HAUNTED GARDEN: East Gate {5/5}

“They’re gardens,” Esther said, in response to Inkidortes’ question, “on the outskirts of New York.”


Gardens that she shouldn’t have gone to in the first place; she’d come a bit too close to testing the bounds of her own mortality tonight -- years of not having been menaced by threatening hunters had been interrupted by one stray incident. This stray incident. And if Joakim hadn’t shoved me out of the way, she thought, picking at the gauze on her hand, this cut could have been a bullet hole.

She didn’t want to go back. She really didn’t. Her clothes were damp and her hand stung and she really, really wanted to go do something other than lead Inkidortes and a medic (Halimah, she’d said her name was) back through a forest that could be infested with gun-wielding jerks similar to the one she’d encountered. Maybe she’d visit Alim. Or relax in her room, for once.

… But then, she also did want to return -- at least to see what would happen. The hunter had spoken of an invasive species in the water, and there was obviously a story behind the girl on the rock.

Besides, the others needed backup. And a medic. Said backup and medic might flounder a bit without her (the gardens were big enough that it might take them a while to get through the place); she’d have to go with them, if only to help navigate through the foliage.

“No time to lose, everyone.” Everyone was a measly two people, but Inkidortes seemed capable of defending herself. She had two swords, at any rate, and didn’t slack off with her attacks. “There’s someone bleeding out, and there could be more by the time we get there.”

Lincoln let the child go to his father, or more the man's unconcious form. There was nothing that Lincoln could say to Aaron, what words were there to comfort him? He hung back as the child yanked at Joakim's sleeve, begging him to release the hunter...which he did. The redhead looked worse for wear as both men tumbled to the wet earth, and Lincoln stepped forward as the viking showed the boy his bloody hand.

"Joakim," Lincoln started with a sharp tone, putting a hand on Aaron's shoulder and pulling him back away from the bigger man, "one step at a time." He glanced at the man on the ground, the lake water lapping at his outstretched arm. From the man's arm, Lincoln's eyes looked up to the child on the island, still tearfully looking at them. If only they had a raft, but then if the girl was indeed Aaron's sister, then wouldn't she be in the same predicament as Aaron? Couldn't she just turn into a ball of light and bound over the water like how her brother did in the woods? "How is she stuck there...," Lincoln murmured absent-mindedly, releasing the thought into the night winds.

Lincoln turned away and leaned towards Joakim, leaving Aaron near his father and pushing Joakim's hand out of the way. "You could drill the thought into the boy when you're certain you won't keel over like his dad could," Lincoln muttered, squinting at the wound. The man was drenched in his own blood, his abdomen could be as red as his hair. He knew one basic, and that was to plug the hole wherever it leaked. "Damn, man,"  he continued, looking around him for a piece of cloth, a bandaid...something. Cursing, Lincoln proceeded to pull his hoodie off. Blood stains could wash out, he reasoned, and it was against his own pride to let one of theirs die in front of him. Besides, it wasn't that cold in a singlet.

Lincoln threw the hoodie over Joakim's chest. Too small for all of it, he thought internally as he scowled at the electric blue barely covering the man's bulletwounds. Working around Joakim, propping the viking around where needed, Lincoln proceeded to make a makeshift bandage with the combination of both his hoodie and Joakim's bloody jacket. He gave the man a sharp, friendly smack on the back. "Alrighty, now we can talk a little bit longer...I hope," Lincoln gripped Joakim's collar and pulled him away from the bank of the lake. "I'm sorry I can't do more," he added in a murmur when he settled the man, "Besides, I definitely can't pull a man your weight when you're knocked out." 


feGa98n4

ESTHER & INKIDORTES
With a new flower pinned to each of them, Esther, Inkidortes and the medic arrived in the meeting grounds of the garden.

It was strange, everything was exactly the way it was when they all came here. Not a trace of danger in the air, nor anything that would suggest an emergency. The area was still festively decorated by pumpkins who did not seemed disturbed by previous events. The path down the forest that they all went down to was clear.

The medic, Halimah, clutched her medic kit’s handle tightly and looked around at her new surroundings before settling back onto Esther for directions.


