Jaruzak's party: Thread 6.3

"Well then I hope he sent someone other than you." Kowen said as she folded her arms over her chest, one hand still holding the Halberd tightly.

Jaruzak pointed his clawed thumb towards Fist without breaking eye contact with Kowen. "Fist is right there to assist me in retrieving you." He said continuing with his calm voice.

"So I see." Kowen said. She wasn't going back with Jaruzak and that was final. Her runes had said others were coming but it had changed several times. There was a new person indicated and then abandonment, She didn't know what to make of it.

"If you intend to continue with this group towards its goal, then we need to sort this shit out. I've been here since the start and I don't plan on leaving until I've removed Fenrir's head." Jaruzak spat down the gorge, acting as if saying the name was too distasteful for his mouth. "Now all I need to do is transport you across, and then we walk back through the coming storm."

Why on Earth do you think I would consent to allow you to take me across when, as you said a few days ago, I would be 'at your mercy'?" Kowen asked, uncrossing her arms. "I did not trust you to take me across then and I do not now."

"I see you've been stewing on those words. Although I dislike you, I don't want you dead currently, and I have been instructed that you are needed. I can assure you that if I wanted you dead already, you would be. Now, I give you one last chance. What do I need to do to make you trust me for 20 seconds?" Jaruzak's tone continued to stay icy.

"Trust is not given at will, it is earned. You have not earned my trust, in fact everything you have done since we stepped foot in this temple suggests that you do not hold my trust or my life in high regard." Kowen raised her chin slightly and brought herself up to her full height. "Maybe allowing me to impale you with a sword larger than you are would satisfy me but I doubt it would earn you my trust."

"Alright then, you got your point across." Jaruzak stretched his upper body muscles quickly and brought himself up to his full height. "You have two choices, to quietly get carried across, or be forced across. I promise that no matter which choice it ends up being that you will not be killed by me, although I assume that doesn't mean much to you."

Fist could barely get a word in as the two spoke. She sighed and looked for a way to get across herself during the argument. She pulled out her rope and the grappling hook she'd prepared and chucked it at one of the trunks in the gorge. Swinging to it, she then played monkey with some stray vines to completely cross the way. "Okay okay everyone hold up!" She said as she landed and stood herself up on the other side. She marched over and shook out her hands. "Now then, I dunno what the hell happened between you two, but we need our everyone back together and Chaos sent me here to get things settled." She said as she crossed her arms. She spoke with a more serious tone than usual for her and was in an imposing position. "Now, start from the beginning."

"We decided I would stay outside the battle room during the battle as they would likely take me out first had I been there. I was brainwashed and forced to attack the group, instead of incapacitating me by breaking a leg or something similar, Jaruzak decided to run his sword through my lungs, quite close to my heart." Kowen blinked rapidly. This was the first time she had spoken about it and got her side of the story out. It was causing tears to prick at her eyes. "I almost died and he said it was my fault."

Fist's brow furrowed under her mask as she processed what had happened. She was getting tired of this land where "magic" was the answer to everything. "Impaled huh?" Fist said with a raised eyebrow at Jaruzak. She held Kowen by her arms and looked at the big rip in her shirt, peeking inside to inspect the damage. "Good thing you have those regenerative abilities." She said letting go.

"It did take the best part of two days to heal myself." She said. "I'm still not sure the internal damage is fully healed but there's nothing more I can do."

Jaruzak sighed. "While brainwashed you were the most dangerous foe in the room, and if the fight lasted any longer, we would all be dead. At the time the only place available to strike you past the armour was either the face or chest, which had broken apart. If I spent the time to break your armour and legs, you would have killed me, I have no doubts on it. The only option I had left was to hit either your head or torso, and I picked the least lethal option." Jaruzak rested on the rocky wall. "I don't care if you hate me or don't forgive, that doesn't matter to me. But what does matter to me is us retrieving the masks with minimal losses. And look at the situation, both masks were collected, and none of us are dead, despite you being turned and Trace and Quint leaving."

