Sjal
Approved Character
Fall 21, 124
"You're right," Sjal said as she caught her breath and steeled her mind. She was formulating a plan, but she felt uneasy about this fight. Khati was no pushover. He had water swirling around him and was commanding quite a bit of it at a time. The chances were pretty high that he was working with contrivances as it was the easiest explanation as to how he was using so much magic. With all that water… Sjal didn't feel like she had a chance at killing him with a simple blink and slash.
"You're right," she said again, "but I had to do something!"
A wave crashed against the pillar, but Sjal was ready to try attacking back. She had prepared to teleport behind the man and her spell finally went off. She appeared several paces back and lunged forwards. She slashed her sword at him but her sword was met with a tendril of water that circled around him like a shield. The tendril of water yanked her sword away and tossed it aside.
"Silly girl," he said, turning his head around and holding out his hand to still the water in her body. She disappeared again, this time appearing much closer, between him and his shield. She threw a punch at his face that landed, knocking him backwards. She disappeared again and got him in the back before having to retreat to grab her sword.
"Brat! You'll pay for that!"
"Sure you will!" Sjal shouted back as she ran behind yet another pillar. Whatever the man was doing to the water in her body… she didn't like it. It felt damaging in a way that she couldn't rationalize. Having one's blood stop moving even for brief moments couldn't be healthy.
Khati roared and another jet of water shot towards the pillar. It was the final large pillar in the warehouse, so when it cracked there was a loud creaking sound. The ceiling began to tremble and Sjal finally realized that this battlefield of theirs was about to go to shit. She glared at Khati then blinked towards the exit. Khati had a similar idea, except he used his water to punch a hole in the wall to escape.
The warehouse quickly crumbled, taking their fight outdoors. Sjal was ready to get back into the action… but she saw that there were at least a dozen officers standing outside. She heard a commotion over by where Khati had exited. She could've sworn she caught a glimpse of Ishida whacking Khati on the back of the head with a brick. It was finally over.
Ishida hardly got any sleep and he intended that the same be true for Khati. He had personally ensured that no care was given to him so he remained unable to defend himself. He had thrown him into a wing of the prison where particularly violent individuals were locked up, complete with talismans to prevent magic use.
Ishida had clearly lied when he'd said he was going to bed. Maybe that was the plan – to use Sjal as bait. Make Khati use up his reserves so that he'd be easier to take down. It'd worked, so she didn't feel that bad about it. She knew how to fight, despite the pain and injuries it entailed. One thing she didn't like all that much was interrogating criminals, so it was good that she was a mercenary and not part of a police force. Ishida could fill that role and dig up as much information as he could.
While Sjal was being given the care she needed, Ishida asked Khati to tell her everything. He had tried the path of compassion, had tried to explain to him what he was risking… Faced with his silence, he could only put him in a cell. It was a burden for him to do such a thing. Yet, he felt contradictory feelings about his aversion to these situations because he knew that he would go crazy if he'd ever gotten imprisoned.
When Sjal finally got a good meal in her and a full night's rest she headed to the prison to see if any progress had been made. Ishida met her there and led her down the gloomy corridors smelling of must and rot. How could anyone work here? She entered the wing where Khati must be waiting for her. He must be hoping for her to arrive. Wishing for her with all his being.
She felt sick when she found him. He was on his stomach, his face turned toward the door where she was. "Would you please tell me what happened with the Umida?"
He did not answer.
"I already interrogated him," Ishida explained, "I'm sure the kid is safe now, but he probably knows that giving up his accomplice would just result in a more painful experience than this."
"Figures," Sjal said with a sigh.
"I'll have to leave you in the cell for a few more hours then. Come on, don't cry. If you talk, everything will be fine. As long as you talk, I'll stay with you, and as long as I'm here, nothing will happen to you."
How strange it was to see a man like Khati cry. As big and muscular as he was, so gifted in the magical arts… All that was worthless. He didn't say anything, though. She tried another approach.
"If you don't say anything, that's already information for us, and in case you didn't know, I'm a warp weaver. I could cut wick you… permanently… if that's legal?" she said, looking to Ishida. He shrugged then shook his head slightly.
"I don't know, I've never had someone come down here and offer to do that. I would say… no, probably not."
"Okay, fine, I give up," Sjal said with a sigh. She really had wanted to beat this guy and shove him through a portal so he could be sacrificed to the dark black blob… but she couldn't. Not without breaking into the jail and making a criminal of herself.
"Honestly, if the people you protect are capable of inflicting a vengeance on you worse than what you experienced last night… Are they worth fighting for? Anyways, I'm out of here. I've got places to be."
"No, please… don't leave me alone!"
Ishida chuckled and escorted Sjal out of the building. "It wasn't the ending we hoped for, but at least we got one of the people after the kid. We'll make sure he stays safe. And thank you for helping out. You know, you might make a good law enforcer someday."
Sjal blushed and nodded, "well, see you again… someday. I'll come back here in the future, if only to make my way towards Bast. I hear it's quite a sight to behold."
"Dunno, never been. Take care."
Sjal pulled out her map as she rose up into the air. She'd be back here… in the winter, if her mental math was checking out. If the map was drawn appropriately, then it shouldn't take her all that much longer to get to Jian. At least now she knew where she was going and she didn't have to keep wondering whether she should keep hanging around the coast. It looked like she could circle around the desert and the go straight north by a bunch of islands and eventually make it to where she wanted to go. What she would do when she got to Jian? She still hadn't worked that out. But she'd yet to find a place that couldn't make good use of portals.
Math:
many apprentice level free blink casts
2.87 (previous thread) - ~5 journeyman blinks = 2.32