JOAKIM, LINCOLN, HENG, & WINONA
The lakeside was looking like a battleground, which might be a familiar sight to some apprentices. Blood of both Joakim and the hunter soaked the dirt floor, forming dark pools of black around them. The smell of fresh blood was sharp and pungent in the crisp night air.

If the boy heard Joakim’s words, he didn’t seem to react to them. He kneeled by the hunter’s side when he was dropped and it was like as if the world melted around him. The hunter’s thread was unraveled, like wisps of red lines clinging to his body. With wide eyes, Aaron touched the hunter’s wound on his chest but his fingers did not take on any blood. His clothing in such close proximity to damage around him did not take on any red. He looked over to his sister, still in the middle of the lake, but she was down- perhaps passed out from exhaustion or curled up, it was hard to tell in the distance.

Wordlessly and limply, he let himself be pulled back by Lincoln. He had found his sister and father. Isn’t that what he wanted?

Hidden just within the forest was Heng and Winona crouched down in the semi-darkness. They were hidden quite well (Heng seemed to have a knack for hiding) but next to them, coming from the side, a familiar shape walked forward. It was the black panther, silently making its way out of the forest with something in its mouth. It looked like a wooden handle, splintered and broken. It didn’t seem to notice Heng or Winona, perhaps the smell of blood distracted it from their scent. It stopped suddenly when it saw Joakim and Lincoln by the lakeshore with the fallen body of the hunter and then perked up when it saw the boy.

Its reaction was strange. It ran up a bit closer to Joakim, Lincoln, then reeled back and stopped when its yellow eyes caught the unconscious hunter. It sounded like it was about to start growling at Joakim and Lincoln but the sound caught in the cat's throat when it saw Aaron. It cocked its head at the boy and sat down as if it was confused and waiting for instructions.
The boy stared at the big cat for a moment and then gasp in realization. “Oh! Liquorice!” He exclaimed. “He got so big!” For a moment, fear and uncertainty melted from his voice and face.

The cat’s ear perked up at his name and it layed down on the ground with its tail high in the air. It still held the wooden piece in his mouth tightly.

Hunter’s HP: -1/10 (UNCONCIOUS)
[░░░░░░░░░░]

Joakim’s HP: 1/18 (STABLE but do anything too rowdy, you will just start bleeding out again.)
[█░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Lincoln was a city boy, raised around concrete and cars. There were the usual pidgeons that just like to stare at each other and at humans, then the regular old dogs and yowling cats. This beast, however, this sleek, black-furred beast, was something that should at least be in a zoo.

"How in the world...," was all Lincoln managed to murmur, somewhat glad now that Joakim was a big man from an era where humans liked to hunt. He wasn't worried about Aaron, at any rate. The boy calmed the big cat down with the name of a confectionery, and there it was, sitting down with a waving tail. After a while of silence, Lincoln peered out and ventured towards the big cat, taking careful, quiet steps. It wasn't often someone like him would see a big cat, wild or tame, so he might as well take the opportunity to get a teensy bit closer. He stopped about two strides away, hunkering down and staring at it in awe. There was something in its mouth, but he wasn't that reckless to yank it out. It wasn't a dog, after all.

"Wonder why it's here...," Lincoln wondered aloud, watching the panther's tail flick back and forth. Could it reach him? He hoped it wouldn't. "Hey, Aaron," Lincoln looked up to the boy, still by his father. He wore an expression of concern, but with a weak grin to make it not so obvious, asking quietly with words that sounded like he took some time to choose, "...you feeling...better?"

Whatever had happened, it seemed to be over? From the bushes, Heng looked over at the man on the ground. He was going to die soon. The child didn't look like they'd pose much of a threat. The other apprentice... Lincoln? was here as well.

Also the panther was... the child's companion? A pet? From where does a child even procure such a beast? Heng stood from his hiding place slowly, and glancing back at Winona, made his way down to where Joakim and Lincoln were.

"We shouldn't have split up," he said to no one in particular as he scanned the mess. He hasn't even looked out at the lake yet. Joakim's blood was soaking into the soil around him from where he was laying before. A familiar sight. He looked back over to the child and the panther, then beyond them to the unconscious man. He needed to be... dealt with.