"hmm I see." Fist muttered while connecting both sides of the story. It tickled her funny bone a bit to think of this small woman overpowering a team. She almost wished they had some witches of their own to turn medics into monsters. She cleared her throat. "So the problem here is... you're reckless and you're being a child." She said pointing to Jaruzak and then to Kowen. "I understand survival instinct. In fights like these it's kill or be killed. You have to think of the survival of yourself and your team as a whole... however I still think you had a few more options than using that big sharp hunk of metal. Me, I woulda tried disarming her on the swing and then getting her in the face with the handle as an example. " She said as she raised her head while tapping her chin.  "I'd expect you to think outside the box a bit more. There's more solutions to a problem then stabbing."

She turned to Kowen next. "I  understand apprehension to traveling with someone who stabbed you through the chest... " She halted for a moment thinking about what she just said. "...but we have bigger fish to fry here. Yes he stabbed you without the bat of an eye, but are you really worried about him suddenly killing you as soon as he flies you over? Lemme tell you something girl, if he wanted to finish the job, he would have chopped off that pretty little head as soon as the fight ended." She said as she traced her finger across her neck.

Jaruzak let out a deep exhale. "Hindsight is much easier, and I can assure you that while she was in that armour, she was a worthy opponent. I didn't expect a manouver which opened up my body to work. You haven't seen it but I have quite the wounds from her, one of which went pretty far into my liver." Jaruzak paused for a moment. "But even with all my excuses, it's on me for not being strong enough to take her and the enemy down more easily." Jaruzak stared off towards the entrance while he said the last few parts.

"I never said he wanted me dead, I said he had a disregard for my life. Had I not hunted down the small animals, rodents, that lived here, had I not been prepared enough to bring water, I would have died waiting for someone to get me out of here. All because he thinks he is the one who should do everything. Had Karuka asked me if I wanted her to carry me across, I would have said yes, She didn't try to kill me and I wouldn't have worried for my life with he," she said to Fist before turning to Jaruzak. "If you insist on carrying me across then I insist on riding your back instead of having you hold me. I will not be 'At your mercy'." She paused for a moment. "And I am bringing my new weapon. I shall train with one of the others. No longer will I simply be the medic. If you think I betrayed you I will simply have to prove otherwise."

Kowen's halberd:

"If you were fine with the other one flying you over you should have just asked This whole fiasco has been wasting everyone's time and we need to regroup to discuss our next move." Fist said. She was digging her heel into the ground as she spoke.

"It is a little difficult to ask when people storm away from you for something that isn't your fault," Kowen snapped.

"Well firstly, flying with you on my back isn't easy but it atleast is possible for me to glide, so I should be able to get us out. Secondly, Karuka clearly isn't as strong as me, so I was unsure she could carry you for very long, but if it was how you would have agreed to leave, you should have said so." Jaruzak said as he stretched his wings out.

"So we're in agreement then? " Fist said. "Just one short flight across and then you never have to fly together again." She continued with false enthusiasm. "Go on then."

Kowen climbed onto Jaruzak's back, her halberd clutched tightly in her hand, the blade pointing towards Jaruzak's neck but not close enough to be seen as threatening.

Jaruzak flew slowly across the gorge, as he couldn't move his wings his high as he'd like with each flap. He mostly glided and used the trunks in between to jump off to gain more height. When he reached the other side he went on one knee to let Kowen off easier. "There, done. Now we can continue." he said once she got off.

Fist gave herself a running start and vaulted onto the vines to swing back. Once on the other side, she clapped her hands together. "Now that wasn't so hard. Let's get out of here and try to put this situation behind us."

Kowen sniffed and walked out of the temple, thankful to be breathing fresh air at last.

Jaruzak walked forward at a fast pace. He was growing more and more visibly irritated as time went by. He felt himself growing restless, all he felt was the desire to become stronger, to beat the weakness out of himself.