Chapter Two

            “Next.” There was only one person left that separated the small group from their plans, all of them nervous and excited in their own ways. The only one who actually voiced their excitement though was Checl.

            “Can you believe it?” Checl shrieked, gaining a couple looks from the passerby as well as two pairs of eyes looking onto her aggravated.

            “Can you please shut up?” Zihr growled in annoyance. He had heard enough of Checl and all of her excitement for a day, he couldn’t get a proper thought in without being interrupted by her constant screeching.

            “I’m sorry. I just can’t -.”

            “Believe that this is finally happening and we’re finally getting out of this hell hole, yes we know,” Raquel interrupted as she sighed and peered around the person in front of her. Checl did not comment on Raquel’s latest interjection, there was nothing she could say truthfully.

            “Alright next,” the ticket master stated and before Raquel or Zihr could react to his words, Checl ran up to the window with a wide smile.

            “Yes, we’re next good sir! Here you go!” Checl shouted as she practically shoved the jar of qiddings towards the man.

            “Whoa!” Zihr reached out and grasped the jar, bringing it back towards him before the ticket master could react and take the currency. “Perhaps you should just stand there.” Checl nodded with a blush and backed away from the window, stopping beside an annoyed Raquel.

            “Three tickets for Taouron.”

            “You got all the qiddings in that thing?” the man asked with a raised eyebrow though he did glare at the jar before him greedily.

            “Yea we got it all, you got the tickets in that thing?”

            The man smirked and pulled out the three tickets, each of their hearts slowly rising, “passport check.” The three exchanged confused glances at one another, no one had told them that a passport was required to get out of the Outlands. Somehow this struck interest in the ticket master as he leaned out of his window, narrowing his eyes on a quiet Zihr.

            “Seems like you’ll be here for a bit longer.”

            “Hold up just a m-,” Zihr began but with a chuckle the man shouted for those who were next in line to come up, sending the group away with a smirk.

            “No! No!” Checl screamed in angst as her feathers began to raise up and sprawl out. “We came this far to be turned around! I will not accept this!”

            “What are you going to do? Go up there and ruffle your feathers and shriek till he changes his mind?” Zihr asked annoyed. He had given up, there was no way he was getting out of the Outlands. He had put so much hope in this, knowing that it was his last chance. When Checl told them that they had earned enough he felt so much joy, he was finally going to get out of this place like he had always imagined. But it was obvious that a low life Raza like himself couldn’t possibly get out of a situation such as this, this was his life. Checl looked defeated as well, having to calm down while a tear began to roll down her eyes. Unlike Zihr she wasn’t raised here but she had been here longer than most. She had believed that she would finally be able to leave this dreadful place, to stop living on the edge of a rundown town – begging and struggling to live.

            Raquel on the other hand was not as down as the two, she was more than determined to get out of here. Interesting enough she had believed that something like this would come up, putting a major pause on their goals. So Raquel had come up with a backup plan, one that she knew was a bit less attractive but was more full proof. Raquel sat a hand on a devastated Checl’s shoulder and motioned for her and Zihr to follow her, picking up the only bag she owned and leaving the shuttle station.

            The group quietly made their way to the black market, weaving their way in and out of those that thought of themselves far more important than the group.

            “What are we doing here?” Zihr asked with a scowl on his face, his eyes darting from one patron to the next. Close quarters made him highly agitated, it was the best time to pickpocket another.

            “It’s not an ideal situation but it’s the only one we got,” Raquel told him as she searched for the only vendor table that she ever stopped at in this place.

    “I don’t care about ideal situations, if it means we get out of this place then I’m in,” Zihr reassured her and Checl nodded in agreement. Raquel smirked – yea let’s see if you keep that mindset, she thought to herself. She led the group through until she spotted the table, Prourc had his back to them.

    “Prourc.” Hearing his name caused him to immediately swing around with a forced sly smile, he only wiped it off his face when his eyes landed on the human before him.

            “What do you want Raquel? I told you I’m not buying anything else, I’m trying to get rid of the rest of it!”

            “And why is that?” Checl asked curiously. Prourc placed his eyes on the female and his expression immediately shifted to pure disgust, Checl ignored the look as best as she could as she was a bit to curious to let the answer go.

            “I have a place in Taouron that I just bought, I don’t need this junk crowding up my new place,” he mumbled and spoke more towards Raquel than Checl.

            “And we want in,” Raquel told him as she leaned forward. She picked up a small thin blue jar and slowly moved it around before putting it back down. Prourc stared at her with a raised eyebrow before smiling and chuckling.

    “You’re serious?”

    “Yes.”

