Karma

Staza: (presses a hand into Imari’s back and moves her swiftly toward the trees where Arissa waits)

---- Arissa is not there ----

Staza: (hisses a whisper) Arissa!... (looking around, scanning up the tall trees nearby)

Staza: (utters a rude curse and pulls Imari with him toward where they tethered the horses)

Imari: ((Arissa?? Arissa is here??)) (scanning around the forest for her as Staza pulls her along)

--- behind them the camp is coming to life, men waking up, the horses whinnying and Isen's soldiers arriving from across the river )

---

Staza: Arissa? (calling a little louder as he spots the horses)

---- one of the horses is slapped on the ass and it moves swiftly out of the way to expose a dark man, wearing all black, with Arissa pulled back against him, a knife to her tender throat ---

Jaeger: (offers a slow smile as Staza and Imari arrive)

Arissa: (her eyes bleak, looking at Staza and Imari, feeling as if she has failed them)

Imari: Nooooo (distraught, taking an instinctive step back)

Staza: (lifts his chin, eying his sword in it's sheath on his saddle)

Arissa: Run...run now....goo!!

Jaeger: Not a move, boy. I'll slice her clean and lethal. It would be a shame to ruin such a pretty neck ... But I will.

Arissa: (pressing back, trying to avoid the cool blade of the knife, hissing again) Run!

Imari: (sobs) Arissa......(calling out to Jaeger) Let her go!!

Jaeger: (presses the blade harder against her neck, letting it break her skin, blood oozing around the sharp edge)

Staza: (releases a tortured gasp)

Arissa: (going completely still, refusing to beg or even try to fight, not wanting to distress Staza and Imari, her gaze calm as she stares at them) Please...go..  (trying to block the stinging pain of the sharp blade,)

Staza: Release her. If you have a taste for blood..Take mine.

Imari: (clutching at Staza's back, unsure of what to do) Noooo...nooo....this is all my fault.  Just let them go and I'll return...I will not fight again....I will not try to escape again..

Jaeger: (dark chuckle) Your blood interests my blade much less than theirs, Palicidian.

Jaeger: (shifts his gaze to Imari)

Staza: NO. (lifting an arm to shield Imari)

Arissa: (stiffens, her heart racing but trying to appear calm, making sure to keep the quaver out of her voice) Just go you fools!

Staza: (quietly) Imari.... take the horse...

Imari: (tears streaming down her face, choking on a sob) Noooo....Arisssa.....  (taking the horse as she is told) ((this is all my fault...all my fault))

Staza: Get on.... and ride. Ride Imari... Cross the river.

Jaeger: (clucking his tongue)

Arissa: ((how stupid I was...how careless...I didn't see him coming...how could I have not seen him coming...)) No Staza....you too...goo...go now....you were right, I should not of come...go...

Jaeger: (growls and rolls his eyes) I shall cut your throat just to shut you up... (pressing the knife tighter)

Staza: Please.. (lifting his chin) Please sir. Release her. She's just a child.

Imari:(climbing up atop the horse, glancing back over her shoulder, wanting to run to Xavier for help)

Staza: (brings his hand down on the horses ass to make Imari leave)

Arissa: (sucking in a deep breath, the knife painful against her throat, unable to speak)

Jaeger: Just a child? (running his other hand down over her breasts) She feels like a woman. I wonder if she moans with lust like one...

Imari: (feeling as if she is immensed in a nightmare, holding on as her horse gallops away, tears staining her vision)

Staza: (growls with indignation) Have you NO decency?

Jaeger: (considers it with a glance upward, then looks at him again) No.

Arissa: (stiffens, her slight body no match for the strength of him, her palms beginning to sweat as she tries to slip her hand into her cloak and retrive her dagger)

Arissa: (realizing he will probably slit her throat at her attack, not caring as long as Staza can get away)

Jaeger: Eh eh eh... (tightens his hand on her breast, warning her)

Arissa: (stills, her teeth clenched in outrage, noone having ever touched her so, his grip painful)

Staza: I won't leave her.

Jaeger: You speak as though you have the option of leaving...

Imari: (galloping through the woods before pulling her horse up, knowing in her heart she cannot just leave them so)

Arissa: (silently pleading with her eyes for him to go)

Jaeger: Trust me.... this little bitch will be writhing beneath me tonight. And you will be swinging by the neck on that tree.

Arissa: (gasps) No!!  (more horrified by the thought of Staza swinging)

Staza: (shifts his gaze once more to the horse where his sword is)

Jaeger: (easing the blade back from her neck, blood now dripping down her chest between her breasts from the slice on her neck)

Imari: (burying her face in her hands, not knowing what to do) ((go back and beg Xavier to help...))  ((go to the river like Staza told her..))  (her mind spinning)

Arissa: (letting out a slow breath she hadn't realized she had been holding)

Staza: (looking at Arissa, horrified for her)

Staza: I make one last appeal to you. Release her. And do what you will with me. If its humiliation to Palicide you seek, then take me. ... the King's ONLY son and heir.

Arissa: (gulping back the bile in the back of her throat from the feel of the warm oozing blood trickling down)

Jaeger: (laughs)

Arissa: Staza, you must GO!!  Your father needs you, your kingdom needs you, Imari needs you......I am noone...GO!!

Arissa: ((why won't he RUN!!!!))

Jaeger: I care not for the mood of kings. Your head is nothing more than a prize to me. I do not what I do for the whim of Allendor. Allen himself can go stuff himself for all I care.

