Thrysta screamed, cackling madly as she thrashed underneath him, spitting the Forsaken
word for death.
Wilek's head snapped back as dark bolts slammed downward into him. He collapsed forward,
dark blood leaking from his nose, mouth and ears as he gasped in agony.
Thrysta giggled, knowing what would come next. Wilek having survived the death spell, the
magical feedback flooded into the priestess, tearing rents in her flesh as she too coughed
and spit, her ruined lungs filling with fluid.
The two Forsaken lay still, entwined. Panting, gasping in pain and laughing in mirth.
Finally, Thrysta murmured prayers of healing, mending and renewal. Their flesh began to
mend, Wilek's daggers were pushed from Thrysta as the spells put their ravaged bodies back
together.
Wilek sighed, reaching for his knives, rolling onto his back as he twirled them idly in
each hand. Thrysta giggled, rolling to curl up against his side, her taloned hand resting
on his chest as she laid her head on his shoulder.
His breath caught as she dug her talons into the flesh of his chest while she nuzzled against
him. He chuckled, dropping one of his knives to the dirt as he rested one hand on Thrysta's
head, stroking her hair.
The other flicked his remaining knife slightly, idly carving into the dead flesh of Thrysta's
arm.
She gasped, then nuzzled closer.
"You came back," she whispered, "...thank you."
"Ain't nothin', darlin'..."
"I love you, Wilek."
"Yeah, darlin'...I know."
She sighed, her talons digging a bit deeper into his chest. He winced, chuckling.
"Guess I just needed a reason, sweetness."
"A reason...to come back?" she whispered, trembling slightly against him.
"Got it in one, girl."
A reason...such as...loving me?" she said, almost too low to hear.
Wilek was quiet as he stared into the fetid, gloomy sky. Finally, his face creased into a
wide grin.
"Reckon so, Thryssy girl. I do reckon so."
"My head is quiet now."
Wilek smirked, his dagger finishing its work on Thrysta's arm as he cocked his head,
kissing Thrysta's hair.
"That's good girl, that's real good," Wilek murmured, "We're gonna set this world on fire,
darlin', 'cause there ain't nothin' worth a damn in it 'cept you and me."
"The Grim, love..." Thrysta whispered.
Wilek's brow furrowed as he stared into the sky, pursing his lips.
"You reckon they're headin' along th' same road we are, darlin'?"
"Yes, love. I believe they are."
"Well, then I guess that's where we'll hang our hats, huh?"
Thrysta sighed contentedly, and both Forsaken were quiet for some time.
It was the priestess who finally broke their silence.
"I will murder anyone who trifles with you."
Wilek chuckled, stroking her hair.
"That's just fine with ol' Wilek, girl...though my daddy always warned me off the bad gals,"
he smirked, giving her hair a gentle tug, "Good thing that advice never took with me."
Thrysta smirked as she moved to kiss the rogue, the gloom of the Plaguelands shrouding the
two Forsaken in their repose.