    “I’m guessing you don’t have the qiddings to even leave this filthy place.”

    “Actually we do,” Zihr corrected.

    “Oh is that true,” Prourc asked with wide eyes, amusement laced through his words, “if that’s so, then why don’t you just buy a shuttle ticket?”

    “We don’t have passports.”

    “Ha! Then what makes you think I can help you! Passports are going to cost you at least two hundred more qiddings and if you just so happen to find that much then you’ll still have to wait days before you’ll get em! I’m leaving now, not in ten astral descendings.”

    “How are you getting there exactly?”

    “By Dhole,” Prourc proclaimed proudly gaining a raised eyebrow from Zihr and a scrunched and scrutinizing one from Checl.

    “Yea you definitely need us as help if you’re moving all of your things by Dhole,” Raquel snickered as she pictured the poor Zeach hitching a Dhole to a cart and having it carry him all the way to Taouron. Prourc continued to stare at Raquel as if she had an extra head growing suddenly from her shoulder. He made no face and spoke no words, only stared with his two bright brown eyes.

    “Listen, Raquel. I think of you as a friend, I really do. But without passports there’s no way I can help you and I’m not about to scrap some last minute qiddings together to try.”

    “We don’t need passports if we’re guards,” she pointed out. She didn’t have to turn around to know that both Zihr and Checl were staring daggers at her. Like she had said before, this wouldn’t be an ideal situation but it was the only one they had and she didn’t hear any of them proposing something different. Prourc combed his fingers through his feathers, chewing on the inside of his cheek.

    “I see. I’m well enough aware of the skills you possess Raquel and I’m pretty sure that Raza can hold his own in a fight but this Zeach, what use is she to me? That’s unnecessary weight.”

    “And what makes you think I can’t fight?” Checl asked curiously, gaining a muffled laugh from Zihr and an amused glare by Prourc.

    “Trust me, I can tell a fighter from a runner.”

    “She’s smart, really smart. She can organize your stock, help you budget your qiddings, and she knows more than one language if we happen to run into problems.” Prourc seemed to like this idea as his eyes drifted off. He slowly began to nod but stopped as he made eye contact with Raquel once more.

    “And when we get to Taouron? What will you do then?”

    “Let’s get there first,” she answered and he nodded in understanding. He knew Raquel well enough to know that he was not going to get a better answer from her. He outstretched his hand and shook Raquel’s, a smile plastered to his face.

    “We’ll be getting underway tomorrow.”

X X X

    For the rest of the day the group was busy. Raquel and Zihr found themselves spending some of their qiddings to buy ammo and supplies for the trip that was slowly approaching. Checl was about to join them when Prourc stopped her and informed her that her work started immediately. Checl sent a scowl to each of them as she turned and followed him to begin proving her worth.

    “Well hello,” Raquel smiled as she stopped in her tracks and eyed a well-made chocolate saddle. She could easily guess that it was made and fit for a Core Hound thanks to the size and the two holes in front for their armor spikes. Ever since she had found Ramses she has had the want to buy a saddle yet a well-crafted saddle was no simple walk in the park, stealing something of this worth took guts and even more stupidity. She ran a hand down the saddle to see that it was made of leather, Earth leather at that. Her heart picked up beat as she swore to herself.

    “How much?” she asked the owner who was keeping a keen eye on her and once she sprouted the question smiled genuinely.

    “Two fifty.” Raquel’s heart returned to its usual beat as a look of defeat crossed her face. The owner immediately picked up on it and giving her a short apologetic look, returned his attention to customers who could actually make him a profit. Raquel stood before the saddle for a bit longer, letting her hands touch the fine rough leather once more before turning and walking around glumly. She looked around a bit longer, buying only things that were cheap and a necessity for their trip to come. When she made it back to the small corner that belonged to Prourc the sun had begun to set and the customers of the market were trying to get home quickly.

    “Is it safe to be out here during nightfall?” Checl asked as she shook a bit by the fire that Prourc had started.

    “Yes,” Prourc stated without so much as an explanation and the group remained curious as to why that was.

    “Where’d you run off to?” Zihr asked with a raised eyebrow, his eyes on Raquel.

    “Had to find some empty ammo cartridges, luckily the weapon vendor was happy to get rid of them with no charge,” Raquel answered as she pulled the ten short yet plump cartridges out of her pouch. Zihr opened his mouth to ask why she would seek out such a ridiculous and unaccommodating item when she whistled loudly. Ramses came trotting up to his owner, happy to have finally found her though he could’ve done so easily at any time he chose. He laid beside Raquel as she began to knock and tickle his bottom jaw – gaining the attention from all of her party members. Ramses arched his neck to nibble at her hands, finally opening up wider as he yawned and almost seemed to sneeze. Quickly Raquel caught the transparent drool from his tongue, wasting no time in gathering a certain amount in all ten cartridges. Once they were each filled she bought one of the half full cartridges to her mouth and blew inside it slowly, quickly placing a top on it. She shook it quickly and the entire group watched in interest as the ooze seemed to turn into a gas inside its new compact home.