Staza: Then you've nothing to lose by letting her go. She is not even of royal blood.

Jaeger: Oh but I like her blood. (rubs his cheek against hers)

Arissa: (surprised by his words, hissing) I'd like to stuff his dead corpse..

Jaeger: Do all the women of Palicide fight like vipers?

Arissa: (nostrils flare, gulping, trying to pull away from him)

Jaeger: (presses the knife into her wound)

Staza: (thankful only that Imari escaped, glancing once more toward the horse where his sword taunts him)

Arissa: (bites down hard on her lip to keep from crying out, lifting her chin, pain lancing through her, unable to keep her small body from trembling)

Jaeger: (a slow smile cuts across his face)

-------ssssssssssstttt!!! ----

Staza: (cries out, lurching forward as an arrow strikes his shoulder from behind)

Staza: (falls to his knees, grabbing the shaft that goes clean through)

Arissa: NO!!!!!  RUN!!  (beginning to struggle, the knife biting into her throat)

Arissa: Let him go!  Let him go!!!

Jaeger: (clucks his tongue again) You should have run when you could have, foolish prince. (jerking Arissa along with him as he moves toward Staza)

--- the archer notches another arrow, waiting for a signal from Jaeger----

Arissa: Let him go!!  Put him on his horse and let him go....((why didn't you RUN, why didn't you RUN!!!!))

Jaeger: (moves up in front of Staza and gives him a hard shove backwards with one booted foot, then lifts Arissa and carries her toward the camp, the knife braced against her ribs, the blood still dripping from her neck)

Arissa:  (trying to twist around and look at Staza, overcome with fear that they will kill him) Please...(having to force the word to come out, having vowed never to beg anything of one of their vile kind)

Jaeger: (passing the archer) Kill him.

Jaeger: (carries Arissa toward the camp, where the horses are being saddled as the sunlight creeps over the landscape)

Arissa: (shaking her head) Nooo...noooo...(all color draining from her face, letting out a unearthly scream) NOOOOOOOOOO

Jaeger: (growls) Silence. (slaps her ass)

Arissa: (quickly silences, turning slowly to look in his face, her eyes glittering with hate)

Jaeger: (carries her to his waiting horse, tossing her up and mounting, holding her in front of him)

Xavier: (rides up beside him with a curious glance)

Jaeger: (dark smile) Palacide has yielded yet another prize. And this one will not find her way to your tent.

Xavier: She's just a baby, Jaeger.

Jaeger: Old enough to bleed.

Arissa: (hatred filling her, wanting to hurt him badly, looking over towards the blonde warrior)

Arissa: ((old enough to kill))

Xavier: (shakes his head) Have you ever heard of karma? No.. perhaps not.. but one day. You will.

Xavier: We all will.. (urges his horse forward into a jog and leaves Jaeger behind)

--- the archer lifts his bow, aiming at the Staza's back ----

Imari: (takes a deep breath to calm her nerves, gripping the rock tightly in her hands as she moves silently behind the archer, closing her eyes, praying for strength as she brings it down hard on the back of his head)

--- the archer lurches forward, the notched arrow flying loose and missing it's target ----

Staza: (groans, trying to crawl)

Imari: (lifts her hand to bring down the rock again, following him forward)

--- the archer falls unconscious -----

Imari: (drops the rock like it burns her hands, whimpering)

Staza: (jerking on the shaft through him, breaking it off with a cry)

Imari: (quickly rushes over to Staza, sobbing softly) I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I could not leave.  I could not leave you here.. 

Imari: (her head moving all around, looking for Arissa)

Staza: (every word strained in pain as he tries to pull the shaft through his shoulder) He.... has .. her..

Imari: (helps him pull the shaft through, ripping off a piece of his shirt to bind his shoulder) He is evil...(her voice a hoarse whisper)

Staza: (coughs a groan of pain) (gritting his teeth a moment then lifting his chin, trying to get up) Are you alright?

Imari: Yes, but we have to get out of here quickly before we are caught again.  And we have to save Arissa....we cannot leave her with him...

Staza: (opening his mouth in pain as he struggles to stand up straight) We have to ... get ahead of them..

Imari: (helping him over to his horse) You are injured....maybe we should go back and get help.  Is father's men close??

Staza: They should be only hours away. (closing his eyes, getting on top of the pain)

Imari: (pulling herself up onto her horse) Are you okay to ride??

Staza: (lifts his chin, opening his eyes, renewed) I'm fine. We must hurry.. (shrugging his shirt off for her, even though it's soiled with blood and slightly torn)

Imari: (slipping her arms into the sleeves, thankful for the covering as she pulls the cloak tighter around herself)

Staza: (leaning on the side of his horse a moment, his hand resting on the sheathed sword there) I will kill him.. (declares) But you will stay here, Imari. You've been through enough.

Imari: No, I cannot stay here alone.  You cannot kill him ......you are wounded.  We need help......(Xaviers face disturbingly coming to mind)

Imari: (shaking that thought away)

Staza: (turns, his face dark with anger) For once, Imari, do as you are TOLD! How many much more has to happen before you will listen to reason!

* How Much More... (nix the many)

Imari: (jerks back as if she had been slapped, her eyes filling with tears) You would be dead right now if I had not come back and knocked that archor uncounsious......  (flooded with guilt and remorse)

Staza: But you would be safe.....

Staza: And I desparately need you to be safe...

Imari:  I would rather you be alive than me be safe..