    “What did you do?” Checl asked as she crawled forward slowly, wanting to get a closer look at how Raquel was doing it. Raquel didn’t answer as one by one she filled the rest of the cartridges. Once she had shaken the last one she placed all of them in her pouch and gave Checl an unreadable look. Checl deciphered it as a warning look and backed away, Zihr chuckling to himself as he was sharpening the dagger sitting in his lap. Raquel resituated herself to see it better, always curious about the blade that Zihr would give his life to keep safe. Most of the time Zihr used hand to hand combat or a gun, never really using the dagger for anything. She opened her mouth to ask about the dagger but quickly shut it, she doubted he would tell her anything but to mind her own business, especially after her act of the day. So she allowed Zihr this moment of peace and sat back against the slumbering Ramses. Slowly closing her eyes as the fire crackled and the sounds of shouts and screaming could be heard in the distant.

    Zihr trailed his finger down the blade in his hands, half of his mind was on the task at hand while the other was on its origins. Its story always saddened him yet it equally gave him hope – hope that perhaps he would one day forge a new story for its wicked grace. Zihr looked up for a moment, seeing Checl softly snoring near the fire. Even with how close she was to the fire, her body was still shivering lightly due to the cooling wind. Zihr actually welcomed the wind with a warm embrace, with the clothing he was in and how his skin reacted to the weather, a cool wind was always applauded. He then found himself looking over at the human and her hound. A pair that he still couldn’t believe found their way into his company – or perhaps it was better to say that he found his way into theirs. A smile appeared on his face, something he shielded most hours of the day from nosy and curious glances. Memory of how he ran into the group that he found himself loyal to, drifting into his mind.

X X X

    It was Checl who he had come across first.

    Zihr had been basking on the roof of an occupied hut, he found the area to have the best spot when it was in regards to the sun. That particular day he eyed the Zeach warily walking around, in her hand was a nicely sized pouch. This immediately struck his interest, the simple thought of how easy it would be to snatch the purse caused him to abandon his previous task. Zihr watched her carefully, hoping that she would go down a less crowded road. The Zeach had approached an annoyed appearing woman who after what seemed like persuasion, pointed her to an alley and then pointed to the left. The Zeach nodded, her ginger and bright magenta feathers bouncing with every slight movement. Zihr watched carefully as she continued to talk to the woman. He couldn’t quite figure out what so many found attractive about this species, they were hideous and far too flamboyant and obvious to him. The female wouldn’t be able to walk two steps without someone noticing her – it was indeed her feathers that was about to lead to her untimely robbery.

    The Zeach finally nodded and thanked the woman, turning her back and walking a bit less carelessly towards the alley nearest to him. Poor sucker probably looking for a shortcut, Zihr thought to himself as he stood and gracefully ran to the side of the building, pondering if he needed to use a weapon for this. He hasn’t met a Zeach capable of fighting, even in the Outlands, so he doubted this one knew anything of the nature. He jumped towards a nearby pole and slid down, upon touching the ground he raced to the end of the alleyway, carefully peeking to see the Zeach striding toward him confidently. He smiled as he took out his dagger, admiring it for a moment, it would be just for show he told himself as he stepped out and cut off her exit. Fear washed into her eyes as she took a step back, her eyes meeting his before going down to his dagger and then back up to his eyes.

    “Not wise,” he told her as he approached her threateningly.

    “You’re right,” an unknown voice agreed, one that couldn’t have belonged to the Zeach for she was doing nothing but shivering in her spot. Zihr turned but before he even completed the turn he felt something hard meet the side of his face and he fell to the ground. Zihr awoke a few minutes later, his eyes lazily opening and then closing. He was still in the alleyway but both his dagger and the qidding pouch that he had possessed before was gone.

    “That sneaky bitch!” Zihr growled as he pushed himself up. He felt tremendously embarrassed, a Raza of his skill had been manipulated by some Zeachs. Zihr shook his head and took off, ignoring the headache that cursed at him and warned him to slow down. He would get his dagger back, if it was the last thing he did. Once on the main streets he looked left and right, studying his area to find the ginger and magenta feathers that had belonged to the Zeach – find her and he was positive he would find her comrade. With no luck on the ground Zihr took to the roofs of the buildings, moving stealthily across them to find those that had mugged him. Just thinking of how he could’ve been snuck up on angered him, he had never gotten mugged before, the entire time he’s lived in the Outlands no one was able to approach him and get the upper hand.

    After minutes of searching he finally found her, the decorated female Zeach was standing alone looking a bit impatient. All signs of her previous nervousness was gone. With a smile he made his way down the side of the building and towards the Zeach.

    “Hey!” he shouted as he grabbed the Zeachs shoulders and dragged her away from the main part of the street, pushing her into a wall forcefully. The Zeach was genuinely confused and frightened upon seeing him.

    “You,” was all she could say as Zihr narrowed his eyes on her.

    “Yea me! Who knocked me out and where’s my dagger?” he growled as he felt the need to punch her.

    “I didn’t take it,” she told him defensively but it was obvious that she knew who had taken it.

    “Talk!” he growled as he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her into the wall forcefully yet again. She whimpered a bit and crouched just a bit, putting up her hands to protect her face. The actions only caused more anger to pour through Zihr - he balled his hand into a fist and was about to strike the creature when he felt a cold sharp object press itself against his skin. He froze as he felt anger and fear run through him.

    “Step away from the Zeach,” the voice said and he immediately recognized it as the voice in the alleyway, the one who had struck him and stole his things. He didn’t know if he was more upset at the fact that this person was able to sneak up on him yet again or the fact that it was his dagger that was pressed against his flesh. Zihr took a deep breath in before turning to face his attacker, genuine shock in his eyes as he made eye contact with not a Zeach but a human.

    The female human had pure seriousness in her eyes and a demeanor that said that she wasn’t threatened by him. Why would she be, she was able to sneak up on him twice and had stolen his stuff with ease.

    “You attacked me?” he asked in shock.

    “What? You wanted some worthy gang leader to face?” she asked with a smirk. He was glad that it wasn’t a Zeach that had blindsided him but a human was no better, the stories he heard about them caused him to doubt his own skills.

    “I’d give that back if I was you,” he warned her.

    “Or what? Last I noticed I was the one with the weapon and you’re the one with it pressed against your neck,” she pointed out with a cocked eyebrow and a slight tilt of her head. Her hair was mainly black but there were unusual hazel highlights at her tips that rested below her shoulders, he also spotted a few random braids within her hair that drew his attention. She didn’t look like most of the humans that he happened to come across. For one, she was armed. She had a gun holster on her thigh and from the bulge, it wasn’t empty. Yet it was also her appearance that struck him as odd. Most humans all looked alike, apart from their skin tones and perhaps their weight, height, and hair color – they all genuinely looked the same. The same could not be said about her. She had big bright green eyes that could probably pierce armor if she stared hard enough. But it was truly what rested against her tawny skin that caused him to raise an eyebrow. She had a dark purple tattoo mask ranging from the right side to the left side of her face, it being tattooed to outline her eyes yet its height stayed relevant to the length of the bridge of her nose. In addition to that was also the neatly placed dark purple circles that outlined her face, the further one got down the smaller they got but he could tell that these markings did not just end on her face, he could see them on her neck and even on her arms.

    “What are you?” he asked curiously, disregarding the idea that the human before him held his life in her hands.

    “Have you never seen a human?” she asked and motioned for the Zeach to come to her side. Immediately the creature did so, “you alright Checl?” The creature nodded her head and glared at Zihr. Though he could still see the fear that rested in her eyes.

    “You should learn how to play nice with the other children,” the human told him as she lowered the dagger and threw it to the side. Out of pure instinct and love for the only thing he held from his past he chased after it, grabbing it and turning his attention to the women who had cornered him. Yet they were nowhere to be seen. He ran into the main bulk of the crowd and looked around, expecting to see the bright feathers that the Zeach, Checl, possessed. Yet he saw nothing and he didn’t wish to go searching for them. He had a good feeling he’d see them again, this time he’d be ready for them. And with that he turned and made his way through the crowd, pickpocketing as many people as possible in an attempt to get what he lost back.

X X X

    And of course he indeed ran into them again, only Checl was not present. Raquel had found herself in a tough situation with one of the many gangs of the Outlands, a favorite pastime of hers it seemed. After recognizing her Zihr was interested in seeing the human beaten with an inch of her life to spare, perhaps he would be able to take that last inch. Yet as he watched the gang surround her, he found himself rooting for her. He found himself snickering and even smiling at her witty comebacks and smart ass comments, even in the face of danger she still wore that smirk of hers. This didn’t end well for Zihr as he ended up abandoning his seat and joining her, the two able to kill a few and injure even more of the gang but was forced to retreat.